AmeriHealth is a proud supporter of America’s Grow-a-Row, a nonprofit organization that will donate over 3.9 million pounds of fresh produce this year to help combat hunger and food insecurity. The produce is grown on 423 acres of land over four farm locations in New Jersey and harvested with the aid of more than 14,000 volunteers each year.
America’s Grow-a-Row also has a program that educates Americans from all walks of life about the connection between agriculture, nutrition, and healthy eating.
Recently, I interviewed Shauna Alvarez, Executive Chef and Program Manager for America’s Grow-a-Row, about this education program.
What led you from working as a pastry chef at Le Bec Fin to doing nutrition education at America’s Grow-a-Row?
My career has always been about feeding people the best you can with the resources you have available. As a pastry chef, that meant creating a lot of delight and comfort and helping people celebrate.
Working at America’s Grow-a-Row for the past 5 years has really been about making it easier for people to eat well, no matter what their economic situation. It’s still all about bringing people together.
What are your goals with your students?
We let our community partners tell us what they would like to learn. For a lot of them, it’s about how to feed your family nutritious meals week in and week out.
But it varies, because our students represent all ages, from preschool — age three or four — all the way through graduate school and adulthood.
Between the ages of 14 and 18, our participants need basic life skills, like how to cut vegetables with a knife. They need to start thinking about feeding themselves. And for young kids, it’s about exposing them to fruits and vegetables and having them use their senses to process that information.
Also, we like to broaden the lens. If we’re learning to make a Middle Eastern salad, we talk about the countries it could come from. We talk about seasonality or how the food system works in general. We just really want to get people excited about their food choices, to feel empowered, and to have a lot of fun cooking for themselves and their families.
What part do kids enjoy the most?
Learning how food grows. Just seeing a farmer driving by on a tractor sparks a million questions and connections in children’s minds. The more time they spend thinking about agriculture, the more interesting their food becomes to them in their homes.
The older ones are always surprised by the skills they learn. This week I showed a teenage boy how to cut a pepper. After he did it, he tasted it, and he just looked at me like a miracle had occurred. That’s a great feeling. And it just takes a little basic encouragement for kids to develop a lifelong skill.
Children attending the education session at Team Walker receive printed recipe cards, cooking utensils and produce, funded by AmeriHealth.
What part do you enjoy the most?
I like watching the excitement build. When you see somebody who starts out pretty certain they’re not going to like a particular food, and by the end, they’re surprised and delighted by it, it’s priceless!
I love watching a kid try their very first peach, and the juice goes down their face, and their eyes light up with the whole journey. I get to see those delighted discoveries most weeks, with a variety of produce types or dishes. That’s always the best part of my job.
What are kids’ favorite foods to make?
Fruit salad! In the winter we use citrus, grapes, blueberries, and dragon fruit; in the summer, we also add peaches. And then we garnish it with mint, basil, fresh thyme, or cilantro. We let them smell the herbs and decide which one they like best. The garnishes bump up the sensory experience and allow kids to choose where they want to go with the flavors.
What’s it like teaching adults?
It’s exciting to watch them discover that they have agency with respect to their nutrition, no matter what their situation. All the ingredients we work with can be found at a food pantry and are eligible for SNAP or WIC. We can empower folks to take care of their health in real time.
We do a meal-kit program with the Flemington Area Food Pantry that’s geared towards families with at least two school-age kids. And sometimes the parents will send us videos, like of their four-year-old, five-year-old, or eight-year-old flipping a pancake. That creates memories within that household of cooking and eating together. All the research shows that eating meals together really has a long-term positive impact on families’ health outcomes.
Do you have advice for busy parents in preparing healthy meals?
Decide what vegetables you’re going to prepare first…and make sure they’re ones that people will actually eat. An idealistic vegetable does nobody any good!
If there are flavors that everyone likes, find seven or eight meals that use those flavors. Then make sure you’ve got all the ingredients in your pantry.
I’m also a big proponent of leftovers — getting really comfortable with them and learning how to use them. When you make rice, pasta, or beans…make extra!
But, you know, it’s hard! At my house, we have pizza every week, and we eat a lot of pasta. We had pasta last night.
What role does AmeriHealth play in supporting your program?
This is our second year working together specifically on education, and this year AmeriHealth is sponsoring our after-school education at Team Walker in Jersey City. And that support is what allows my team to create a high-quality program and deliver it.
Also, the kids that come through a lot of our programs get to take the food home. And in the off-season, we have to purchase that food. So the financial support from AmeriHealth translates into nutritious, delicious food for those families. It’s just been a joy to work together.
