Meals Program Brings Generations Together for Healthy Eating
 Photos courtesy Kim McMann
Meals participants Catherine and Terry try a healthy dessert of baked sweet potatoes topped with yogurt and honey. Top: Homemade whole-wheat pizzas with participants favorite toppings. |
One way might be for the child and an important adult in the child's life to attend the free "Intergenerational Meals" on Mondays beginning May 11 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the parish hall at St. John's Episcopal Church.
North Adams resident Andrea Peters, who attended the meal classes with her daughter Haley each week during the winter session of the program, said the program has encouraged Haley to try new things.
"My daughter was willing to try different, healthier foods that she wouldn't try at home, such as brown pasta," said Peters. "She found she likes them, in fact, she liked everything she had at the program. She liked helping to prepare the food and she ate everything."
The intergenerational meals are a free eight-week program sponsored by Target: Hunger that is open to all ages. Participants will focus on healthy lifestyles by helping to prepare healthy, tasty meals; discuss smart shopping tips and nutrition; and enjoy the company of young and older area residents.
"In developing a healthier lifestyle, people need to still enjoy and like the food they eat," Kim McMann, coordinator of Target: Hunger in Northern Berkshire, a program of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts with the goal of reducing hunger and increasing food security in the region.
"We all have our comfort foods that we like and that we eat to make us feel better. At the final class [of the winter session] an 11-year-old boy, who originally had difficulty in participating in the classes each week, told the group that now his comfort food was salad with homemade dressing. His mom said that he has his own recipe for salad dressing that includes olive oil and apple vinegar, and that making it is now his thing."
The classes have a curriculum, but the idea is to make it fun and offer positive suggestions without lecturing. The weekly menu includes foods like pizza and macaroni and cheese that are offered in a healthy, tasty way with a dessert each week. The recipes are simple and include ingredients that can be found at the local grocery store.
Participants also look at ways they can substitute healthier ingredients when preparing a meal.
"At the beginning of the classes, most said they didn't like turnips for example, but when we made a soup using the locally grown Florida Mountain turnips, they loved the soup," said McMann.
  Dan Lester, a ServSafe-certified chef, oversees Charity assisting Joyce with gloves. Food safety is an important aspect of the cooking sessions. Right, kids read the recipes prior to the meal prep. 'We did a lot with reading recipes, reading food labels, making lists for shopping and updating recipes to make them healthier,' said program coordinator Kim McMann. |
"I was surprised by what I learned that [Haley] could do," said Peters. "I found out that she was capable of handling a knife to safely cut up vegetables. Before [at home], I hadn't ever let her try."
Another element of the class was looking at menus from restaurants and thinking about what would be the healthy choice; another week, they to ordered food from a restaurant. In addition, the participants were given ingredients they cooked each week so that they could recreate some of the food at home.
As a group, the participants had the opportunity to get to know each other and to learn from each other.
"It was like going out to eat each week with the same group of people that you got to know and were comfortable with," said Peters.
