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A lesson in chocolate-making Iqaluit students making treats in anticipation of Valentine's Day
Peter Worden
Northern News Services
Published Friday, February 1, 2013
IQALUIT
What better, sweeter way to teach entrepreneurship than starting with chocolate -- easy to manufacture and high in demand with Valentine's Day just around the corner.
Young entrepreneurs and chocolatiers of Iqaluit gather in front of a table of marketing materials Jan 29 at the Makkuttukkuvik Youth Center. From left, Liam Kabalaik, Alana Piessen and Alana Kilabuk will make their own chocolate this week, then market and sell for Valentine's Day with the help of instructors Amelie Morel and Francois Fortin, back. - Peter Worden/NNSL photo
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Young aspiring entrepreneurs and chocolatiers in Iqaluit ages 10 to 18 will get that opportunity this week with local chocolate and entrepreneurship workshops at Makkuttukkuvik Youth Center.
"Chocolate is a way to interest people in entrepreneurship and make it appealing for teenagers," said Amelie Morel with Carrefour Nunavut, who, with the financial support of the Kakivak Association, offered the three-week chocolate-making workshop.
"There's an introduction to the chocolate universe, for example high-quality versus Hershey, where it comes from and different types of chocolate, that sort of thing," said Morel. The course is interactive, featuring a professional photo shoot for the young entrepreneurs. Its special guest teacher, 25-year-old renowned Montreal chocolate-maker Constance Tassé-Gagnon, is slated to arrive today, Feb 4, for the week. Tassé-Gagnon, an award-winning pastry chef, was recently on the show Les chefs! on Radio-Canada.
This week, under the tutelage of Tassé-Gagnon, students will begin measuring, mixing, mortar-and-pestling, scraping and spreading fine chocolate on slabs. The chocolate-making workshops are then coupled with an introduction to entrepreneurship
"Kids will develop market to sell chocolate on Valentines," said Morel explaining the students will then go to town with their product to sell it, and the money raised will go to the youth centre. The young entrepreneurs will each be responsible for their own original marketing strategy.
"That's the purpose," said Morel, adding Iqalungmiut will have to keep an eye out next week for these special Valentine's day treats. "(The students) might use radio or maybe set up displays in shops or go door-to-door."
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