When Sarah Frey arrived in Labrador from Yellowknife as part of Memorial University’s Arctic and Subarctic Futures graduate program, she expected to learn about the region.
What she didn’t expect was to form a deep connection with a new place.
“I feel like I have a relationship with Labrador coming out of the course,” she said.
That relationship, built through community visits, land-based learning and countless conversations throughout the summer, culminated in an unusual final project: a cook-off competition where students transformed their learning into a meal inspired by Labrador’s cultures, communities and lands.
Ms. Frey and classmate Maggie Webb took top honours with a menu rooted in a simple but powerful theme: to use every part of the animal.
The video below showcases the winners’ cook-off menu.
The annual cook-off is the signature closing activity in Learning Labrador, a course taught by Dr. Damian Castro at Memorial’s Labrador Campus.
Rather than ending with a traditional exam, students work in teams to create and present a meal that reflects what they have learned.
“The idea is to connect education with the people, places and experiences that make Labrador unique,” said Dr. Castro. “Students aren’t only learning in a classroom. They’re learning through community, through relationships and through the land itself.”
Connecting with place
Throughout the course, students visit communities, meet with knowledge holders and residents, explore local history and engage directly with the people and cultures that shape Labrador.
Those experiences left a lasting impression for Ms. Frey, who works with Indigenous governments across the North.
“When it’s described as land-based learning, that’s what it actually is,” she said. “We were out on the land, talking with people, learning from communities and learning through experience.”
For Ms. Webb, a longtime Labrador nurse, the program offered an opportunity to see familiar places from a new perspective.
“It’s actually the best learning I’ve ever experienced.”
“I’m learning a different way of doing and thinking. It’s actually the best learning I’ve ever experienced.”
Inspired by tradition
Their winning cook-off entry reflected many lessons learned throughout the course.
After learning that Dr. Castro donated his own harvested moose meat for students to use, Ms. Webb and Ms. Frey were immediately interested in working with moose tongue.
Having lived for many years in Nain, Ms. Webb recalled tongue being considered a prized food and often one of the first parts prepared after a successful hunt.
That appreciation became the foundation of their menu.
“We wanted to focus on the idea that nothing goes to waste,” said Ms. Frey. “Everything has a purpose.”
Their dishes included muskox marrow served on sourdough toast, roasted moose tongue with redberry sauce and a blueberry dessert made using pork gelatin, inspired by traditional nose-to-tail cooking practices.
“Food tells stories. It’s connected to family, culture, history and place.”
They sourced ingredients through local harvesters, community connections and food-sharing networks, reinforcing lessons about reciprocity, sustainability and community.
Dr. Castro believes that’s what makes the cook-off meaningful.
“Food tells stories. It’s connected to family, culture, history and place. Through food, students can explore those connections in a very tangible way.”
Learning from each other
Just as important are the connections students build with one another.
Drawn from different regions, backgrounds, and stages of life, students quickly form a close-knit cohort. Through shared travel, field experiences and classroom discussions, relationships develop that often extend well beyond the program.
“The cohort becomes your family,” said Ms. Webb. “At first, you think everyone knows more than you do. Then you get to know people, and you realize how much you can learn from each other.”
Those relationships became a defining part of the experience for both students, turning classmates into a support network.
The cohort experience became one of the program’s most rewarding aspects for Ms. Frey, who describes the program as a rare combination of academic learning, personal growth and community connection.
“When we think about evolving academic spaces to be rooted in community priorities and lived experience, this program is doing that,” she said. “I just feel so grateful to have stumbled upon it.”
While the judges and a local chef praised the winning meal, both students say the true reward was the experience itself.
The cook-off may mark the end of Learning Labrador, but for students like Ms. Frey and Ms. Webb, it represents an enduring connection to Labrador, lasting friendships and a learning experience that stays with them long after the last plate is cleared away.
