{"id":48943,"date":"2017-07-10T13:33:59","date_gmt":"2017-07-10T18:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=48943"},"modified":"2017-07-13T11:13:22","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T16:13:22","slug":"uwm-students-help-food-pantry-patrons-eat-healthier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-students-help-food-pantry-patrons-eat-healthier\/","title":{"rendered":"51ÁÔÆæ students help food pantry patrons eat healthier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like many patrons of the Riverwest Food Pantry, recent retiree Margaret Barnes would like to eat more vegetables but sometimes has trouble coming up with ideas for cooking with fresh produce.<\/p>\n

So the pantry\u2019s executive director, Vincent Noth, called in the \u201cfresh food cavalry\u201d: members of 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s Nutritional Sciences Club and faculty adviser Susie Kundrat.<\/p>\n

\"Two
Susie Kundrat, a clinical associate professor in the College of Health Sciences, and student Michael Arts, a junior in the nutritional sciences program, prepare a summer salad with apples for June’s food demonstration at the Riverwest Food Pantry. (51ÁÔÆæ Photo\/Laura Otto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ten\u00a0members of the club spent one weekend a month, April to June, planning dishes and or snack recipes that incorporated the particular fruits or vegetables that become available during the growing season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe developed recipes a day in advance based on what the pantry received and what could easily be made,\u201d said Kundrat, a clinical associate professor in the College of Health Sciences. \u201cWe used anything that came in fresh.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students serve their menu ideas with a dash of dietary education.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn April, the pantry had spinach, summer squash and broccoli in stock, so we decided our (educational) focus would be on potassium,\u201d said Laura Danner, a senior in the Department of Nutritional Sciences.<\/p>\n

The students worked with a pantry volunteer who was French and settled on preparing cheese crepes with ham and those high-potassium vegetables.<\/p>\n

The students gave out more than 120 samples and recipes that Saturday and an equal share of nutritional knowledge.<\/p>\n

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s\u00a0plate graphic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A poster next to the club\u2019s table displayed the \u201cplate<\/a>\u201d graphic, designed in 2011 by the U.S. government to replace the outdated \u201cfood pyramid.\u201d The graphic\u2019s purpose is to show people what amounts of the various kinds of foods they should be eating to stay healthy.<\/p>\n

But understanding diet isn\u2019t that simple, as Danner found out at April\u2019s pantry demonstration, where a popular question was, \u201cWhat is potassium, anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awesome to answer people\u2019s questions,\u201d she said. \u201cOne thing they learned was that they didn\u2019t have to sacrifice taste for nutrition.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, the students prepared an easy black bean dish that included fresh cilantro so they could promote dietary fiber.<\/p>\n

The draw for Courtney Bedford, another senior in nutritional sciences, is \u201cthe opportunity to take what we\u2019ve learned in class out into the community where it can impact lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

One-third of the 12,000 people the pantry serves each year suffer from illnesses related to poor diet, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. So a few years ago, pantry organizers made some changes, Noth said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCooking and eating together has become more important,\u201d he said. \u201cNow we have an environment that encourages people to gather and talk more, and to try new types of food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another change was allowing people to shop for themselves rather than just handing them a box of food, he said. The students\u2019 food preparation demonstrations support both.<\/p>\n

Jean De Vita, a registered nutritionist who is a board member at the pantry, was instrumental in getting the 51ÁÔÆæ students involved. Like Noth, De Vita views healthy food as an avenue for transforming a community.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people have no one to eat a meal with,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, when they do, the sharing goes beyond what\u2019s on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retiree Barnes, for her part, thought the black bean dish was tasty and took the recipe with her. \u201cI have most of these ingredients at home, but I never would have thought to put them together to make this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students involved:<\/strong><\/p>\n