“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him…the people who give you their food give you their heart.” —César Chavez

 

Story by J.J. Stein, Housing Case Manager, Plymouth Housing Group

 

Seattle is a town of foodies. We know good food, and we enjoy finding and using fresh, healthy ingredients. We certainly love getting together with friends in the garden, market, and kitchen to make food together, eat food together, talk about food together…and celebrate life together.

And it’s no different at Plymouth.

One of our most exciting new partnerships is built entirely around the magical ability of food to improve health, spirits and community.

Virginia Mason executive chef Brian Brooks recently came to Plymouth’s St. Charles Apartments in Pioneer Square, bearing fresh food he’d selected at the food bank and rallying a hungry and curious group of eight St. Charles residents to follow him into the kitchen.

Together, in the manner of True Seattle Foodies, they proved just how easy and just how fun food can be, even when it’s focused on good health, simplicity, and smart budgeting.

 

Here’s Chef Brian’s story, in his own words.

“I did a cooking demonstration utilizing ingredients found at local food banks. I visited the food banks in advance to ensure that the food for my class would be available to the tenants.

Growing up with almost nothing, there were certain people and programs that provided inspiration and hope to me and my family.  I will always do anything I can to be an outlet for the same type of hope and knowledge that we received.  I call this ‘Giving back +1.’

I prepared the delicious lentil chili, showing the participants how to cook it themselves, and giving them tips about what times to add the ingredients.  Then we ate and talked about variations on the preparations as well as how they could make a big batch then break it into smaller portions and freeze for a quick meal in the future. 

Each participant received a bag with all of the necessary ingredients and an exact scaled recipe to try for themselves.

It was really cool to see the impact it had on some of the participants.  And everyone got a hot meal that day which was awesome.  It felt great to give back.”

 

And what did the residents themselves think?

Alex T. put it this way: “It was cool!  Everyone was in a good mood, the Chef was great, and the food was tasty. I can’t believe it came from the food bank.”

The residents that attended were engaged and interested in Chef Brian’s cooking lesson, and of course they enjoyed eating the meal afterwards. The next day after a lesson I observed one of the residents, Calvin, preparing the same meal using Chef Brian’s recipe.

A future element of the program might include a field trip to the Food Bank with the Chef. This could be a lot of fun, getting the insights of a Chef in deciding food choices. It would be a chance for our residents – many whom already visit food banks weekly — to develop a lifelong toolbox that could increase their overall health and quality of life.

This program is one of the imaginative and unexpected ways that Plymouth Housing Group and its partners work to improve the lives of our tenants beyond simply providing them a room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More exciting partnership news: Read how Emerald Cities Seattle is taking Plymouth’s properties to a whole new level of sustainability.