Dozens of neighbors stopped by the Museum of Bronx History in Norwood on July 16 to enjoy free vegetables and learn how to prepare a quick, nutritious meal out of them.
Now in its fourth year, the Harvesting Health Market is back for another summer and will provide free produce at noon every other Thursday at 3266 Bainbridge Ave in Norwood until October 29 and every other Saturday at Morrison Plaza in Soundview until November 21.
The market had organic potatoes, beets, collard greens, kale, carrots, cilantro and lettuce from Grandpa Farm, a Mexican family-owned farm in Chester, New York.
Future distributions will also include community programming, such as dancing or chair yoga lessons. On July 30, the Montefiore Einstein School of Medicine will provide a health fair for the community with blood pressure checkups at the Norwood location.
“I really enjoy serving the community by providing them healthy, nutritious food straight from the garden. And I’m also glad that we’re able to prepare the food so they can see how to prepare it,” said Cynthia Colbourne, who lives near Lehman College and has been distributing food with Rethink Food, the chef-led nonprofit that operates Harvesting Health Market, for three years.
She found out about the program after volunteering with the James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center, which runs a farmer’s market offering free food to people in need at the north side of DeWitt Clinton High School every Saturday through the end of October.
After picking up bags of produce, attendees chatted with Baba Juice owner Baba Femi as he sautéed kale, tomatoes, and cilantro with lime, agave and sea salt, and topped it with seasoned boiled carrots and potatoes to create a quick and healthy meal. He then served the combination with a drizzle of his homemade dress-up sauce consisting of tomato, onion, grapeseed oil and agave.
Femi, who has been cooking with Harvesting Health Market for three years, used to run a liquor store in the Bronx. But after becoming sober, transitioning to a vegan diet and losing 120 pounds, he swapped alcohol for juice and dedicated himself to helping his community become healthier.
“Eating healthy is not expensive. It’s a mirage. You think it’s expensive because the Whole Foods is charging you an arm and a leg. But you can get produce, a variety of produce for, like, $10. You can feed the whole family,” he said.
Healthy eating becomes easier after learning about ways to avoid letting fresh produce go bad, such as meal prepping or freezing leftover fruits to make smoothies, he added.
Harvesting Health Market is made possible through the support of New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, Kitchen-to-Community, James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center, and Baba Juice.
The program was born out of the Relief Access Program (RAP) for The Bronx mobile pantry created to respond to the sharp rise in food insecurity and needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Shana McCormick, director of government and community relations at Rethink Food.
“Being able to have really hyper local products available to the community is so important. Not only are we supporting our local producers, our farmers, we’re also exposing and incorporating healthier goods into our community,” McCormick said.
McCormick said that Bronx residents looking for more opportunities to receive prepared meals and restaurants looking to collaborate with Harvesting Health Market can reach out to her at shanam@rethinkfood.org.
Siddhartha Harmalkar is a student at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. You can reach him at s.harmalkar08@journalism.cuny.edu. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
