Culinary & Nutrition Education

In 2014, Farmers Against Hunger received a USDA grant to create a cooking and nutrition program. Program Director, Elyse Yerrapathruni, who has a nutrition background, and Operations Director, Brian Strumfels, who has a culinary background, were ideal candidates to run this program.

2014 - Conducted five seminars on cooking and nutrition, at various FAH recipient agencies across the state. At each seminar, with 15–30 people in attendance, we cooked three meals, discussed nutrition, and distributed new FAH cookbooks focused on NJ produce.
2015 - Conducted several more seminars, including follow-up classes to measure outcomes from the previous year.
2016 - Held food tastings at Arm in Arm, a food pantry in Mercer County, offering ingredient bags and recipes for those who liked the samples to cook their own healthy, produce-centered meals at home. We also created a series of high-speed cooking videos with recipes from the cookbook, all featuring NJ produce (1, 2, 3, 4).
2017 - Partnered with our sister program, Learning Through Gardening (LTG), to teach nutrition and culinary education classes targeted toward elementary school children.
2018 - Brought the same program to several schools in Camden.
2019 - Created a set of ten cool-season vegetable recipe cards, which were incorporated into LTG's school curriculum. Hundreds of cards went out to schools across New Jersey, to teach children how to cook the veggies they grew in their own school gardens. (Download the set!)

Brian offers samples to a food pantry client, encouraging her to incorporate NJ produce into her own cooking, May 2016

Our presenters shared excellent information on various fruits and vegetables. This encouraged me to utilize them more frequently. Kudos to our presenters!
– Attendee at Burlington class

Brian hosts a cooking class for school children, April 2017

Swiss chard stew with carrots & chickpeas, one of our cool-season veggie recipes, 2019

Elyse teaches a seminar on cooking & nutrition, May 2014

Farmers Against Hunger Cookbook

To encourage people to cook more often using New Jersey produce, Farmers Against Hunger wrote our own cookbook! Created by FAH staff members with backgrounds in nutrition and cooking, it contains 58 recipes for soups, salads, sides, mains, and desserts, each incorporating NJ produce. With these quick and easy recipes, you'll be eating healthy, locally-sourced meals in no time. We also complied a handout with some basic nutrition information and tips for healthy meal planning. Happy cooking!

Download the Cookbook

Nutrition & Cooking Tips

Submit a Recipe!