Cooking with GRUB

One of the unsung programs of the South Plains Food Bank is our Nutrition Education Program run by Sharon Adams. I requested Sharon's assistance several years ago when I discovered that the very teenagers who were growing healthy vegetables for the food bank were not eating vegetables themselves.

The teens in the GRUB - Growing Recruits for Urban Business program are the labor force on our 5.5-acre urban farm. They put in an incredible amount of volunteer time during the school year, and a select few are hired every summer to work part-time on the farm. They grow over 100,000 pounds of vegetables every year, but they weren't eating any - until Sharon intervened!

Sharon comes to the farm at least once a month to work with the youth in the GRUB program. Over the last few years she has introduced hundreds of teenagers to the joy of cooking and to the pleasure of eating fresh, locally grown, chemical free produce; food they have planted, tended, harvested and now prepared.

Not one to miss an opportunity, Sharon took advantage of the teens' competitive nature and held a cooking contest last week. As a bonus the GRUB members were transported from the make-shift kitchen at the farm to our new state-of-the-art Kitchen of Hope (the Kids' Cafe commissary kitchen) for the contest, or the cooking "throw-down" as it is called on the TV cooking channels these days.

One of our GRUB teens, B.J., has been a stand out in the kitchen since the first lesson Sharon taught. He was ready to prove his culinary skills and he didn't disappoint. The contest was judged by an impartial panel and, sure enough, B.J. and his team came in first place. Sharon awarded prizes to the winners, but the real prize is the nutrition education and cooking skills the teens now possess.

Thank you, Sharon, for making good nutrition a delicious subject and congratulations to B.J. for being the "Top Chef."