There’s something new cooking up at Mesa Llena, the community food pantry connected with Good Neighbor Settlement House in downtown Brownsville.
There’s something new cooking up at Mesa Llena, the community food pantry connected with Good Neighbor Settlement House in downtown Brownsville.
Instructors on Wednesday offered the first in a series of free cooking classes aimed at teaching participants about utilizing fresh food to create nutritious meals. The classes are open to the public and will continue 10-11:30 a.m. each Wednesday through Aug. 22.
Lori Chavez, community food project manager for the RGV Food Bank, said the classes are modeled after a similar program in New Braunfels and came together through a partnership between Mesa Llena and several organizations. The Brownsville Wellness Coalition is leading the class with its La Cocina Alegre programming, and a City of Brownsville employee was on hand to provide blood pressure screenings.
“It’s been a really great collaboration. We’re one of the biggest produce receivers and distributors,” Chavez said, “and a lot of the fruits and veggies we get, people may not know how to cook.”
Some of those items are eggplant and jackfruit, which pantry visitors might not typically prepare at home.
Veronica Rosenbaum, executive director of the Brownsville Wellness Coalition, said the first class introduced participants to the series and the importance of healthy eating. Instructors talked about the benefits of grains and gave a presentation on ancestral foods.
“I’m just so excited we can provide this service for the Buena Vida area,” she said. While people elsewhere may be aware of coalition initiatives like the weekly Brownsville Farmers Market, “we’re trying to provide awareness in this area so people here can use it.”
Given national rhetoric surrounding immigrants, Rosenbaum added that the cooking classes are a safe space and that participants’ information isn’t shared.
For some participants, the classes will have an entrepreneurship aspect as well. Taller de Permiso, a small business initiative created by the art collective Las Imaginistas, recruited people from its first cohort of aspiring business owners to join the cooking classes.
Nansi Guevara of Taller de Permiso said the workshop cohort is made up of Buena Vida residents looking to start food-based businesses. After six weeks of cooking classes at Mesa Llena, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will provide six weeks of business training for Taller de Permiso participants.
“To see the participants and community working with them is the most exciting part,” Guevara said. “To see the ganas, their drive to come to things like this, it makes me feel like the work we’re doing is relevant and important. We just want to be a resource for them, and make sure they know their experience and sensibilities are a part of the class.”
Many in the workshop cohort have plenty of experience cooking, she said, and hope to develop a product they can sell.
Alicia Aruizu, who is part of the Taller de Permiso cohort, said she enjoyed the cooking class because it was an opportunity to work with the community and get a lesson in nutrition. It’s not only a benefit for those who attend, she said, but for the people with whom they share the information.
The next free cooking class is 10 a.m. Wednesday at Mesa Llena, located at 1254 E. Tyler.
