Following in the footsteps of initiatives such as Dining Out for Life, InspireHealth is launching the first-ever Inspired Dining Week to increase awareness of the nonprofit organization while raising funds for cancer care.

From this Saturday (October 15) to October 23, Vancouverites will have the option of ordering a special dish at 24 participating restaurants. Twenty-five percent of proceeds from each dish sold will be donated to InspireHealth.

“Sometimes when people get sick, they think, ‘Okay, I have to control absolutely everything and I’ve got to eat really well, so that means I can’t go out,’ ” says Stefenie Milosz, InspireHealth’s communications and marketing manager, by phone. “So this is also a celebration of the fact that there are great restaurants that do focus on quality and healthy foods you can enjoy.”   

Established in 1997, InspireHealth provides free services, such as clinical consultations, nutritional guidance, counselling, and personalized exercise therapy, to Canadians diagnosed and living with cancer as well as their family members. Milosz notes that the dishes offered during Inspired Dining Week will focus on fresh, nutritious ingredients.

Participating restaurants, markets, and eateries include:

Café Medina

Wildebeest

Maenam

Burdock & Co.

Homer St. Café

Chef’s Harvest

Pidgin

Tableau Bar Bistro

The Juice Truck

Bufala

The Union

The Acorn

Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar

Cascade Room

Zend Conscious Lounge

 El Camino’s

Field & Social

Longtail Kitchen

Nourish

Charlie’s Little Italian

Culver City Salads

Latab Wine Bar

Lucky Taco

Meinhardt Fine Foods

The nine-day campaign ties in with a number of InspireHealth’s food-related initiatives this year, including the upcoming release of Inspired Cooking, a “storytelling cookbook” featuring good-for-you recipes from chefs like Vikram Vij and Ned Bell.

For more information about Inspired Dining Week, click here.