The fine china was set, sugar cubes on the table & peacock feather centre pieces perfectly poised for a High Tea Roaring 20’s afternoon event in support of The Raw Carrot Soup Enterprise. The exciting afternoon was taking place at Brant’s Bethel Stone United Church.  The fringes, sequins, flapper dresses, headbands, pinstripes, many were dressed for the theme and ready to sip the soup that is #peelingforchange.  The High Tea servings were complete with fancy sandwiches, decadent tarts and luxurious squares accompanied with  pots of Orange Pekoe Tea. With pinkies up, we enjoyed every delicious sip.

Enter the Raw Carrot Soup Social Franchise, with it’s headquarters “Hub” in Paris Ontario and working kitchens expanding into  Mt. Forest and Kitchener.  The remarkable efforts of this concept of making and selling soup with a purpose, continues to propel forward with a-peeling momentum, thanks to the commitment of co-founders Colleen Graham and Rebecca Sherbino. This dynamic duo continues to put people in partnership with soup to give a new meaning to belonging.

The Raw Carrot is a social franchise that partners with churches and non-profits across Ontario to create meaningful employment for individuals on the Ontario Disability Support Program. The vehicle through which this happens is the preparation, cooking and sales of handcrafted gourmet soup in local communities.

This isn’t any bowl of soup & it’s not a Soup Kitchen of sorts, and yet it truly is a ‘working soup kitchen.’ The staff of seven source the ingredients, chopping, measuring for accuracy, timing the cooking and then packaging and storing soup for shipping, eventually reaching the stores and then your shopping cart.  This isn’t your average soup, but gourmet soups that are being shipped throughout Ontario and sold in the high-end gourmet soups section of markets, boutique grocery stores and more.

The selection of soups are:

• The Signature Carrot Soup
• The Flying Noodle Soup
• Veggie Mania Soup
• Loaded Potato and Bacon Soup
• Hearty Lentil and Barley Soup
• Mulligatawny Soup
• Spicy-ish Sausage and Cabbage Soup
• Kale and Navy Bean Soup

The High Tea celebration was a fine china kind of afternoon with a beautifully inspiring purpose. This fancy occasion gave the local community a gift of gourmet to learn about the social franchise that makes savoury soups with a difference.  Everyone of us has something in common: the desire to live a purposeful life and The Raw Carrot is doing exactly this.  Food Builds Community. #goodtimesinbrant  

Live painting took place during the High Tea by  Artist Jeanette Obbink of Paris Ontario