TORONTO — In the early months of the pandemic, when TPI’s advisors would ‘get together’ as only people could at that time – virtually, of course – the conversation would inevitably turn to food.

During lockdown TPI’s advisors were trying new recipes and reinventing old favourites, and sharing their success stories with their colleagues.

And so Zeina Gedeon, CEO & President, TPI, thought, why not create a cookbook?

“During this unsettling time, we all wanted to feel connected to each other and what better way than to talk about our homes, our family and our days,” Gedeon told Sphere this week.

“During our daily calls and on our Facebook group our advisors started sharing what they baking, cooking, and from there came the idea of getting together as a family (our Advisors, our staff and our suppliers), to make a cookbook to highlight what we have been preparing during the quarantine.”

Out of all this connection, camaraderie and cooking came ‘Travel Eats with TPI’, a mix of long-time family favourites passed down for generations, and international cuisine inspired by the global travels of TPI Advisors.

The 100 recipes “represent the best of quarantine cooking” by TPI Advisors, supplier partners and the host agency’s head office team.

What are Gedeon’s top three recipes from Travel Eats with TPI? “It is so difficult to just go with three as I have started trying out the recipes and I have done 32 of the 100,” she says. “Already many of them are my favourites. I have 68 more to go, I can’t wait to try the rest. My taste buds thank everyone but my waistline is not happy.”

A copy of the cookbook can be downloaded for free here.

Gathering the recipes and putting the cookbook together was fun, and it was also a boost for everyone’s mental health, says Gedeon. TPI is using the project to shine a light on its corporate charity jack.org, which focuses on training and empowering young leaders to revolutionize mental health.

“More than ever, mental health is critical for all of us,” she says. “These are tough times for all and what better way than to work with an organization that increases the awareness and addresses the needs of mental health especially in our youth.”

Gedeon adds that one in five Canadians will struggle with a mental illness in any given year, “but each one of us has mental health. Mental health even today has so much stigma around it and it is still not openly discussed in society.”

In the two years since TPI partnered with jack.org, the host agency has raised more than $45,000 via various fundraising activities. Donations to jack.org can be made here.

‘Travel Eats with TPI’ brought together the host agency’s supplier partners too, and Gedeon says she has received many emails from industry colleagues congratulating TPI for the creative way to increase awareness for jack.org and mental health.

“It was such a fun activity and the best part of it all was all the laughter, collaboration and camaraderie amongst our family to get this done,” says Gedeon.