edibleRHODY ®

Celebrating the Bounty of Rhode Island, Season by Season

Fall 2009 • Number 11

Trawler Time
Well-Preserved
The Great Pumpkin
Doughnut Debate
Hot Tandoor

Member Edible Communities


Food Heroes
By Gloria DePaola
Photos by STEPHANIE ALVAREZ EWENS
Nutrition 101
Fit2Cook4Kids Teaches the ABCs of Healthy Eating
—and Much More
One youngster had never eaten a banana. An- the perfect age, says Salvatore, because most pre-
other is addicted to sugared drinks and at age teens are past the picky eater stage and they are
11 is seriously overweight. These are just two impressionable and eager to learn. Last spring
early-onset nutritional problems that Karen Sal- 48 North Providence youngsters graduated from
vatore of North Kingstown is determined to the program held at the DaVinci Center in
change through an after-school program called Providence. (North Providence was targeted be-
Fit2Cook4Kids, designed to instill good nutri- cause of its high rate of diabetes.)
tional habits in middle school students at risk Designed somewhat like a job training
for childhood diabetes and obesity. program, the participating students are paid
This pilot program began in February with $30 a week and for that small stipend they
students meeting twice a week for six weeks. It’s must attend all the classes where they set up,
prep food, cook and clean up. In addition they
20 fall 2009 EDIBLERHODY.COM
must taste everything—even the green and
healthy stuff.
With busy working parents, some young-
sters admitted that they don’t often eat food
prepared from scratch. “Some of them think
that food comes out of a bag or a box, and a
few never eat fresh fruit,” said Karen. But
under the energetic direction of Master Chef
Angel Ferrer they soon learn basic kitchen skills
and, most importantly, how to prepare food
from scratch that is tasty as well as healthy.
Judging from the enthusiastic response of
the 11- to 14-year-old participants and their par-
ents, Fit2Cook4Kids is a program whose time
has come.
A typical class begins with an eight-step
hand-washing procedure. Upon their arrival
Chef Angel has prepared after-school snacks
from market-fresh ingredients, and several stu-
dents put on plastic gloves and arrange the
food with an eye to presentation, “because your
first impression of food is through the eyes.”
The buffet consists of orange wedges and a
bowl of plump ripe strawberries, cheese and
crackers and plates of bite-sized roasted
chicken prepared with soy sauce, honey, sea salt
and lime juice. There’s also a mixed salad with
balsamic vinaigrette dressing and a sweet
treat—plain yogurt mixed with frozen fruits
from the Whole Foods 365 budget line.
Sounds delicious, but when one boy
balked at tasting an unfamiliar dish, Karen re-
minded him, "Keep an open mind." As the ses-
sions progress the youngsters are more willing
to try unfamiliar foods. “Actually it’s not that
bad,” said one girl after her first cautious sip of
organic soy milk. Karen quickly reminded her
that there are no artificial growth hormones in
that glass of milk.
Salvatore is not a teacher or a nutritionist,
but she sought help from both educators and
nutritionists when designing the program. She
calls herself a “social entrepreneur” who tries to
solve community problems with small practi-
cal steps. Karen is particularly concerned about
the industrialization of our food system and
the problems with the American diet. She
founded a nonprofit organization called Food
and Truth to raise public awareness about the
ingredients in our food.
At each Fit2Cook4Kids session she uses a
number of techniques to reinforce the connec-
tion between nutrition and health. The boun-
tiful buffets get the youngsters used to the idea
that fruit or salad are better between-meal
snacks than a bag of potato chips. To introduce
variety she asks how many food colors are on
their plate and urges them to try more colors.
When a child says he hasn’t eaten a tomato
since he was five years old, she convinces him
that his taste buds have changed and he’s going
to like tomatoes now. By having them pro-
nounce the ingredients on a package of
Twinkies she teaches the importance of read-
ing food labels.
There is much more to Fit2Cook4Kids
than cooking classes that focus on healthy al-
ternatives to junk food. The program intro-
duces important life skills like table manners,
social interaction during mealtime, exercise and
yoga, steps toward positive thinking, how to in-
terview for a job—even a 20-minute lecture on
basic money management from a local bank
manager. There is a field trip to a Whole Foods
market, where the young foodies learn how to
shop on a budget, and a visit to City Farm on
Dudley Street in Providence, where they learn
about composting and organic farming.
That’s a lot to pack into each 2½-hour
session but the kids love the fast pace. “It’s like
watching TV for them,” says Karen of a re-
mote control generation with a low tolerance
for boredom.
Students eagerly volunteer to work with
Chef Angel in the DaVinci Center kitchen,
baking banana bread or organic chocolate
muffins. While mixing and measuring they
learn knife safety and the importance of
kitchen sanitation.
There is also required homework. At the
end of every session the students take home
fresh, seasonal ingredients and detailed recipes
so that they can prepare a main dish for their
families using Crock-Pots supplied by the
Fit2Cook4Kids program. Karen hopes that
with their newly acquired knowledge about the
nutritional benefits of broccoli over Tater Tots,
the youngsters will be able to nudge their fam-
ilies toward healthier diets too.
“My mom absolutely loves what I make,”
said one young cook, as she picked up the
recipe and ingredients for make-at-home
lemon chicken.
At the next session each young chef takes
a turn in front of the group to describe the
home cooking experience and what their fam-
ilies thought of the meal. This is called “tea
time” and the speakers must enunciate every
word—no contractions, no “I’m like…“ or
endless “umms.” The deliberate speech pattern
forces them to slow down and think about
what they are saying—a skill they’ll need when
interviewing for jobs.
The students also listen to each presenta-
tion and ask questions in the same carefully ar-
ticulated manner. “I feel funny talking like
this,” said one boy as he struggled to keep out
the slang. An 11-year old described in great de-
tail how he prepared a center-cut pork roast the
week before. “Everybody liked it except my
brother Alex,” he reported. “He did not like
the peas.” Because most parents have busy
work schedules, some of the students must pre-
pare meals for younger brothers and sisters, so
the lessons in healthy eating get passed on.
In the future Karen wants to involve more
local farmers in Fit2Cook4Kids. Ann-Marie
Bouthillette of Blackbird Farm in Smithfield
raises Black Angus beef cattle. Last spring she
gave a class on different cuts of meat and what
it’s like to be a farmer in Rhode Island.
“The kids really don’t know much about
the meat they’re eating and they have not given
much thought to what goes into growing
food,” says Karen. Through contacts at Farm
Fresh Rhode Island, Karen is hoping more local
growers will share the satisfaction of growing
food with her students who are discovering that
good food doesn’t come from a box.
“I love this class,” said one participant
who plans to become an environmental lawyer.
“I can’t believe I come here, learn things I never
knew, eat delicious snacks, get to bring food
home to cook and I get paid for it.” eR
Gloria DePaola lives in East Greenwich and
writes food, travel and general interest articles for
the Federal Hill Gazette. Her daughter lives in
Maryland and writes for Edible Chesapeake.
Left: Afternoon snacks include plenty of
fresh fruit.
Top Right: Students learn to cook healthy
food in class and use those skills at home.
Bottom Right: Students eagerly volunteer
to work with Chef Angel in the DaVinci
Center kitchen.
EDIBLERHODY.COM fall 2009 21