Flavours of Hope is a non-profit social enterprise that envisions newcomer women flourishing and experiencing belonging through cooking, storytelling, community-building, and entrepreneurship.
When you support newcomer refugee and immigrant women through Flavours of Hope, you help to build strong relationships, connections, and economic opportunity. All donations made through our website are tax deductible.
Our 2025 End-of-Year Fundraiser is here!
Welcome to Dream Recipes Reveal, a celebration of food, culture, and the inspiring women of the Dream Cuisines Food Business Program.
This year, we’re inviting our community to support newcomer refugee and immigrant women entrepreneurs through a special recipe-unlock fundraiser. As donations come in and we reach our fundraising milestones, we will reveal three beautiful recipes created by women in our program - each one carrying a story of home, resilience, and culinary creativity.
How It Works
Your donations help us reach three shared goals:
$5,000 Unlocks Recipe #1
$10,000 Unlocks Recipe #2
$15,000 Unlocks Recipe #3
Every revealed recipe highlights the creativity and resilience of a newcomer woman building her food business and her future.
Flavours of Hope Cafe at Granville Island
Flavours of Hope Cafe is now open at the Granville Island Public Market. This year-long community space brings together five immigrant women-owned and Black-owned food businesses offering comforting meals, delicious baked goods, and pantry favourites inspired by cultures around the world.
Enjoy a shared menu created by:
• Sabor a Yucatán - flavourful Yucatecan dishes like cochinita pibil, frijoles, lime soup, and horchata
• Elaichi Patisserie - Indian-inspired pastries and desserts crafted with French techniques
• Kula Foods - soulful, plant-based Afro-vegan dishes and snacks
• Ruka Cocina - homestyle Chilean comfort food and traditional empanadas
• Elbo Patties - flaky Jamaican patties with bold Caribbean flavour
Food that connects. Culture you can taste. Come visit us and feel right at home.
Location: Granville Island Public Market, 1689 Johnston Street (across from JJ Bean)
Time: Open daily, 9am–5pm
Watch us on Global BC TV News!
Exciting news: We are on TV! We are excited to share that Global BC did an interview with us to feature our pop-up Granville Island Public Market and two of the women’s food businesses at the market! We are so proud of Samira from Dar Darak Samira Kitchen and Laura from Sabor a Yucatan for sharing their stories about their family businesses and their dreams for the future. It is inspiring to see the women and their daughters working together to connect with customers and sell their delicious food!
Watch 'Flavours of Hope: Nourishing Community, Cultivating Change' on CBC!
Flavours of Hope equips and empowers newcomer refugee and immigrant women to:
Earn a livable income
Unemployment creates a cycle of poverty and takes a psychological toll on newcomers who are working to support their family and new life in Canada. We create opportunities and spaces to empower newcomer women to fully participate in the economy by earning a livable income and flourishing in the community.
Create social connections
We believe that sharing food and stories together can create strong connections and friendships. Food brings people together and builds bridges and understandings between different cultures. The act of eating together around a table can break down language, cultural, and socio-economic barriers, and build relationships between newcomers and Canadians.
Build equitable communities
We deeply value reciprocity and collaboration with individuals and groups in the communities. We strive to work together with local businesses, non-profit organizations, food networks, and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) mentors to create inclusive food systems and build equitable communities. We believe in the collective impact and power of women leadership.
“Food can be a vehicle for social change. It brings people together in a way that very few activities can.”
About Our Programs
We build programs based on peer knowledge and deep relationship, centring women’s wisdom, culture, and food for meaningful connection and community-building.
Systemic barriers, social isolation, and lack of language access can make it difficult for newcomer refugee and immigrant women to find safety and belonging. By creating platforms of shared experience, and using food as a powerful common language, we make space for women to bring forward their strengths and creativity for economic empowerment, holistic wellness and social flourishing.
Food Entrepreneurship
Dream Cuisines: A Newcomer Women’s Food Business Program
In 2021, amidst a global pandemic, we kickstarted an imaginative new program designed in collaboration with an inaugural cohort of newcomer refugee women entrepreneurs. In partnership with Coho Commissary, who provided commissary kitchen use, the Vancouver Farmers Market, Vancity Credit Union, and the Women’s Economic Council, we built Dream Cuisines from the ground-up to offer educational and skills-building workshops, knowledge-sharing networks, and access to mentorship. We have launched 15 incredible newcomer women’s food businesses into the farmers market, retail shops, and catering since 2021!
Connection & Community
Drop-in programs we have run in the past include:
Intercultural Tea Time: a weekly circle of sharing tea and stories, where newcomer women can develop intercultural communication skills, combat isolation, and meet new people
Healthy Cooking Together: online cooking sessions where women share different cultural recipes and stories with each other
Creative Coffee: small social gatherings where newcomer women connect over coffee, desserts, and creative activities such as natural dyeing and seasonal crafts
Our team creates new activities and community events every year. Subscribe to our newsletter below for updates!
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