Bringing nutrition and education to New York farmers markets
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has a variety of educational programs about nutrition education. One such initiative is Stellar Farmers Markets program, which provides free bilingual nutrition education workshops and cooking demonstrations at farmers markets throughout New York City.
Eating in a healthy manner can be extremely challenging for individuals. "We know that there are barriers to healthy eating, including cost and time," said Margaret Dunn-Carver in an interview with the at a free nutrition and education workshop and cooking demonstration by Stellar Farmers Markets at the P.S. 57 Farmstand in East Harlem.
According to Dunn-Carver, " Stellar Farmers Markets workshops try to address those barriers by providing a supportive space to exchange ideas on how to maintain and improve your health. Eating a healthy balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables ... can reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, which is why Stellar Farmers Markets' workshops show us how to prepare delicious plant-based recipes."
According to Franco Barragan, culinary educator at Stellar Farmers Markets, in an interview with , "I've been with the Stellar Farmers Markets team since 2017 ... I have nothing but positive workshop experiences. My background is public health ... and health education ... Just Say Yes Stellar Farmers Market, provides bilingual nutrition education, workshops, and cooking demonstrations at select farmers markets throughout New York City from July through November. We are at 15 farmers markets across the boroughs. Our workshops include tasty, delicious recipes and sharing healthy tips and skills. Some examples of our topics include ... how to create shopping lists, and the best way to store and use fruits and vegetables so they don't spoil as quickly in the refrigerator. We also provide health bucks coupons to anyone [who] participates in our workshops. They can purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. They don't expire until November."
Heather Butts photo
The importance of such programs is not lost on Darlene Sutter, who uses the Stellar Farmers Markets on a regular basis. "I get a lot of pleasure out of [this event]," she said in an interview with the during the event. "It's good and it's for us. We need it. We need people to take the time to show us and help us to be healthy ... I love it. We all love it. ... I buy my collard greens and my kale [here]. This is healthy for you ... If you take the time and take care of yourself ... you'll be all right. You need to come here — this is very healthy for you."
For more information about recipes and food resources, Dunn-Carver recommended visiting the website NYC.gov/nutrition. "We have a lot of information that's helpful to New Yorkers on our website," she said. "Any New Yorker is invited to participate in the workshops. You can find about them by going to NYC.gov and searching for Stellar Farmers Markets or by looking for the carrot icon, which is next to each market name that we have our workshops at. Very importantly, all of our workshops are free and open to the public, and all of them include Spanish interpretation, and as needed, we also provide Mandarin, Cantonese, and Bengali interpretation."
As for what keeps people like Barragan coming to the workshops: "It's the people ... [and] (using) my skills. It's a wonderful experience. It's my community — I'm from New York. You have to spread love."
