By Chloe Mee
Trigger warning: The article carefully discusses eating disorders.
We often fail to realise how lucky we are, having our parents preparing every meal as children. Learning how to cook for oneself is a rite of passage which many young adults try to take on, though some have more success than others.
Ms Kim Mulder took it upon herself with her partner Kennedy to create a cookbook to help Kennedy’s younger brothers to learn how to cook before they went off to university. She explained that they were eager to learn how to do so and enjoyed cooking with Ms Mulder and Kennedy, so she wanted them to have a manual for when they moved out. She envisioned a cookbook with recipes that were simple and inexpensive - something which could be made on a student budget - as well as healthy. Her recipes accommodate for any location, ranging from a home with a shared kitchen to one with a mere hot plate. Her ultimate goal was to grow their confidence to the point where they could throw dinner parties.
The result was the East Van Kitchen cookbook.
Perhaps a picture can go here to further break up your ideas.
Ms Mulder was born in Calgary but grew up in Edmonton. Her goal is to live in every Canadian province at one point in her life. She moved to New Brunswick to go to university and has lived in both Nova Scotia and Quebec. Ultimately, she fell in love with her current partner, Kennedy, and decided to stay in British Columbia instead of continuing her plans of moving to Saskatchewan. If a friend were to choose three adjectives to describe her, she said that they would be “warm, friendly and affectionate.”
Currently, Ms Mulder teaches Law 12 and AP World History Modern, teaching both Grade Eleven and Twelve students. She has also taught English 8 at Collingwood, Psychology 12 and English 9 at Carson Graham, a lot of IB English and even a class called Theory of Knowledge. Her first teaching job was at a school called Pearson College VI with the IB program. She has taught in both private and public schools, as well as being a substitute in Richmond, Coquitlam, and North Vancouver. The former headmaster at Collingwood Rodger Wright was a family friend, so this was what drew her to Collingwood. She started teaching at Collingwood four years ago. Since then, she has formed longstanding relationships with students she has known since Grade Eight.
Ms Mulder clearly has a love of learning herself, as she has earned four degrees so far and has aspirations of attaining more in the future. Her first degree was in International Relations to pursue her “dream of the world becoming a better place.” However, after September 11th, she realised that there were other ways that she could follow this desire. In her late twenties, Ms Mulder went on to earn her Bachelor of Arts in English, a Masters in English, and her Bachelor of Education. Her next step is to get a Masters in Education, Counselling, or to earn a PhD in something or go to law school (Her secret dream, she told me with a grin, is to become a fashion designer.)
Ms Mulder made her cookbook with Kennedy, who is an artist and a furniture designer. The process took about three years. In addition to writing the cookbook, she and Kennedy took their pictures themselves using natural light photography. A friend who is a graphic designer did help with processing and “cleaning up” the images.
A lot of careful consideration was put into making their cookbook. Ms Mulder explained to me that she and Kennedy made the printed copy of their cookbook spiral-bound so that the spine doesn’t need to be cracked when used. During the pandemic, they have also made a PDF copy available for free due to the current economic uncertainty that many people are facing. It is also available in a few bookstores in East Vancouver and on Etsy.
Their cookbook was also self-published because they had a “particular vision and didn’t want to change it.” However, this came with its costs. They researched many local printing companies, as well as international printing companies, as they were “concerned that the carbon footprint should be small.” Ms Mulder explained that they were considering “how long will it stay in the world and what will its lifecycle be.” Despite it being more expensive to print locally, they eventually settled on an eco-friendly printing company in Burnaby.
Ms Mulder explained to me that the reason she and her partner created their cookbook is that they believe that it is vital to “take food decisions seriously.” The decision-making process of eating is “so important” and a “self-care technique.” Ms Mulder said that it was important for her to “make decisions for [herself] and [her] own body.”
When she was Grade Six, Ms Mulder decided to become a vegetarian. When she was in her late teens, she went tree-planting and found that she needed to eat meat to maintain her physical stamina due to its nutritional value. However, she held a “thoughtfully considered relationship with meat.” She admitted that she had a complicated personal relationship with nutrition and eating during her adolescent years. When she was a child, she had stomachaches, and Ms Mulder later discovered that this was where she “felt her anxiety”. She enjoyed watching cooking shows, which became her inspiration for writing her cookbook along with her personal experiences.
Ms Mulder believes that it is essential that young people are educated and informed about healthy behaviour around eating because there is a lot of information out there. The current information available to students and the online culture have created a complex environment for younger people to navigate. She described the culture as “very intense” and “hard on people’s confidence” She explained that there is a spectrum of “disordered eating… as well as eating disorders.” Frequently people will believe “I’m not that bad”- even when they are experiencing disordered eating. Eating disorders, she clarified, can affect all genders and cultural backgrounds. She said that it is important to empower ourselves and make “conscientious and thoughtful decisions,” and that eating can be for pleasure and for fuel.
Educating others about serious topics such as disordered eating is important to Ms Mulder as she has “an acute sense of what [she is] modelling for young people.” She explained that “as a teacher, [she] bring[s] many of [her] personal experiences and strong beliefs.” At school and in classrooms, there are many different worlds. “You can’t pretend that there isn’t an external world.” She also explained that it is crucial students can see other non-traditional examples of adulthood.
While she has never considered herself an artist, Ms Mulder said that art helped her “realise that we have to see the world in a different way.” Furthermore, she said that “one of the many ways that art enriches our lives is to change the way we see. For me, looking at and thinking about art has meant that I try to stop in my busy day to look at colours, look for patterns, to watch the light change, to appreciate beauty in the everyday things around me. Looking at things this way makes me want to make art! To write down these experiences, or to photograph them, or to think about how a sculpture might have the same effect.”
As well as writing her cookbook, she enjoys photography and creative writing - though she wants to get back to the latter more this year. She also considers the process of home renovation an art form as a lot of consideration which goes into it. Other interests include reading and gardening, and she enjoys listening to 70s rock, Canadian folk music, and German electronica. When I asked her how she has developed as a teacher and an artist over the years, she explained that she has developed “constantly and continually.”
When it comes to advice for other artists, Ms Mulder explains that she likes the saying: “if not you, who? If not now, when?”
Ms Mulder explained that she owns a lot of cookbooks, but told me with a confident smile: “ours is the best one.” She thought carefully about how to teach people to cook and build their confidence, as she understands that many are new to cooking and bring baggage with them, such as a complicated relationship with eating. Her next cookbook will have “no words so that it would be international” and more accessible to others. She strongly encourages people to download their PDF of the East Van Kitchen cookbook and share it with friends.
https://eastvankitchen.com/our-cookbook/
In the future, Ms Mulder plans to start a pub after she retires from teaching, offering a soup of the day and other food. I thank Ms Mulder for so openly sharing her experiences with the readers of Arts Mag and myself, and I wish her all the best with her future endeavours.
Trigger warning: The article carefully discusses eating disorders.
We often fail to realise how lucky we are, having our parents preparing every meal as children. Learning how to cook for oneself is a rite of passage which many young adults try to take on, though some have more success than others.
Ms Kim Mulder took it upon herself with her partner Kennedy to create a cookbook to help Kennedy’s younger brothers to learn how to cook before they went off to university. She explained that they were eager to learn how to do so and enjoyed cooking with Ms Mulder and Kennedy, so she wanted them to have a manual for when they moved out. She envisioned a cookbook with recipes that were simple and inexpensive - something which could be made on a student budget - as well as healthy. Her recipes accommodate for any location, ranging from a home with a shared kitchen to one with a mere hot plate. Her ultimate goal was to grow their confidence to the point where they could throw dinner parties.
The result was the East Van Kitchen cookbook.
Perhaps a picture can go here to further break up your ideas.
Ms Mulder was born in Calgary but grew up in Edmonton. Her goal is to live in every Canadian province at one point in her life. She moved to New Brunswick to go to university and has lived in both Nova Scotia and Quebec. Ultimately, she fell in love with her current partner, Kennedy, and decided to stay in British Columbia instead of continuing her plans of moving to Saskatchewan. If a friend were to choose three adjectives to describe her, she said that they would be “warm, friendly and affectionate.”
Currently, Ms Mulder teaches Law 12 and AP World History Modern, teaching both Grade Eleven and Twelve students. She has also taught English 8 at Collingwood, Psychology 12 and English 9 at Carson Graham, a lot of IB English and even a class called Theory of Knowledge. Her first teaching job was at a school called Pearson College VI with the IB program. She has taught in both private and public schools, as well as being a substitute in Richmond, Coquitlam, and North Vancouver. The former headmaster at Collingwood Rodger Wright was a family friend, so this was what drew her to Collingwood. She started teaching at Collingwood four years ago. Since then, she has formed longstanding relationships with students she has known since Grade Eight.
Ms Mulder clearly has a love of learning herself, as she has earned four degrees so far and has aspirations of attaining more in the future. Her first degree was in International Relations to pursue her “dream of the world becoming a better place.” However, after September 11th, she realised that there were other ways that she could follow this desire. In her late twenties, Ms Mulder went on to earn her Bachelor of Arts in English, a Masters in English, and her Bachelor of Education. Her next step is to get a Masters in Education, Counselling, or to earn a PhD in something or go to law school (Her secret dream, she told me with a grin, is to become a fashion designer.)
Ms Mulder made her cookbook with Kennedy, who is an artist and a furniture designer. The process took about three years. In addition to writing the cookbook, she and Kennedy took their pictures themselves using natural light photography. A friend who is a graphic designer did help with processing and “cleaning up” the images.
A lot of careful consideration was put into making their cookbook. Ms Mulder explained to me that she and Kennedy made the printed copy of their cookbook spiral-bound so that the spine doesn’t need to be cracked when used. During the pandemic, they have also made a PDF copy available for free due to the current economic uncertainty that many people are facing. It is also available in a few bookstores in East Vancouver and on Etsy.
Their cookbook was also self-published because they had a “particular vision and didn’t want to change it.” However, this came with its costs. They researched many local printing companies, as well as international printing companies, as they were “concerned that the carbon footprint should be small.” Ms Mulder explained that they were considering “how long will it stay in the world and what will its lifecycle be.” Despite it being more expensive to print locally, they eventually settled on an eco-friendly printing company in Burnaby.
Ms Mulder explained to me that the reason she and her partner created their cookbook is that they believe that it is vital to “take food decisions seriously.” The decision-making process of eating is “so important” and a “self-care technique.” Ms Mulder said that it was important for her to “make decisions for [herself] and [her] own body.”
When she was Grade Six, Ms Mulder decided to become a vegetarian. When she was in her late teens, she went tree-planting and found that she needed to eat meat to maintain her physical stamina due to its nutritional value. However, she held a “thoughtfully considered relationship with meat.” She admitted that she had a complicated personal relationship with nutrition and eating during her adolescent years. When she was a child, she had stomachaches, and Ms Mulder later discovered that this was where she “felt her anxiety”. She enjoyed watching cooking shows, which became her inspiration for writing her cookbook along with her personal experiences.
Ms Mulder believes that it is essential that young people are educated and informed about healthy behaviour around eating because there is a lot of information out there. The current information available to students and the online culture have created a complex environment for younger people to navigate. She described the culture as “very intense” and “hard on people’s confidence” She explained that there is a spectrum of “disordered eating… as well as eating disorders.” Frequently people will believe “I’m not that bad”- even when they are experiencing disordered eating. Eating disorders, she clarified, can affect all genders and cultural backgrounds. She said that it is important to empower ourselves and make “conscientious and thoughtful decisions,” and that eating can be for pleasure and for fuel.
Educating others about serious topics such as disordered eating is important to Ms Mulder as she has “an acute sense of what [she is] modelling for young people.” She explained that “as a teacher, [she] bring[s] many of [her] personal experiences and strong beliefs.” At school and in classrooms, there are many different worlds. “You can’t pretend that there isn’t an external world.” She also explained that it is crucial students can see other non-traditional examples of adulthood.
While she has never considered herself an artist, Ms Mulder said that art helped her “realise that we have to see the world in a different way.” Furthermore, she said that “one of the many ways that art enriches our lives is to change the way we see. For me, looking at and thinking about art has meant that I try to stop in my busy day to look at colours, look for patterns, to watch the light change, to appreciate beauty in the everyday things around me. Looking at things this way makes me want to make art! To write down these experiences, or to photograph them, or to think about how a sculpture might have the same effect.”
As well as writing her cookbook, she enjoys photography and creative writing - though she wants to get back to the latter more this year. She also considers the process of home renovation an art form as a lot of consideration which goes into it. Other interests include reading and gardening, and she enjoys listening to 70s rock, Canadian folk music, and German electronica. When I asked her how she has developed as a teacher and an artist over the years, she explained that she has developed “constantly and continually.”
When it comes to advice for other artists, Ms Mulder explains that she likes the saying: “if not you, who? If not now, when?”
Ms Mulder explained that she owns a lot of cookbooks, but told me with a confident smile: “ours is the best one.” She thought carefully about how to teach people to cook and build their confidence, as she understands that many are new to cooking and bring baggage with them, such as a complicated relationship with eating. Her next cookbook will have “no words so that it would be international” and more accessible to others. She strongly encourages people to download their PDF of the East Van Kitchen cookbook and share it with friends.
https://eastvankitchen.com/our-cookbook/
In the future, Ms Mulder plans to start a pub after she retires from teaching, offering a soup of the day and other food. I thank Ms Mulder for so openly sharing her experiences with the readers of Arts Mag and myself, and I wish her all the best with her future endeavours.