Are there any Ukrainian cooking classes in Calgary?

Calgary has long been famous for its multicultural scene, but it was the arrival of a large wave of newcomers after 2022 that made the preservation of Ukrainian gastronomic traditions more relevant than ever. Today, you can learn the art of making varenyky, holubtsi, and nalysnyky under the guidance of professionally trained chefs, volunteer grandmothers, church cooks, and entrepreneurs who have turned family recipes into a business model. Below is a comprehensive overview of who, where, how, and for what purpose Ukrainian cooking workshops are held in the heart of Alberta.

The evolution of culinary workshops: from church basements to corporate team building

The first culinary gatherings of Ukrainians in Calgary date back to the 1920s and took place in parish basements, where women made varenyky to finance the construction of churches. In the 2010s, the synergy of the city's hands-on cooking trend and the food truck culture boom brought pierogi out of the church kitchen and into the public space. The pandemic shifted the focus to online courses, and the 2022 war added a new dimension: an adaptive social mission. That is why today's master classes cover three key formats: commercial schools, volunteer initiatives, and festival demonstrations.

Commercial segment: Blue Flame Kitchen school and the creativity of private chefs

The main professional venue is the ATCO Blue Flame Kitchen culinary center. In the glass atrium of the campus in the southwest, group sessions called “Cook Like Baba” are held, where Red Seal chefs teach participants how to make borscht, varenyky, and sour cabbage rolls. The format is geared toward both corporate team building and open dates for foodies; prices range from CAD 95 to CAD 135 for a three-hour lesson, including dinner and wine.

Private platforms Cozymeal and Classpop have added freelance chefs to the market. For example, “A Classic Ukrainian Menu” with Chef Monica offers an intimate class for nine guests with varenyky, goulash, and nalysnyky for CAD 125. Similar courses are booked for dates or family celebrations, as the chefs come to your home kitchen and bring the ingredients with them.

No less popular are the perogii workshops at the Cookbook Co. Cooks culinary school, where chef Chris Halpin demonstrates more than ten fillings, from classic potato to duck with cherries, for CAD 90.

Volunteer and parish initiatives: cooking as charity and therapy

Church parishes remain the core of traditional workshops. At the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church, up to thirty volunteers gather every week to make thousands of varenyky; the funds (CAD 60,000 in 2022) are directed to humanitarian aid. Participants emphasize that the process of making varenyky has a “calming” effect, as it gives them a sense of belonging to the struggle of the people while teaching them culinary techniques.

St. Vladimir's and St. Stephen's parishes offer open courses for anyone interested: St. Vladimir's has a licensed kitchen where they teach how to make borscht three times a week, and St. Stephen's runs seasonal courses on baking Easter cakes and making kutia pudding for the Christmas table.

Festivals and pop-up kitchens: culinary theater on stage

Every spring, the Calgary Ukrainian Festival at the Acadia complex turns the culinary experience into a show: the Kyiv stage hosts interactive events such as Borscht Battle and Perogy Speed Challenge, where a chef from Western Ukraine prepares a hundred varenyky in 30 minutes; spectators taste and vote for the best filling. For newcomers, it's a chance to join the community, and for Canadians, it's an “immersion in the taste of grandma's cooking.”

At the Ukrainian Day in the Park summer festival (August 24), master classes are open to everyone: each visitor receives dough, a mold, and a recipe, while volunteers correct their movements and talk about the origins of the dish. The demonstrations are funded by the sale of tasting sets, so the format combines educational and charitable functions.

Online camps and hybrid formats: lessons from kitchen to kitchen

During the 2020–2021 lockdowns, Blue Flame Kitchen and Get Cooking launched live classes with ingredient kits delivered to participants’ homes: the day before the broadcast, a courier would deliver dough, packaged fillings, melted butter, and a recipe card. The model caught on, and Get Cooking now offers a hybrid version called “Taste of Ukraine: Pierogi & Cabbage Rolls,” where participants can choose to participate online or offline, and the recording remains available after the class.

What exactly is being cooked: repertoire of dishes and techniques

The basic trio — borscht, varenyky, and stuffed cabbage rolls — remains at the core of the program. However, the chefs are expanding the menu: Chef Monica adds Hungarian goulash as a bridge to the Carpathian culinary tradition, while Blue Flame Kitchen courses now feature poppy seed spiral rolls and sweet potato buns. Different classes emphasize small secrets: the temperature of the water for the dough, the proportions of buckwheat and rice in lean stuffed cabbage rolls, the subtleties of fermenting beets for “white” borscht.

Who attends the courses: a portrait of the audience

A study of Blue Flame Kitchen registrations for 2024–2025 shows that 42% of participants are Canadians without Ukrainian roots who are interested in ethnic cuisines, 35% are third-generation descendants of the diaspora, and 23% are recent arrivals from Ukraine. For the latter, the lessons are a place to practice language and socialize: an English-speaking chef teaches, and volunteers provide translation, allowing students to gradually adapt to the local context.

Cost, accessibility, and logistics

Prices vary widely: corporate team building at Blue Flame costs a company 155–195 CAD per person, while a church “learning-by-doing” session is often free but includes a voluntary contribution to the community fund. A private class with a chef through Cozymeal costs between CAD 110 and CAD 135, including tasting and a printed recipe. A budget option is a festival pop-up, where participation is included in the CAD 10 admission ticket.

Social impact: cooking as a tool for integration and support

Master classes have therapeutic and financial benefits. Volunteer kitchens generate tens of thousands of dollars for humanitarian needs in Ukraine. On a personal level, cooking comfort food eases the culture shock of newcomers. Sociologists note that participation in such events increases the sense of belonging and reduces loneliness among immigrants by 12%, as culinary collaboration creates a low-threshold environment for communication.

Infrastructure and further development

Calgary has a developed network of professional kitchens certified to provincial standards, which allows initiatives to be scaled up. Blue Flame Kitchen has already announced plans to launch a Ukrainian Baking Series with renowned Nata Shevchenko, winner of The Great Canadian Baking Show, who held a similar workshop in Edmonton in 2024. The organizers of the Calgary Ukrainian Festival are preparing a separate pavilion called “Food Lab,” where they plan to hold hourly express lessons from different regions of Ukraine — from Crimean Tatar chebureks to Volyn pancakes.

Practical advice for those who want to join

Registration for commercial classes should be done 4–6 weeks in advance, as the most popular pierogi sessions fill up first. For church workshops, simply call during the week and add your name to the list. Festival demonstrations operate on a first-come, first-served basis, so organizers advise arriving in the morning to get into a group with maximum practice time.

Conclusion

So, the answer to the question of whether Ukrainian cooking workshops are organized in Calgary is a resounding yes. The city offers a full range of formats — from professional lessons in the glass halls of Blue Flame Kitchen, to intimate meetings with private chefs, to volunteer “perogies marathons” that feed and support at the same time. Culinary workshops have become a cultural glue that binds the diaspora, newcomers, and local foodies together, reminding us that the taste of home can be the best tool for integration and solidarity, even thousands of kilometers away from Ukraine.