San Benito Bounty focuses on teaching residents about healthy,
local foods
Nants Foley and Ray Sanchez are hoping to pass on their passion
for cooking homemade healthy meals to residents in San Benito
County with a series of classes from January to June, dubbed the
San Benito County Food Revolution.
The healthy cooking classes are funded by the San Benito County
Medical Society and Community Foundation for San Benito County.
Foley, of the nonprofit San Benito Bounty, applied for a grant to
offer a series of cooking classes, starting with a pilot program
with teenagers last summer and continuing with the new series
offered for adults. The San Benito Office of Education, as well as
staff at San Andreas School and Anzar High School, offered the use
of the school kitchen facilities.
San Benito Bounty focuses on teaching residents about healthy, local foods
Nants Foley and Ray Sanchez are hoping to pass on their passion for cooking homemade healthy meals to residents in San Benito County with a series of classes from January to June, dubbed the San Benito County Food Revolution.
The healthy cooking classes are funded by the San Benito County Medical Society and Community Foundation for San Benito County. Foley, of the nonprofit San Benito Bounty, applied for a grant to offer a series of cooking classes, starting with a pilot program with teenagers last summer and continuing with the new series offered for adults. The San Benito Office of Education, as well as staff at San Andreas School and Anzar High School, offered the use of the school kitchen facilities.
Last summer Foley shared her love of home-cooked meals prepared with fresh ingredients with students at San Andreas Continuation High School, in Hollister.
The classes were optional for the students, who could attend all of the sessions after summer school got out for the day for one elective credit. They also had the option to drop in for just some of the sessions, without getting credit.
“There was not time during school time so we had to do it after school,” Foley said. “Everyone said, ‘No one will show up.'”
But after having just a handful of kids for the first two sessions, word-of-mouth promotion drew more than a dozen students to the remaining classes.
At first some of the students were resistant to trying new ingredients.
“They said, ‘I don’t like that.’ Or ‘I don’t eat that,'” Foley said.
A convert to homemade coleslaw
One of the recipes was for coleslaw made with fresh cabbage and a much lighter dressing than would be found in restaurant or prepared versions of the recipe.
Foley recalled how she had one student who refused to try it. His friend tried it and went back for seconds. The student finally gave in. He did like the coleslaw in the end, and took the recipe home with plans to make it for his family, Foley said.
“I got one convert to homemade coleslaw,” she said.
When they did a day of egg-related recipes, Foley said some of the students had never cooked eggs before. She brought in a variety of eggs, including fresh farm eggs from Quicksilver Farm, where she and husband Tim raise a variety of animals as well as different produce.
“We made frittata, omelets,” she said. “They were interested in seeing all the various colors (of the egg shells.)”
Foley, with the help of Sanchez, who has run a catering business, will be expanding those cooking classes to the general public starting with a Jan. 24 session at Anzar High School, in San Juan Bautista.
“The goal is not to cook perfect, low-fat where everything is good,” Foley said. “It’s to cook real food that people eat. It can be cheaper and faster than fast food.”
The classes will focus on healthy recipes that use local produce, as well as discussions of some of the medical issues that come with unhealthy eating, such as diabetes and obesity, and advice on ways to get active with exercise. The classes will be held twice a month, once at Anzar High School and once at San Andreas Continuation High School. They are free to the public, though they are limited to 25 people per session and are open to only residents 18 or older. The classes will be conducted in both English and Spanish.
Classes look to prevent health problems
“The one thing it really comes down to is fighting obesity and diabetes,” Foley said.
Foley got the idea to start the classes from British chef Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” – in which he tried to change the eating habits of an entire town through changing school cafeteria menus, working one-on-one with families and through healthy cooking classes for the community. Foley’s goal is that she and Sanchez will create menus that feature ingredients from three seasons, as well as guidelines that other organizations can adopt to repeat the cooking class series in the future.
One thing Foley picked up from the Oliver series is that there are generations of people who are not cooking.
“It used to be parents taught kids how to do recipes and it was carried forward,” she said. “I really didn’t know how to cook.”
She acknowledged that she herself lived on frozen meals during college before she learned to cook from Dorothy McNett, who used to offer classes in Hollister.
“Now Tim and I are quite accomplished,” she said.
She said one of her tricks is to “sneak” healthy ingredients into meals. When she makes pizza, she uses whole-wheat flour to make the dough and adds a layer of spinach below the cheese.
“You can’t taste the spinach,” she said. “You can have a whole salad in there and no one would know. You can add a lot of nutrients and still have wonderful taste.”
A caterer leads the way
“People always appreciate a good meal,” Sanchez said. “You know they like it when they come back for more.”
While Foley coordinated the summer sessions, Sanchez will be working closely with her to develop the menus in English and Spanish for the upcoming series, and he will preside over the classes each month.
“I will put the emphasis on healthy, inexpensive, quick and easy,” Sanchez said, of developing the menus.
At each class, participants will be able to sample the food and will receive copies of the recipes.
Sanchez said though he wants to educate people on eating healthy foods, more than anything he wants to help expand their palates.
“I want them to be adventurous in trying things,” he said.
His other focus will be on teaching people to cook the meals with basic utensils and tools.
“We are understanding that not everyone has all the facilities and amenities,” he said.
Foley agreed.
“We are very aware that many people don’t have a huge stock,” she said.
The other thing Foley and Sanchez will share with participants is where they can get local, fresh produce from farm stands or from local grocery stores.
“We want to do menus that are doable, affordable and healthy for the individual and the environment,” Foley said.
The pair is also open to having guest chefs who would like to share a recipe and ideally they would like to offer cooking classes for school children and teens, though they are still trying to coordinate that effort.
Foley cited a study her husband read that said most people have an arsenal of 10 dishes they cook on a regular basis. The study found that if people incorporate a new recipe into their rotation, an older dish drops out of the mix.
“If we can get people to take one unhealthy meal and replace it with a good one,” that’s the goal, Foley said.
San Benito County Food Revolution
Classes are free and open to the public, though they are limited to 25 participants per class. Classes will be at Anzar High School, in San Juan Jan. 24, March 14, April 25, May 23 and June 27, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Classes will be at San Andreas School, in Hollister Feb. 28, March 28, April 11, May 9 and June 13, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. A sample of the meals will be provided, as well as recipes in English or Spanish. Classes will be conducted in English and Spanish. Participants must be 18 years or older.
For more information, call 801-5110 or visit www.sanbenitobounty.org.
