About Me

Hi my name is Kate Illing and I am in my second year of Elementary Education at the University of Victoria. I was born and raised on the traditional and ancestral lands of the Squamish, Muqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh nations, commonly known to the world as Vancouver. My family is a very big unit, six kids and I am the youngest which has been a blessing and a curse. When I was growing up I was athletic and enjoyed playing volleyball, basketball, ultimate frisbee, and swimming. Alongside my athletic career, I also found pleasure in anything that allowed me to express creativity. This was through painting, crafting, dancing, fashion, and especially baking. I have always enjoyed baking because it brought people together; my siblings from upstairs to eat my freshly baked cookies, my neighbour that lended me a cup of flour or using my grandma’s recipe while she was across the country.

I decided to base my inquiry blog on the creation of recipe boxes, and then the process of creating my own. The concept and idea of recipe boxes has been something I have been familiar with my whole life. I remember my grandma grabbing her recipe box to find her famous chocolate chip cookie recipe that her grandma shared with her. Through this memory, I began to realize how powerful recipe boxes truly are. They act as time capsules, holding shared stories, traditions, and memories connected to food. This project carries a great deal of depth, and I believe it could be meaningfully brought into the classroom. Recipes and food have the ability to bring people together and create opportunities to learn more about one another’s backgrounds, cultures, and identities.