CCAP’s Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast North Carolina (SHFB), in partnership with Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, is offering Cooking Matters at the Store nutrition education empower families with the skills to...
Perpetual Growth: Incubator Farmer Tom Saile
Welcome to Red's Farmstead!
Super Glean Team
Food Matters in April: Food Labels
This month’s focus at Mobile Markets is Food Labels! The nutrition team is providing the tips and tools needed to successfully navigate a nutrition facts label, as well as decode a product’s ingredient list.
As our activity this month we compared three different Ranch Dressing ingredient lists and found that each one contained over 20 ingredients, many of which are unhealthy additives. One such ingredient is Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), which has been linked to detrimental health effects in consumers, such as headaches and upset stomachs. To provide an alternative to this seemingly inescapable trap of unknown ingredients, we prepared and served samples of our own homemade, healthy version of Ranch Dressing paired with sliced veggies. The majority of participants loved it, so much so that we even ran out of samples.
The recipe is super easy to make and only requires a few ingredients. We have provided it below so that you can enjoy it as well!
Healthy Ranch Dressing
Serving Size: 2 tbsp Servings per Recipe: 4
- 1 cup low-fat plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp parsley, dried
- 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
Directions: Measure and combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir to mix. Add extra liquid (water or lemon juice) to thin out dressing to desired texture. Let sit for a couple of hours before serving to give the herbs enough time to develop their flavor within the dressing.
Enjoy!
MEDIA ALERT: Plant the Pavement! Urban Ag Community Workshop May 3-4
Building just and sustainable models of food production for a healthy and hunger-free community
WHAT: Plant the Pavement! A two-day weekend workshop taught by MacArthur Genius Will Allen and other educators from Growing Power and Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. Sessions include mushroom production, year-round production of microgreens, compost/vermiculture, aquaponics, and hoop house construction.
WHEN: May 3 & 4, 2014. Sessions run 8:30am-5:30pm both Saturday and Sunday [A workshop for students and educators at Longview School will take place on Friday, May 2.]
WHERE: Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Urban Farm at the Hoke Street Training Center, 500 Hoke St. in Southeast Raleigh.
WHO: Open to anyone who is interested in learning more about the sustainable production of healthy food, whether on a home, business, or a community scale. No previous experience with agriculture is necessary.
WHY: The knowledge of how to grow food is an important step toward developing a locally-owned Community Food System that builds self-sufficiency and community power. The more we understand about growing and preparing food, the healthier we are, and the more control we have over our food sources—making healthy food accessible for all.
INTERVIEWS & PHOTO OPS
Interviews with Will Allen are available on-site prior to workshop on Thursday May 1st, as well as during the workshop May 3rd and 4th. Contact Cindy Sink , 919-413-1470 or Cindy@FoodShuttle.org.
“A typical farmer will tell you how many acres he has. I think of productivity per square foot. We earn $5 per square foot in our hoop houses. How many farmers do you think can say that?” - Will Allen, November 10th, 2012, Raleigh, NC
“People are tired of buying and eating food made 6,000 miles away and shipped across the country.
Farming is changing and a new revolution of doing more with less is on its way. Will Allen has worked very hard to figure out his way of doing things — and has created his own food ecosystem — one we can learn from, and perhaps replicate here." -Neesha Mirchandani, marketing consultant and Plant the Pavement participant.
About Inter-Faith Food Shuttle www.FoodShuttle.org
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle is a hunger-relief organization employing multiple strategies to end hunger including nutrition education, workforce development, and agricultural training. In late 2011, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle and Longview School partnered to become the newest Regional Outreach Training Center (ROTC) for Growing Power, an internationally recognized urban agriculture organization started by MacArthur Genius Award winner Will Allen. In 2012, IFFS held its first annual Plant the Pavement! workshop series. Read more about last year's event here.
