Thanks to Roi Choi, king of the LA food-truck craze, who recently facilitated a VERY generous donation of LG kitchen equipment for us. We've got one refrigerator up and running and now have equipment enough to outfit multiple cooking stations once our Veggie Eating headquarters get renovated at the Ralph Bunche House! Thanks LG for helping us revitalize the strong food culture in our community so we can train our youth to help make healthy homemade cooking an every day affordable, easy and delicious experience!
When you come to the Ralph Bunche House...
... you're GONNA wanna eat your veggies.
Jeremiah and Matthew started showing up this fall, just to see what was happening in the once empty house on their block. They stroll about the house while high school kids cook. They ride their scooters in the street out front and play ball in the back yard. They have even agreed to rake the leaves from our giant avocado tree for a small fee. Here they are, eating cucumbers with lemon and salt. Yum. The veggie eating has begun.
Veggies vs. Halloween candy - TIE!
[slideshow] Thanks Jorge Nuno, for inviting RootDown LA to come bring our veggies to the Nuevo South Halloween Health Fair and Carnival this evening. What fun to see the costumed neighbors pouring into the closed off block. A two-foot tall Captain America, Freddy Krueger, Snow White and Elvis all came by our veggie booth. Music, dancing, and a TRULY scary haunted maze made the night memorable.
We were honored to have small groups come by and spend some quality time with us, learning some basic cooking techniques, discussing the benefits of homemade vs/ store bought ranch, and sharing their own successes - how they've helped their own children build preferences for veggies at home. One father put it simply as he pointed to our persimmons, cauliflower and bell peppers, "This is what we have at home, not soda."
One super cool crew of young men, after being convinced broccoli wasn't so bad, turned on the younger kids and got them to eat their broccoli too. That's how it goes folks. We teach one kid, he teaches another... it's pretty simple stuff once we draw them in and get them over their "no, I'm good" veggie aversions.
The RootDown Youth Leaders weren't so sure our veggies would hold their own with the hot dog booth nearby, but even the women working the hot dog booth insisted we share our pumpkin quesadillas when our kids went to them for hot dogs. Our Youth Culinary Intern, Andres Chopin produced the perfect combo - sauteed veggies over a steaming hot dog. Nice.
Happy Halloween everyone!