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JOPPA, Texas — Chef Amber Williams says a group of about 20 young people plucked carrots, cabbages and Brussels sprouts from the cold soil at Joppa Mama’s Farm, tied them up in 25-degree temperatures and left them freshly picked. I watched as produce was packed into plastic boxes. Before long, they were all feasting on the local fruits while nibbling on Williams’ veggie-packed cabbage wraps.
Founded in 1872 by freed slave Henry Hines, Joppa (pronounced “Joppy”) is one of the last free towns in Texas, a barren town of about 2,000 people located 15 minutes south of downtown Dallas. is a low-income community. Joppa Mama’s Farm was founded in 2021 with the aim of changing Joppa’s status as a federally declared food desert, with the nearest supermarket several miles away.
While the crew prepared the mix of chickpeas, green peppers, and palm cores that would become the stuffing for the cabbage wraps, Williams helped the children who were visiting the farm with the help of Jack and Jill, a local chapter of the youth leadership organization. and spoke to his family. America.
“Farms like this are so important because they provide people with healthy food that they can’t get on other farms,” Williams said. “Has anyone seen a grocery store? Imagine if you had to walk to the store and return home with all your groceries.”
Williams grew up in the desert in Oak Cliff, south of Dallas near Joppa, so he’s used to desert food. Food deserts are geographic areas defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture based on distance and access to supermarkets from households, but researchers believe the term can address broader challenges, such as food being plentiful but , most are debating whether they adequately capture things like unhealthy or unaffordable places.
In her recently published cookbook, Surviving Food Deserts, she aims to address such issues with simple recipes, some of which can be adapted to suit available items. Masu.
“Sometimes these families don’t have a lot to work with, so I wanted to make sure that,” Williams said.
Her “Kitchen Cleaning Goulash” may be the book’s best example of that principle. Many protein, starch, vegetable, and liquid substitutes are listed at the bottom.
“It’s about going to the fridge and throwing whatever you have there,” Williams said. “It can be customized to fit what you have on hand.”
Parents say the concept of food deserts is as important for children to learn as where food comes from.
“We need to understand that not everyone lives the same way we do,” said Shannon, who lives in the Dallas suburb of Cedar Hill with her son Zachary, 8, and daughter Zoe, 6. Hart said.
Some researchers prefer terms such as “food swamps” or even “food apartheid” rather than food deserts. Both refer to low-income areas where financial, supply, and time constraints challenge residents’ ability to make appropriate nutritional choices.
“What’s happening is that individuals are choosing options that are not convenient or healthy,” said Thomas Felke, an associate professor of social work at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. “These are the regions where obesity and diabetes are most prevalent. And if you don’t get the nutrition, your body breaks down.”
An estimated 19 million U.S. residents were considered to have low access in 2019, according to the Congressional Research Service. Meanwhile, about 7% of Dallas’ low-income population lives at least one mile from an urban grocery store and more than 20 miles from a rural grocery store, according to USAFacts.org.
Growing up, Williams remembers her family’s meals collected from food drive boxes.
“That’s one of the things that drives my passion,” she said. “I know what that struggle is. I want to bring my culinary knowledge to the conversation.”
Learn kitchen skills as a child
Williams’ obsession with food began on a kitchen stool. There she sat next to her mother and together they cooked Cajun and Creole dishes that reminded her of her family’s Louisiana roots. When she was 5 years old, Williams said, she was licking the bowl clean. By the age of 8, she knew she wanted to be a chef, she said.
“I didn’t grow up eating Texas comfort food,” she says. “It was jambalaya, or red beans and rice. I tell people, I didn’t grow up eating fried chicken. I grew up eating fried frog legs.”
Williams recalled sitting at the table as her mother planned future meals for the family, and speculated that experience may have influenced her menu development skills.
“I had an extra mother,” she said. “I remember loving having people around the table and watching them eat after you cooked. I told myself that I wanted to create a unique experience.”
Ms. Williams earned a degree in business administration from Grambling State University in 2011. A few years later, she launched her own catering business, Le Her Rouge Her Cuisine, which she runs in Dallas, serving food she describes as “high Creole fusion.”
But Williams suddenly found life difficult as customers began canceling due to the coronavirus pandemic. Eventually, she said, she started standing in line at the pantry and it reminded her of the food boxes of her youth.
Thus the idea for a cookbook was born.
Cooking challenges using food pantry items
Items in the pantry vary widely from week to week depending on season, geographic location, donations, and product costs.
“It depends on what people have to donate and what we can buy at an affordable price,” said the Storehouse New Mexico in Albuquerque, one of the state’s largest food pantries. Jill Beetz says:
While rummaging through boxes in the pantry, Williams realized that he knew far more than he had as a child.
“As a chef, I had the creativity to work with these things,” she said. “I couldn’t help but think about the families who didn’t.”
Her book thus evolved, featuring recipes inspired by items she acquired, including beans, rice, spaghetti, and cornbread. Selections like cinnabutter drop biscuits (“don’t be afraid to use your hands and get dirty,” she writes) and mom’s foil packet dinners (“the epitome of making something from nothing”) It is characterized by
She said the concerns she’s heard from pantry users are the same as common themes raised by other pantries. The fresh food they had access to was sometimes unfamiliar, and they didn’t know what to do with fresh green beans and familiar canned food, for example. .
“We got pallets of lentils last year, and a lot of people didn’t know how to cook them from dry,” said Beetz of Storehouse New Mexico. “They can cause stomach pain if not cooked correctly, but they are very nutritious.”
In these cases, pantry directors may post recipes online to guide clients through the cooking process.
“If people don’t know what to do with it, they’ll just market it,” said Jean Battelle, a researcher who directs two nutrition education programs for low-income people through the University of Hawaii at Manoa. “We try to give them a way to use things, like this is when it’s ripe, this is how to cut it, this is how to cook it, etc. We just want it to be what it is. Help them understand what they can do to make it healthier.”
For example, Spam is very popular in Hawaii, but it also contains a lot of salt, so program staff advises against stretching it. For example, mix it with cooked cabbage to make it part of a larger meal rather than consuming the Spam all together. immediately.
“We’re trying to build skills rather than saying, ‘Here’s a recipe,'” Butel says. “Well, I’ve got this food, how can I use it without wasting it?” What can I add to make it healthier and more complete? Develop and empower them to figure it out for themselves. ”
Planting seeds of knowledge and health
Returning to Joppy Mama’s Farm, founder and executive director Kimberly Haigh explained that being diagnosed with diabetes inspired her to start growing her own food. Eventually, she started a farm and garden on land in Joppa inherited from her grandmother and her great-grandmother, and she is no longer dependent on insulin, she said.
“My brother died of diabetes,” Hai told the group. “This is a deadly disease, but it can be managed simply by improving your diet.”
Jamisha Pipkins Lynch of Mansfield, Texas, who visited the farm with her 9-year-old daughter Maya, said it’s good for young people to learn about proper nutrition and the value of growing their own vegetables. .
“They are planting seeds here, literally and figuratively,” she said. “I’m sure Maya would like to make her own cabbage rolls.”
Williams’ cookbook is part of a broader, long-term project she envisions promoting healthier eating and creative cooking through education and culinary resources. She is already working on the next phase of the project, a line of low-salt to no-salt spices, and hopes to eventually launch a series of cooking classes.
The book’s price of $34.99 may seem steep to those on a budget, but the organization, which is dedicated to uplifting families facing healthy eating challenges, is offering its services. Williams said he hopes customers will find the book worth offering.
“Companies will have the most influence and the most money,” she says. “Imagine if food banks could put this book in a box. If we could provide people with education and access, we could really level that playing field.”
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