While many restaurants will be offering $20, $30, or $40 set menus as part of the 15th annual Dine Out Vancouver Festival, taking place from this Friday (January 20) to February 5, there’s one local spot that will be serving up a hearty meal for a fraction of these prices.

As part of the kickoff to the citywide fete, over 30 local chefs will be gathering at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (PICA) this Friday (January 20) to help cook up a flavourful soup that will boast everything but the kitchen sink.

The event is being dubbed the Chef Soup Experiment and will see each chef bringing an ingredient of his or her choosing to the culinary school. The items, which range from parsnips, faro, and Vietnamese coriander to smoked-salmon sausage, cauliflower, and white wine, will then be combined into a soup by PICA’s students.

Samples of the soup will be offered to the public by donation. All proceeds will benefit the United Way’s Stop the Growl program, which provides families in need across the Lower Mainland with fresh, nutritious meals and the knowledge required to make healthy food decisions in the long run.

“With the United Way’s connections in the food supplier industry, they can augment the volume of ingredients beyond what the chefs bring,” Lucas Pavan, Dine Out Vancouver Festival coordinator, tells the Straight by phone, “to the point that we can serve up thousands of portions versus the few hundred that we’ve done previously.”

Pavan reveals that he borrowed the collective-soup concept from a friend in Pemberton who organizes a neighbourhood cookout among fellow cabin-goers every summer. Although the Chef Soup Experiment took place as part of the Dine Out Vancouver Festival in 2013 and 2014, this is the first time that the event involves a charitable component. 

“It’s more about being a community gathering,” Pavan adds.

Among the participating chefs are Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House’s Wayne Sych, Mission Kitsilano’s Curtis Luk, and Tableau Bar Bistro’s Tret Jordan. Celebrated bartender and co-owner of Bittered Sling Lauren Mote will also be attending with her smoky Moondog bitters in hand. 

The freshly prepared soup will be served at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (1505 West 2nd Avenue) this Friday (January 20) beginning at 12:30 p.m. while supplies last.

The suggested donation is $5, though attendees are welcome to contribute more to the United Way if they wish.