people

Passions at the Dr. Peter Centre

By Alison McLaughlin /

Chef Tojo and Dr. Peter Centre’s Executive Director, Maxine Davies.



GM Edwyn Kumar, director of marketing Sonja Muller, and chef Kris Kabush all of Hart House. Not pictured: scallops, bacon, puy lentils, drool.



CinCin’s Director Ricardo Ferreira with Rachel Des Cotes, Development Administrator at the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation.



Representing Pinq.ca are Ryan McKinney (l) and Robert Bazley.



From right: Doug Reynolds, Dan Quon, Don Chilsolm and chef Rodolfo Rodriguez Vazquez of El Barrio.



Adrienne Tanner of the Vancouver Sun (l) with Susan Thom of BC Housing.



Steven Fit with film executive Trudi Thorwaldsen.



Fong on Food’s Nathan Fong with hostess Sophia Lui.



West End Residents Association’s Brent Granby with Irene Goldstone, street nurse with Dr. Peter Centre and Paul Kerston (r).



M.P. for Vancouver Center Hedy Fry with Adrienne Carr, deputy leader of the Green Party of Canada.


Event: “Passion” benefit for HIV/AIDS care
Setting: Dr. Peter Centre, 1110 Comox Street
Critique: Food for the Soul
* * *

On Sunday September 20th the Dr. Peter Centre hosted the Passions Gala – its signature fundraiser to benefit both the center’s hospice and various HIV and AIDS care programs.

The centre is named for Dr. Peter Jepson-Young, a Vancouver physician diagnosed with HIV in the late 1980s who documented his personal struggle with the disease in the CBC series “Dr. Peter’s Diaries.” Dr. Peter was an innovator in HIV/AIDS education and his centre is a vital community resource for people grappling with addiction, mental illness, and insufficient emotional support.

At Passions, 20 of Vancouver’s top chefs joined Global TV news anchor Sophia Liu for an evening of gastronomic excess. Some of the standout dishes were Hart House Restaurant’s seared scallop on puy lentils with bacon, So.Cial’s liquid nitrogen beet bombs, and El Barrio’s tamales with huitlacoche – a fungal disease affecting corn whose name translates, in Atzecan, to “raven feces.” (It’s considered a delicacy in parts of South America, commanding a higher price than the corn it infects. I had the distinct pleasure of sharing that tidbit with councilor Tim Stevenson and, now, I’ve just done so with you.)

Bon Appetit!

Participating restaurants:
Bin 941/942 | C Restaurant | Chambar | Cin Cin | Crave Restaurants | Diva at the Met | El Barrio | Elixir | Fraîche Restaurant | Hamilton Street Grill | Hart House Restaurant | La Terrazza | Le Gavroche | MIX the Bakery | O’Doul’s Restaurant & Bar | The Observatory | Provence Restaurants | So.Cial at Le Magasin | Tojo’s | Zin