Farmers @ Firehouse Saturday, Phipps Sunday
Come down to the Farmers@ Firehouse farmers’ market this Saturday, 8/25, from 9 am-noon to taste some of my cooking. I’ll be manning the Slow Foods demo tent in support of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank’s produce initiatives, which include the Farm Stand Project, volunteer-based Gleaning and Urban Agriculture initiatives, and distribution of produce through the Produce to People program.
Can’t make it to the market on Saturday? Visit Phipps Conservatory’s Tomato & Garlic Festival on Sunday from 11 am-5pm. Admission is free with the donation of a bag of fresh produce for Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. I will not be there, but there will be some other fantastic chefs providing demos throughout the day.
I ordinarily try to be oblique on this page about where I work, because this is an outlet for my personal cooking efforts and opinions on food. But, I am Nutritionist for Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and see every day the tremendous need for healthy foods in our communities and the tremendous impact that Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank has in closing the gap in access to nutritionally sound meals.
Our efforts consist of more than just sending food to where it is needed. We also provide recipes and information about how the ingredients we have available can be used to build healthy meals; and demonstrations of the cooking skills that go into preparing fresh fruits and vegetables.
People who need food assistance are our friends and neighbors. People who struggle to get by, especially in our current recession/ depression. Poor nutrition is tied into poor overall health: when your body doesn’t have the building blocks it needs to fight disease or build new cells, your health suffers. Beyond high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, obesity (which, counter-intuitively, is a form of malnutrition)—poor skin, hair, eyes, teeth; general fatigue; and illness all flow from lack of access to nutritionally adequate food.
Helping people to get more fresh food is a key component of the solution. Even just incorporating fresh produce into a processed meal can make a big difference in nutritional quality, as this informational sheet demonstrates. By providing practical advice and suggestions such as these, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank helps provide solutions.
Please consider showing your support for fresh food for all by visiting one or both of these weekend events.