Becoming a Community Chef (Post 1)

Blue Marble's Chocolate Ice Cream at Brooklyn Flea.

This is the first post of a new series that will follow my activities as a Community Chef. Trained by the organization Just Food, Community Chefs are food educators that empower New Yorkers to create delicious and healthy meals for themselves and their families. The program is sustained by the "trainer of trainers" methodology -- Community Chefs don't just teach food skills, they teach more people to be food educators for their own neighborhoods. Over the course of the program, which begins tomorrow, I'll learn how to facilitate workshops about local, seasonal eating and cooking; basic nutrition; fruit and vegetable identification; recipe selection and creation; knife skills; and food storage and preparation.

While in training, I hope to (among other things) develop innovative, healthier dessert recipes. I was inspired last weekend at Brooklyn Flea when I shared a small tub of Blue Marble ice cream with my artist-friends Maya Suess and Atom S. Cianfarani. Though we devoured the all-natural chocolate treat (made with local and seasonal products), we really wanted the sold out ginger flavor. I've been thinking about it ever since. Ginger ice cream topped with shavings of fair-trade, organic dark chocolate is high on my list of goodies to whip up for friends and neighbors in the coming months.

Just Food recently announced the Brooklyn Food Conference, which takes place at John Jay High School on May 2. Guest speakers are Dan Barber, Executive chef and co-owner of Blue Hill Restaurant; Anna Lappé, author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen; Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System; and LaDonna Redmond, President and CEO of the Institute of Community Resource Development in Chicago. The event is free and open to the public. Register here.