RootDown, now growing SUPPLIES of veggies to meet DEMAND.

[slideshow] RootDown LA was founded with a focus on demand-side efforts for food systems change - with our portable stoves, knives, sautee pans and spices, we get in a room with kids and no one leaves until everyone has discovered SOME technique to make the veggies we previously despised, taste better.   We leave people wanting more – beets, broccoli and even this year, brussels sprouts. We’ve now got this demand part down, so we were excited last year to receive funds from Crail Johnson to launch new supply-side programming for food systems change.  RootDown Horticultural Program Manger, Ali Bhai explains the ways in which we are working with youth to increase supplies of healthy food in South LA:

We take seriously the tried and true formula that if you connect people to the source of their food, they are more likely to value what they put in their bodies.   Our supply-side efforts started back in September when we teamed up with the We Can Foundation to deliver the first entrepreneurship and urban farming training to our Youth Leaders. Ledette Gambini joined me to develop this training with the intent to impart the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and the principles of contemporary sustainable urban farming in an integrated, hands-on way.

Students learned about business options, market and competitive research, producing for profit, sustainable farm design, and the state of our current food system; all with the underlying goal of starting a micro-enterprise that converts sub-acre city spaces such as backyards and school gardens into edible landscapes - the harvest from which is taken to market.  This winter we delivered a condensed version of this training to the students of the Social Justice Learning Institute at Morningside High School in Inglewood. We’re taking the show on the road!

We have also revived the garden shared by New Tech and Jefferson High School.  Last December, Jeff students planted 25 fruit trees to mark the reclaiming of the garden space for education programming.  Since then, we have been developing standards-based class lessons that integrate the garden.  Students are learning about compost and plant propagation in Biology and Environmental Studies classes in Jeff’s Green Academy.  Students in CAD drawing and Sketch Drawing classes are learning edible landscape design.  RDLA is moving forward with the vision of a school garden serving both as a multi-purpose outdoor classroom and a food forest to supply our programs with the veggies we're convincing more and more people to eat every day!

Jennie Cook's dream chef team pulls off another Mystery Lunch Box Cook-off!

[slideshow] RootDown LA hosted Jennie Cook as she pulled off a third annual Mystery Lunch Box Cook-off at Jefferson High last month, assisted by a top team of volunteer chefs. Thanks to ALL who showed up to participate - students, staff, visitors and judges!

Volunteers were Phillip Gaiser, a research and development chef from Whole Foods, Rosemary Ochiogrosso, a midwife with a flair for cooking up community events and holiday biscotti, and Roy Choi of Kogi truck fame, along with his star marketing staff, Alice Shin and Natasha Phan.  We were honored they took time away from their LA food empire to join in on the culinary spree.   About thirty students, many of whom had NEVER cooked before, showed up for three weeks to learn what how to cook veggies.  On the third week, each team of budding chefs was presented with a mystery veggie, which they had to incorporate into some dish to be judged by their peers and Jefferson staff.

When all was said and done, each team won SOME prize for flavors and presentation.  The kids were proud of their dishes and excited about their new skills.   The guest chefs too, must have enjoyed themselves.  Phillip took time on his birthday to be with us and Natasha later wrote: "Roy wanted to let you know that there is nothing more important to him than the youth of our city.  Thank you for what you do and maybe one day he can help even more to flip the script on food and life in the inner city.  He bows down to RootDown and is always at your disposal....Alice and I had such an amazing time.  We each went into a "zone" when cooking with the students, would love to help in future projects! Wish there was Mystery Lunch Box every quarter!!

AWWW!  RootDown agrees!  Who wants to donate funds for the next Mystery Lunch Box cook-off?

Jovita Correa wants to eat red bell peppers now!

Jefferson High Math teacher, Jovita Correa, nearly slipped from our grasp yesterday.  She came to watch our Youth Leaders making  our homemade ranch dressing as part of a Healthy Food Tasting for a parent teacher meeting.  The kids were using their best tactics to try and convince Jovita to taste a red bell pepper and she refused.  She HATES peppers, she claimed.   Executive Director and Renegade Nutrition Educator, Megan Hanson heard the resistance and stepped in with some supremely overbearing veggie pushing tactics our Youth Leaders are still sometimes too polite to employ.  One Youth Leader told Jovita - "You're in trouble now!"

Hanson asked, when was the last time Ms. Correa had tried a bell pepper?  NEVER We try to remind people they may have simply had a bad experience with a veggie so OF COURSE would despise that veggie today.  In this case, Ms. Correa simply assumed that a red bell pepper would have the same heat of a hotter chili pepper or not so desirable (to her) flavor of a green pepper.

Us TOO!   We assured her.  We ALL have ideas about certain foods that keep us from trying them or giving them a second chance.

Ms. Correa relented to Hanson's pressure tactics at last and tasted a bell pepper.  She winced at first (they always do) as she took a bite,  but then her face softened.  "This is good!"  She said.  YES! we said, now try it with our homemade ranch dressing.  She LOVED it even more, and took the recipe.  We warned, bell peppers out of season can be a little pricey but she was adamant, she was going to get some.

And that's how it goes, the RootDown LA way.  Another veggie aversion taken DOWN!