By Blake Jackson
Monae Carey, Tedane Williams, Vincent Osei and Omar Santiago Pineda Otalvaro prepared Monday lunches based on recipes from their home countries, often using vegetables grown at LU’s Finca EcoFarm.
“They were hired as student workers, but I wanted it to be more than a job,” said Nadia Navarrete-Tindall, Ph.D., who leads the Native and Specialty Crops Program. “I wanted them to learn about what they were growing while also giving them opportunities to share their cultures and learn from one another.”
Common Ground Community Building, a Jefferson City social service agency, provided its commercial kitchen and some produce from its community garden. The sessions created a space for students to learn from one another while celebrating food, family and cultural identity.
Carey, a master’s student in agribusiness, prepared saltfish fritters, callaloo and steamed cabbage, inspired by Jamaican meals her mother made.
“I didn’t know a lot about plants when I began, but I’ve learned so much,” said Carey, a master’s student in agribusiness. “Now I’m trying to eat healthier based on the knowledge I’ve gained working here over the past several months.”
Williams, a physical education junior, cooked Jamaican brown stew chicken and jack mackerel with rice, using farm-grown onions, peppers and tomatoes.
Osei, an agribusiness junior from Ghana, introduced the group to jollof rice, fried plantains and chicken. “It’s one of the popular dishes in Ghana,” Osei said. “Growing up, everybody likes jollof rice.”
“It was very fun because none of them ever had jollof rice before,” Osei said.
Pineda Otalvaro prepared a Colombian-style rice and chicken dish. He said the program has shown him how farming, harvesting, sales and data collection connect.
“It’s almost like a circle,” Otalvaro said. “We take care of the plants, we harvest the plants, we sell the plants and we collect the data.”
Photo Credit: gettyimages-johnbraid
Categories: Missouri, Education