There is a well-known problem among the poorer segments of society that in addition to facing challenges of lack of food, they are also eating the wrong foods. This leads to problems of obesity, diabetes and other diet related health problems.
Combating this trend is a central part of Colel Chabad’s Food Security Program where beneficiaries are provided with food staples and fresh fruits and vegetables, but also educational resources to help them eat in a more healthy way, and to manage their homes in a sustainable manner.
Colel Chabad recently teamed with Leket Israel to launch a Sadnat Bishul (Cooking Course) designed to educate homemakers — most often mothers — on how to integrate healthy ingredients into their recipes to ensure they are using the healthy foods provided to them. As an organization feeding the needy with healthy and locally-sourced ingredients, Leket joins with Colel Chabad and Israel’s Welfare Ministry as an official partner in the Israeli Food Security Project.
The course launched with a pilot based out of Yavneh, a largely working-class town in Israel’s center which currently has 118 families benefiting from the Food Security Project. Of those families, 35 have registered to attend the course, which will be divided into four classes, each dedicated to a different aspect of food education and preparation.
The course is taught by a trained dietician, Sivan David, who focuses on how specific products can be used to create both healthy and tasty meals. Sivan says that many homemakers are only familiar with the traditional ingredients that they grew up with and therefore disregard products like quinoa and whole grains that can act as welcome nutritional supplements, and are also more economical than proteins like red meat.
The classes also divide up the times of the day, showing how ideal diets require an investment in all meals and how the body requires different energies at different hours for maximum productivity.
Sample meal preparations taught in the course include:
– Breakfast of whole grain breads with fresh vegetables, techina, tuna salad and a hard boiled egg
– Salmon with a mustard-lemon vinaigrette and a side salad
– Quinoa with Lentils and light dressing