Betty is our fourth guest chef at the Mattapan Teen Center. She is 65 and from Barbados. She is radiant ̶ a silky complexion and a wide smile. She sports a canary yellow shirt, bright pink pants and a straw hat. We are making buljol, a dish made with breadfruit, green bananas, and salt cod. As we shop, she tells me about growing up in Barbados, how her mother abandoned her as an infant, and how she was brought up by her grandmother. She confides that she has had more than her share of depression and mental illness, yet she is warm and bubbly, and I share that I too have had my struggles with depression. She has bore four children, now adults, all of them college educated and professional. We walk through America’s Food Basket in Mattapan center and she takes her time sorting through vegetables to find the ones she deems most fit for her dish. There are five kinds of bananas, not counting the plantains. I’m taken with one variety ̶ it looks prehistoric; the skin is a solid forest-green, maybe an inch thick, but instead of choosing those, she picks from a hill of more conventional green bananas. She is surprised that I haven’t tried boiled green bananas let alone breadfruit. As we continue shopping for ingredients, I couldn't help but feel slightly under-cultured because I have been teaching cooking classes in a neighborhood that is mostly populated with Bajan-speaking Caribbeans, yet I am still discovering new and unfamiliar produce common in their cuisine.
I'm currently managing a new weekly summer cooking series at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston's Mattapan Teen Center where elders teach local teens their favorite recipes. The Mattapan Teen Center, which used to be Mattapan’s library, is outfitted with a spacious kitchen as well as a theatre, a computer room, and an exercise room, all air-conditioned. It has become a positive place for teens to hang out under the guidance of Ron Carroll and his staff. We’ve had 80-year-old Lessie from Georgia teach us how to make collards and cornbread; Leonide, a 74-year-old Haitian woman, make lip-smacking lime chicken, rice and peas; and then 75-year-old Ellie from Cape Verde who prepared a Chinese chicken dish with fermented black beans (she can cook Cape Verdean dishes but has had a 20-year love affair with Chinese food). Some of the food is familiar to the teens, as many of them have a parent from these places, but none of this is food they’ve made before. Most of the teens ̶ all from Mattapan ̶ haven’t cooked at all.
Brookwood Community Farm has combined forces with the Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC) in securing a grant to run this series. The goals are simple ̶ to interest teens in cooking, connect them to elders in the community, to help celebrate and preserve traditions, and to nudge them towards a diet less racked with processed foods.
Brookwood Community Farm has combined forces with the Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC) in securing a grant to run this series. The goals are simple ̶ to interest teens in cooking, connect them to elders in the community, to help celebrate and preserve traditions, and to nudge them towards a diet less racked with processed foods.
One of the most pivotal women who designed these classes is Vivien Morris, MS, RD, MPH, LDN, a nutritionist residing in Mattapan who is also the Founder and Chairperson of MFFC, a non-profit organization that engages this community to live healthier lives. Vivien points out “One hundred years ago, most African American families grew their own vegetables. A plant-based diet was central to their diet, beans were eaten multiple times a week and processed foods weren’t available. But things have changed. More and more people have moved into the city where there isn’t the space to grow. And it’s hard to find the time to tend a garden. Now there are fewer gardeners and vegetables at the supermarket are expensive. So people cook less and are choosing pre-packaged food instead that’s high in salt, saturated fat, and sugar. If you had limited funds would you buy a 59 cent bag of chips containing 150 calories or an apple for a dollar that had only 60 calories?” Vivien queries.
Ironically, when Lincoln was president, 90 out of 100 Americans were farmers. Now, only 1.6 percent of the population farms. Agri-business has removed millions of jobs and replaced skilled workers with machines. Now these corporations have inflicted the poor with another problem: They manufacture processed foods that have been known to increase the risk of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease when consumed regularly.
Creating more and more community allotments such as garden plots is one way our city is trying to improve their diet; people can grow their own produce or provide labor in a community garden in exchange for a share of produce. In addition, SNAP dollars, formerly known as food stamps, can be traded in for bounty bucks, monetary benefits of the Boston Bounty Bucks program that allow SNAP recipients to double their purchasing power through a dollar-for-dollar matching incentive when buying produce from farmers' markets or CSA shares. This program has demonstrated so much success that the USDA is working to expand the program across other cities in Massachusetts.
Creating more and more community allotments such as garden plots is one way our city is trying to improve their diet; people can grow their own produce or provide labor in a community garden in exchange for a share of produce. In addition, SNAP dollars, formerly known as food stamps, can be traded in for bounty bucks, monetary benefits of the Boston Bounty Bucks program that allow SNAP recipients to double their purchasing power through a dollar-for-dollar matching incentive when buying produce from farmers' markets or CSA shares. This program has demonstrated so much success that the USDA is working to expand the program across other cities in Massachusetts.
A Bounty Bucks bill SNAP recipients can use at local farmers' markets and CSAs to purchase healthy, fresh produce at half the market price.
"We have been in the grips of advertisers and manufacturers and even government subsidies for a very, very long time. It’s not an easy problem to solve,” Vivien adds “but it's everyone’s responsibility, especially getting kids to cook.” Research has found that black Americans are more likely to live in households where cooking occurs less frequently than white Americans (Wolfson, J.A. et al). She adds “We should pressure the people in power to pass the $15 minimum wage so that people can pay their bills without working two jobs a week so that everyone will have time to cook, maybe perhaps even start a garden.”
I asked Vivien how so many elders in Mattapan seem to stay close to their families, often living with them, and how this must be good for them. “I can’t speak from data, but cultural cohesion is key for elders and it is alive and well in urban areas like Mattapan. There is a wealth of cultural activities in Mattapan and in their own homes ̶ a multi-generational home is common." But there are economic stressors like wage inequity that require elders to take care of their grandchildren rather than enjoy leisure time during their retirement years because either or both parents cannot make ends meet. It might allow elderly residents to spend more quality time with their family members, but it is out of necessity. Also, dietary issues for the elderly are more difficult to address than a child’s because they are less mobile, whereas children generally have their dietary needs met through school meal options. Vivien helps people take advantage of the Bounty Bucks program, using her influence at the Boston Public Health Commission in urging friends and neighbors to join local community gardens.
Meanwhile, Betty is cutting a cucumber like I’ve never seen. She has peeled it and is holding it upright. Then she hacks at it in her hand with a small knife until it's finely chopped, with little pieces falling into a bowl. All the teens are intrigued. She has also been boiling the green bananas and breadfruit for almost an hour. We eat these with a compote made from cucumber, tomatoes, onion, salt cod, parsley, peppers, olive oil, and lemon. The green bananas are to die for, and although the breadfruit may not be tops on my list, it is still excellent with the compote.
I asked Vivien how so many elders in Mattapan seem to stay close to their families, often living with them, and how this must be good for them. “I can’t speak from data, but cultural cohesion is key for elders and it is alive and well in urban areas like Mattapan. There is a wealth of cultural activities in Mattapan and in their own homes ̶ a multi-generational home is common." But there are economic stressors like wage inequity that require elders to take care of their grandchildren rather than enjoy leisure time during their retirement years because either or both parents cannot make ends meet. It might allow elderly residents to spend more quality time with their family members, but it is out of necessity. Also, dietary issues for the elderly are more difficult to address than a child’s because they are less mobile, whereas children generally have their dietary needs met through school meal options. Vivien helps people take advantage of the Bounty Bucks program, using her influence at the Boston Public Health Commission in urging friends and neighbors to join local community gardens.
Meanwhile, Betty is cutting a cucumber like I’ve never seen. She has peeled it and is holding it upright. Then she hacks at it in her hand with a small knife until it's finely chopped, with little pieces falling into a bowl. All the teens are intrigued. She has also been boiling the green bananas and breadfruit for almost an hour. We eat these with a compote made from cucumber, tomatoes, onion, salt cod, parsley, peppers, olive oil, and lemon. The green bananas are to die for, and although the breadfruit may not be tops on my list, it is still excellent with the compote.
Betty and her students plating the buljol. Photo credit: Didi Emmons
Buljol made by students and senior chefs at the Mattapan Teen Center. Photo credit: Didi Emmons
Didi Emmons is a Personal Chef, Caterer, and Teacher. She began cooking omelets when she was ten and had her own catering business by the age of fourteen. After earning a BS in food service management at NYU, serving as a stagiaire (apprentice) to La Varenne (cooking school) in Paris and opening several restaurants in the Boston area, she opened Haley House Bakery Cafe, a non-profit cafe in Roxbury, whose staff are people transitioning from homelessness and incarceration. Her first book, Vegetarian Planet, was nominated for a James Beard Award. Her second book, Entertaining for a Veggie Planet, won the Best Book in the Healthy Category by the International Association of Cooking Professionals (formerly the Julia Child Award). She is also author of the critically acclaimed Wild Flavors: One Chef's Transformative Year Cooking From Eva's Farm.
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