The DC Food For All is an open forum about food and justice in Washington, DC. We come here to talk about the ways that DC residents get food, the ways we eat it, the ways that’s changing and the ways we want to see change.
29 NOV: Sustainable DC inaugural working group meeting
Seems a few departments of City government are interested in discussing sustainability these days. This is the first in a series of working meetings led by the Depts of Planning and the Environment…. Of note, one working group is to focus on food issues in DC. Anticipated topics include: local food production; commercial distribution; access [...]
Here’s to a Healthy Holiday!
This post, and the recipe shared earlier today, are part of a project to collect stories of food, health, culture, and community as part of Bread for the City’s Holiday Helpings Campaign. Stay tuned for the unveiling of our new story bank!
At this time of year, feasting is in order. Many Thanksgiving dishes handed down from year to year are delicious, but not necessarily healthy. Most of us remember eating sweet potatoes swimming in cinnamon, butter, marshmallows and sugar. Delicious, right? It may nourish your spirit, but it’s not good for your body.
Good thing you don’t have to sacrifice taste and tradition to create a healthy meal! Sharon Feuer Gruber, BFC’s nutrition consultant, held a cooking class at the Southeast center last week to get people focused on healthier ways to cook some typical holiday foods. On the menu this month: cabbage salad, sweet potato wedges, and apple compote.
We started by working together to prep the food.
As the sweet potatoes were cooking and people were cutting up the fresh herbs for the salad, Sharon shared the health benefits of the foods they were using. We talked about how the skin of the sweet potatoes has lots of fiber and nutrients and should be scrubbed and eaten along with the rest of the sweet potato. Why spend money on the whole sweet potato and then toss the healthiest part? And we talked about the nutritious fats the meal featured, including those in the walnuts we sprinkled on top of the apples.
The salad was simple — combine red cabbage, carrots, scallions, cilantro, orange segments, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and a touch of maple syrup in a big bowl. (Full recipes are below.) We served up the salad, piping hot sweet potato wedges, and delicious apple compote, and sat down to eat and talk.
We learned that several people had seen recipes like the ones Sharon demonstrated, but hadn’t tried them at home because the combination of foods wasn’t something that they normally ate. One client said the dishes were “surprisingly good.” And everyone ate them up. Several of the attendees were there because their doctors wanted them to change their diets. They wanted to prepare healthier meals for their families, and the cooking class seemed like a good place to start.
The class finished up by brainstorming ways to modify Stuffed Meatloaf, a recipe that was shared with the Holiday Helpings Story Bank earlier in the week. You can use the same tips with your favorite holiday dish!
Here are the original ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 pack of bacon
1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
½ lb. steamed shrimp
1 container crab meat
1 bottle barbecue sauce
1 pack of crackers
1 egg
1 nine inch baking pan
And here are the suggestions from the participants in the nutrition/cooking class:
- Use ground turkey or ground chicken instead of ground beef.
- Add fresh vegetables like green peppers, garlic, onions, and tomatoes.
- Add kidney beans.
- Use hot sauce, tomato paste, or tomato sauce instead of barbecue sauce.
- Use rice, corn flakes, or bread crumbs instead of crackers.
- Use egg whites instead of whole eggs.
Enjoy your holiday! Have fun and think healthy.
Couscous on the go!
2 cups Israeli Couscous
1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 chopped okra
1 chopped pepper
almonds (optional)
Heat couscous with olive oil and water until evaporated
Saute vegetables
Add almonds and vegetables on top of couscous
Holiday Treats
Every holiday season, Bread for the City provides thousands of our clients with special packages from our pantry — including a turkey and all the trimmings. This year we are asking our clients to share their stories, traditions, and recipes, to create a story bank on this blog.
Below are some gems we collected this week. Tomorrow, our nutritionist Sharon Gruber will work with people to brainstorm ways to make these recipes more healthy. We look forward to sharing more food and family traditions with you in the coming weeks.
Food Forests and Renewable Power – A Great Combination
Imagine a forest that is open to all, providing food and sanctuary, right in the middle of Washington. While it might sound like a fairy tale, Ecolocity D.C. is developing a miniature version in the Pleasant Plains neighborhood and hopes to expand this vision throughout the city. While the sun powers the growth of the [...]
Arcadia seeks Mobile Market School Educator!
Do you enjoy working with kids? Are you passionate about local food, food justice, and child nutrition? This could be the job for you! Position: Mobile Market & School Educator Organization: Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture Summary Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture is looking for an enthusiastic, engaging, self-motivated School Educator. [...]
Oct 24: picnics make the world a better place
Take a break from your Monday sometime between 11:30am and 1:00pm to join me and other food-loving friends for a group picnic in honor of Food Day! Think flash mob, but made up of a bunch of friendly folk with checkered blankets and massaged kale salad. Or whatever you’d like to bring for your picnic. [...]
Finally Revealed: Processed Food Rebates Dominate School Cafeterias
Chartwells gets big rebates serving meals like this By Ed Bruske aka The Slow Cook When I first started writing about the food being served in my daughter’s elementary school cafeteria, I figured there had to be a reason children were being fed Apple Jacks cereal, strawberry milk, Pop-Tarts, Giant Goldfish Grahams and Otis Spunkmeyer muffins for [...]
