With a number of celebrations coming up, for those who would prefer to make their own meals and snacks instead of going out or ordering in, there are online cooking classes that can help you out in that regard.

Here are upcoming virtual sessions to learn how to make food for Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day, and even B.C. Family Day.

Chinese dumplings

Are you ready to welcome the Year of the Ox on the Lunar New Year next week on February 12?

If you want to celebrate by making Chinese dumplings for the first time, here are some upcoming opportunities that will teach participants how to do so.

As part of the 2021 Dine Out Vancouver Festival (DOVF), Historical Chinatown Tours is presenting a Virtual Dumpling Masterclass online from 5 to 6:30 p.m., as of today (February 5) and continuing until March 7.

The session will cover preparations, wrappers, fillings, and cooking (plus, needless to say, tasting the results).

The cost is $30 and details are available at the DOVF website.

Meanwhile, the Vancouver Public Library (VPL) is offering Dear Dumpling: Stories and Cooking Tips for Lunar New Year, which will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday (February 10) with Happy Woman Kitchen’s Wendy Au Yeung and Dicky’s Dumps’ Dickson and Pearl.

The webinar will teach participants about the history of dumplings in addition to recipes and stories.

For more information and to register, visit the VPL website.

Middle Eastern meze

If you’re interested in making plant-based food for Valentine’s Day, here’s a workshop that takes place just a few days before the big event.

Also part of DOVF, In My Kitchen presents host and cookbook author Fatima who will teach viewers how to make drinks and vegetarian small plates using traditional Middle Eastern ingredients in new ways.

Those who participate will learn how to make a Blueberry Rosewater Mimosa; Pomegranate Cosmo; baked brie with dates, dukkah spice, and saffron; tamarind-stuffed eggplant; and roasted garlic, spinach, and balsamic borek (light savoury pie).

This cooking class will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on February 11, and the cost is $32.10. For more details, visit the DOVF website.

Bannock

When it comes to bread in Vancouver, one type that is traditional in this region for Indigenous people but is not readily available on grocery store shelves—and one that many locals may not have eaten before—is bannock.

This fry bread has origins in Scotland but has been integrated into Indigenous cuisine, including in the Pacific region.

Darnell Stager, manager of the West Broadway bistro Salmon ’n’ Bannock, will teach attendees about the cultural significance of this bread, and how to make it.

To help celebrate the Family Day long weekend, the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art will offer a free online bannock making workshop from 1 to 2 p.m. on February 13.

A maximum of 50 people are permitted to register. Details are available online.