CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — The Coastal Bend Food Bank has been coming to the Ben F McDonald Library with the goal to teach the younger generation about the importance of a healthy meal.
Tracy Atkinson, a nutrition educator with the Coastal Bend Food Bank said the earlier teens learn about healthy habits, the better.
"When we start introducing fruits and vegetables and whole grades at a younger age not only are they more acceptable than eating it but they’re gonna wanna try to cook food with you too," Atkinson said.
She said they’re gonna wanna try different foods since they will already be used to experimenting all types of food.
"It’s very important(...)also for the importance of the nutrition behind it,”she added.
The youngsters cooked for about 40 minutes and they learned how to cook one pot meals. The nutrition educators provided three recipes and all on a $50 budget.
“Cooking is very hard it takes a lot of steps if I really start to learn(...) I’ll probably start cooking”, 14 year-old Derek Huerta said.
Sarined Garcia is the new youth services librarian and this was her first time hosting this event since she started.
"I feel happy because they came altogether and they learned and then to see them eating everything and the vegetable. Everything makes me so happy because we are teaching them to be healthy adults," Garcia said.
She added that the Coastal Bend Food bank will now be offering the Teen cooking classes also at the Hopkins library starting next month.
Garcia said they have already partnered up for summer sessions with the Coastal Bend Food Bank and you could always check them out on their website or Facebook page.
This opportunity will not only expose them to a variety of healthy meals but also how to stay on a budget.
"What we try to say for eating healthy and on a budget is basically having a lot of vegetables to fill the meal, but also having grains like our pastas are whole-grain pastas or whole-grain rice," she said. "Those are gonna make us have a very big meal and it’s gonna stretch that budget too because they’re not as expensive."
