Healthy Habits Cooking at City Rec Center

Rochester residents stopping at a local farm stand are picking up more than fresh fruits and vegetables: they're also getting cooking tips.

The cooking program was at the Carter Street Recreation Center.

Mitch Gruber is the community food access coordinator at Foodlink. He says the cooking demonstrations give city residents an opportunity to learn how to prepare the veggies they just bought.

"People call them food deserts, people call them food swamps, you can call them whatever they are, but the bottom line is that when you look around you don't see anything but corner stores," Gruber says. "At the corner store, you only see prepackaged stuff like Fritos and Hershey bars.  Then Gatorade and lottery tickets and cigarettes.  So we decided that we wanted 10 different neighborhoods all, which needed access to more fruits and vegetables."

Gruber says residents can also use their EBT cards to purchase fresh produce. The cooking demonstration and farmer's stand is a partnership between Foodlink and the Community Place.