A local nonprofit that teaches important skills for cooking and life is celebrating its fifth year of helping youngsters chef it up in their home kitchens.
Sustainable Nutrition and Community Connection (SNACC), founded by Danielle Cohen, operates in more than 20 New York City schools and connects Bronx families with professional chefs. The program teaches eighth and ninth-graders how to prepare healthy, delicious meals at home, blending culinary instruction with lessons on nutrition, confidence, and community.
Cohen, who holds a master’s degree in public health, has long been driven to find creative solutions to complex challenges—particularly food insecurity, which remains a pressing issue in the Bronx. In a borough where 39% of adults face food insecurity, preparing a nutritious family meal can often be a source of stress. SNACC seeks to ease that burden.
SNACC started in 2020 in just a handful of schools but has now served over 3,500 students between its in-school and afterschool programs, Cohen said in an interview with the Bronx Times.
Cook and Connect, the afterschool program, prepares students in Harlem and Bronx with the skills, confidence and equipment necessary for them to cook for their families and build healthier habits.
The two Bronx-based cohorts have 40 total families, with plans to expand to 20 more. Students apply to be part of program at the beginning of the school year and, if accepted, receive a starter kit that includes pots and pans, bowls, baking trays, spices, measuring cups, oven mitts and more.
“Anything that you could imagine to execute a recipe, we provide it to them,” said Cohen.
Over the course of 30 weeks, students receive a home delivery on Sundays with all the necessary ingredients for that week’s recipe. Then, students log onto Zoom to meet with professional chefs who guide them through each step.
The roster of professional chef partners includes some big names, including Kwame Onwuachi, who grew up in the Bronx and went on to own several acclaimed restaurants, including Tatiana in New York City’s Lincoln Center, and Josh Scherer, an Instagram foodie star whose book, “The Mythical Cookbook,” was a New York Times bestseller.
Although students do the cooking at home, the program runs on a hybrid model with meetups for field trips, picnics and community garden visits, which Cohen called “a nice balance.” Executing the recipe at home allows for “entire family buy-in” and lifestyle changes, including making time to eat together and trying new ingredients.
It also gives students “a newfound sense of belonging in their home, and being able to contribute to their household,” Cohen said.
Between Cook and Connect and the SNACC In School program, the organization works with young people from all walks of life, and the learning goes beyond the kitchen.
Teachers and parents often can’t believe the range of healthy foods that even the pickiest eaters will try, said Cohen. “We’ve found that students, when they make their own food, are so much more receptive to trying things that they never would’ve tried if they were handed it in a different setting.”
With SNACC, students have reported significant changes not only in their eating habits but their overall well-being.
Using “food as a tool to promote positive youth development,” kids learn confidence, social skills, creativity and especially problem-solving as they tackle new challenges in the kitchen, Cohen said. “You can’t just throw your hands up and walk away in the middle of a dish.”
The program’s surveys have found that 93% of participants reported often feeling proud of themselves; 87% reported improved problem-solving ability; 80% reported increased homework motivation and focus in school; and 80% of parents reported improvement in their child’s social skills due to their involvement in SNACC.
As the organization marks five years, Cohen said she hopes to partner with more community centers in addition to schools, so the program could become neighborhood-based as well as school-based.
Thus far, SNACC has found success by tailoring instruction to meet the needs of all participants and listening to what each community wants, said Cohen. “One size does not fit all with public health.”
This story was updated at 2:27 p.m. to correct the name of the afterschool program.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
