Focus On Food

Community projects ease food insecurity, address nutritional deficits, and bring residents together

By Jefferey Spivey

When spending time with others—friends, family, or people in one’s support networks—food is often a prerequisite. Whether at a holiday dinner, backyard barbecue, or picnic in the park, some of the most cherished memories are not only of those whom we saw or what we talked about, but also what was on our plates. Shared meals are often a catalyst for unity and togetherness, safety and security, and education and awareness, perhaps most notably when we’re more involved with the food’s preparation and cultivation than the guest list.

Front Street Oven

Breaking (And Baking) Bread As A Community

“Cooking together in community connects us to our ancestors, to our community,” says Duncan Ebata, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Front Street Oven. “[It] helps us feel a deep connection to place, helps deepen friendships, which helps us increase our sense of belonging, reduces social isolation, which is one of the 20 Canadian indicators of health, and more.”

Based in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Front Street Oven is a community oven that has hosted weekly events since 2019. The centerpiece of each event may be delicious food—fresh bread, pizza, or s’mores, for example—but the impact is more significant than a full belly. 

Front Street Oven’s vision is of a community in which every member feels they belong. This inclusive spirit is evident in the types of events hosted, which cover a broad range of interests and causes, from Jamaican Independence Day to Egyptian pita workshops. In 2022 alone, across 26 events, 767 residents cooked at the oven, and roughly three times as many people showed up to connect with their neighbors. And since the oven’s inception, the initiative has been named Best Community Project in the local newspaper, The Grapevine, for two consecutive years.

Ebata says, “The deeper work is connecting people to place and into the community, tending to our mental health, healing every day.” At recent events, some attendees have reestablished connections after 30 years, further illustrating the healing and partnership facilitated by the oven.

Community members’ involvement hasn’t been limited to cooking and dining, however. More than 30 volunteers help run the oven, along with its board appointees. Additionally, several local carpenters, engineers, architects, and other skilled artisans took part in a community build of the oven. In short, Front Street Oven has been, and continues to be, a community effort through and through.

Produce That Always Stays Local

The spirit of hard work and dedication found among Front Street Oven’s supporters forms the backbone of Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Urban Food Systems Program. Operating in various ways since 2008, the program strives to provide every Seattle community access to healthy food, education about sustainable and equitable environmental practices, and opportunities for both active recreation and cultural placemaking.

The program’s reach is far and wide, spread equally across initiatives like cooking classes at community kitchens, mobile kitchens, and targeted food programs. Its community-learning gardens, however, lean heavily on community interest and participation.

“We have a huge amount of people who are looking to just get their hands dirty,” says Chukundi Salisbury, Manager of Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Environmental Sustainability, Education and Engagement Unit. 

The gardens are found throughout the city’s neighborhoods, often located in or around community facilities. The type of produce grown in each garden may vary, but what’s consistent is the sheer volume. For example, the program manages over 700 fruit trees.

Community members typically register for three-year terms, by which they commit to ongoing care and harvesting of assigned crops. The resulting produce is sent to community-based organizations first, with any leftover supply being donated to local food banks. Local is defined as any food bank within a 1- to 2-mile radius of the garden where the produce was grown. Some of the program’s properties include orchards, which may host cider-press events, during which attendees pick apples and press them on-site, taking home fresh juice or cider the same day. The ultimate objective is for the produce to reach the people who need it most.

Los Angeles County Parks & Rec

“Nothing is for sale, so nobody can come and grow whatever and then turn around and try to sell it,” Salisbury says. “Everything needs to be distributed to the public. We’re looking for [volunteers] to help redistribute that [produce] within that core community at zero cost.”

The benefits are myriad. Seattle locals from various communities learn about and engage with food production; the city’s large refugee and immigrant population can grow culturally significant foods connected to their homelands; there’s even a natural form of integrated pest management, with the community harvesting produce before it can attract rats or other invasive species. The program’s success and longevity have also drawn people with an especially heightened interest, driven by the pandemic and a national focus on food insecurity and food sovereignty. The increased fanfare has helped the program attract new volunteers, but the problem, Salisbury says, is their level of commitment.

“People really want to farm, and they just want to have a connection to the land. We do find a lot of folks that are committed and dedicated, and they’re getting it done, and they’re amazing,” he says. But others may simply want to indulge their curiosity about growing foods, not realizing the amount of labor required. For instance, a volunteer may want to know how kale is grown but takes no part in growing it. Recognizing this shifting dynamic, the program has pivoted to use some of its properties as demonstration gardens, where interested parties can gain exposure to community gardening without committing to stewardship. Salisbury says the program has also leaned on community-based organizations to handle more of the daily, one-on-one education pieces.

“We’re the worker bees, if you will,” Salisbury says. Partnerships and repurposed garden spaces have helped maintain the program’s mission while generating pounds of produce for local neighborhoods.

Food Programs That Uplift And Reimagine

Even when the community isn’t directly involved in cultivating local food, meals still play a vital role in addressing specific needs and uniting residents. 

“It brings the community closer,” says Brian Ceballos, Assistant Regional Recreation Director for Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation, about the department’s Free Summer Lunch and Snack Program. Ceballos oversees the initiative, along with Recreation Services Supervisor Ashley Abraham, and has noticed that its effects are about much more than food.

At the end of this year’s run, a young participant at one of the program’s 46 sites delivered a card thanking on-site staff for the lunches.

“That really made us feel that our efforts were appreciated and valued, and made it worthwhile,” Ceballos says.

At each site, from noon to 1 p.m., children ages 18 and under receive a complete lunch of wholesome grains, protein, vegetables, and a drink; from 3 to 4 p.m., a nutritious snack is served. Enrichment activities are provided at both times. Ceballos and Abraham have spearheaded the program for almost two years, but the free meals have been served the county for more than a decade. Operated in conjunction with the State of California’s Department of Social Services and Department of Education, the meals adhere to strict handling protocols and are only one component of a larger parks initiative called Every Body Plays.

Ceballos says the Free Summer Lunch and Snack Program is “a means of bringing in the community to our parks and exposing them to all the amazing programs that we have to offer.” Children visiting parks for a meal or snack can also access free athletic programs that include sports-equipment rentals, sports clinics, and nature-exploration programs. 

Once school is back in session, the department’s engagement with the community continues. Beginning in September, the Afterschool Snack Program serves free, nutritious snacks at 47 sites, from 3 to 4 p.m. on weekdays. Beyond Ceballos’ and Abraham’s scope, but still within the department, there’s a program to serve daily hot meals to seniors, another population segment with a demonstrated need.

NIFA

Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation’s activities combine elements of service and activism to ensure equitable food access for all. Similar programs also take place around the country, including many that are tailored to the specific needs of niche communities and that reimagine what food programs can be.

This year alone, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program  (CFPCGP) awarded $4.8 million to 22 projects focused on food distribution, outreach, and participation in federally assisted nutrition programs, all concentrated in underserved communities. 

“CFPCGP brings together stakeholders from distinct parts of the food system and fosters an understanding of national food and nutrition security trends and how these trends might improve the local food system,” says Lydia Kaume, PhD, RDN, National Program Leader for NIFA’s Division of Nutrition. 

Funded projects have focused on an array of solutions, including using food hubs and community markets to improve food security and sovereignty in communities of color, reducing food loss and waste, and using direct or farm-to-school programs to connect low-income families to food producers. One such grantee, the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, received funding to expand the local food chain by strengthening the link between urban consumers and rural farmers.

The effects are measurable, with both immediate and long-term impacts.

“When a community has voice in food-system decisions, and food markets fully benefit the community, food and nutrition security increases, and agriculture becomes a strong economic stimulus for communities,” Kaume says.

In every shape and form, community food programs make a difference. Their continued benefits are leading to growth in both new programs like those funded by CFPCGP and in existing ones.

Front Street Oven is building walls and installing doors around its oven, enabling winter programming for the first time since the oven’s founding—something locals will surely appreciate.

“People love the oven,” Ebata says. “There’s a strong community around it.”

Jefferey Spivey is a writer based in Urbandale, Iowa.  He can be reached at jeffereyspivey@gmail.com.