Harvest event aims to cultivate a culture of healthful choices

October 24, 2011 at 12:05a.m.

LIBERTY

A 3-year-old local organization dedicated to healthful eating is hoping you will choose more Brussels sprouts, basil and blueberries than burgers.

“We want changes in the American diet and to provide people with choices,” Elsa Higby, executive director of Grow Youngstown, said during Sunday’s Harvest Fest and Food Day celebration at Kravitz Delicatessen, 3135 Belmont Ave.

The longtime deli collaborated with Grow Youngstown for the seven-hour event, which featured healthful foods made with locally grown produce that came from 24 area farmers and community gardens, such as the Fairgreen Neighborhood Garden on Youngstown’s North Side. Menu items included butternut squash, a three-egg omelet, Irish beef stew, stuffed cabbage, potato pancakes, quiche and corn chowder.

Grow Youngstown, started in 2008, is working to create a healthful, socially just and economically viable local food system. The group’s primary aims are to bring more fresh, locally produced foods to the city, increase the market for area farmers and serve residents of all incomes and neighborhoods with little or no access to fresh produce, its mission statement says.

The farmers with whom Grow Youngstown works supply its 90-member community-supported agriculture-style market, Higby noted, explaining that the CSA pays up front, then Grow Youngstown talks to the farmers ahead of the season and they plan what to grow.

A sampling includes basil, beans, asparagus, oregano, corn, peppers, tomatoes, turnips, blueberries and strawberries, she continued.

A one-year CSA member at Sunday’s gathering was Elizabeth Glasgow of Newton Falls, who said she feels strongly about the need for a greater amount of healthful, locally grown foods for the region.

Glasgow, who also volunteers for the North Side Farmers Market next to the Unitarian Universalist Church on Elm Street in Youngstown, said she read “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver. The 2007 best-selling book tells the story of how a family was changed by one year of deliberately eating foods produced where they live.

Glasgow explained that she was grateful for the Food Day celebration because of how it can help the local economy, adding that it also has made her look at her own cooking habits.

“It’s challenged me to cook things I would normally not,” Glasgow said.

“This allows local folks to earn money growing food. I’m hoping some jobs will grow out of it, too.”

For more information about Grow Youngstown, go to www.growyoungs-town.org.

Providing the entertainment were County Mayo and Guilty Pleasures.