Cooking for Salud is an Olivewood Gardens-designed program that empowers everyday people to improve their health by mastering simple cooking techniques and recognizing the power of healthy food choices.
Program Facilitator and community health advocate Ramon Chairez said the course was recently modified into a fun way for teens to learn basic, healthy recipes that will carry them through life as well as a targeted approach to reducing childhood obesity in underserved communities where it is all too easy to subsist on a low-budget, fast food menu.
“This is a pilot program for teens in the area, born out of Olivewood Gardens. Child obesity rates in South Bay are incredibly high. We want to do something to bring more awareness and consciousness to the situation, but keep it fun for teens,” Chairez said.
This particular session was organized and grant-funded by SunCoast Market Cooperative and Chairez said having a locally-run, community owned business participate in combating childhood obesity is a significant point about the program, knowing families make food choices based partially on what is readily available.
Teens who participate in the program might develop a habit of walking into the kitchen to make a healthy snack rather than pulling through a profit-driven fast-food joint.
This session was held on Zoom through the height of the pandemic, Chairez said but “classes were hands-on so they didn’t have to sit, they were using their hands and by the end of each class, they’d have something to show for it”.
All of the ingredients were donated by Specialty Produce, Chairez said and although the students were given chopping boards and measuring spoons, chefs made sure to keep recipes simple enough that students could use their own kitchen tools.
“We kept the execution simple and every student was able to finish every dish we did. At the same time, we wanted to talk about the abundance of fast food options and the direct correlation between that and high rates of childhood obesity, the crisis of impact on low-income communities,” Chairez said.
There were 12 students in the first group, mostly high schoolers as well as a few eighth graders, Chairez said, who all learned recipes such as a roast vegetable tower, “simple things like making their own salsa from fresh ingredients” and how to combine a day’s servings of nutrients into one smoothie.
Amalia Chacon, 15, is a student at Southwest High School who said participating in the program triggered her to make healthier food choices.
“My family is starting to eat healthier, more and more vegetables by the day. My favorite thing I cooked was actually the vegetable tacos— I’ve always been interested in cooking but I’d never tried that before,” Amalia said.
Part of the fun, she said, was making sure all the prep work was completed the day before each class so students would be ready to jump into cooking together. Amalia has thought about becoming a chef in the past and credits her mom with telling her about a flyer announcing the program, knowing she likes to cook.
She said she is “really hoping to learn more about healthier eating and cooking,” hopes she can complete a similar session in the future.
Like Amalia, Angeleena Lopez, a 14-year old student from Mar Vista High School also found out about the course from a flyer and signed up for what she now says was “a once-in-a-lifetime experience”.
The instructors, she said, were easy to talk with and always friendly but still made sure the students got everything done and learned something with each class.
“I usually make heavier dishes at home like enchilada casserole or fried chicken but in class, I definitely learned how to make healthy meals that tasted good, baked potato chips, baked vegetables. My favorite thing in class was the green curry because the flavor was amazing and I’ve never had it before,” Angeleena said.
Lopez is the sort of student the program was intended for: she does not plan to pursue a career in the culinary field but now has a foundation in healthy cooking that will carry her through a more healthy lifestyle.
“The whole thing was amazing and anyone who got to do it was lucky. I would look forward to it every time, just to cook and laugh with everybody,” Angeleena said.
Moving forward, Chairez said they plan to build on collaborative relationships between local groups to maximize the program for future cohorts.
“We want to stay connected to Olivewood so we expand on what they’re doing but we also have groups like SunCoast, funders like University of California San Diego Childhood Obesity Initiative. Alliances are necessary to tackle an issue like childhood obesity or diabetes. It takes multiple organizations doing similar work and partnering with the community, thinking creatively to establish programming to benefit our children,” Chairez said.
Intentionally, he said, they held a ‘recognition event’ as sort of a graduation from the program at Olivewood Gardens so parents would have a chance to hear about similar programs designed for adults, a way to bring the conversation about healthy eating into the whole family.
“We hope our original 12 students go on to become full Kitchenistas later on. We might not get all 12 students back later on but if we get half that’s an opportunity for six people to be more creative and, of course healthier”.
