Slow Food Asheville is giving back to its community this month by providing dinner for parents and families involved in the Our Circle Program at ABCCM (Asheville Bumcombe Community Christian Ministries). On Tuesday, December 11th, Slow Food Asheville Board members and volunteers will use fresh foods donated by Manna Food Bank and Mother Earth Produce to prepare a delicious and healthy meal for 60 people, using primarily local ingredients. This is truly creative collaboration between two organizations who are both doing amazing work in Asheville.
The Our Circle Program aims to guide young parents through the ups and downs along their unique journeys by, “cultivating a community where people work and grow. Together,” as their website http://www.abccm.org/ministries/circles describes. Slow Food Asheville believes that fresh, sustainably grown food should be accessible to all people, and that sharing this nourishment together is a key to building and maintaining community. Dinner is always served at the bi-weekly classes, usually from a fast food chain. Slow Food Asheville will offer participants a chance to eat new foods, gain ideas, and change their beliefs about what fast, cheap, and tasty can be.
Slow Food Asheville hopes that this can be an ongoing service to the community with the support of volunteers who love cooking, expanding food security, and bringing people together around shared meals. Instead of ‘grabbing a bite’ out of styrofoam and paper bags, Slow Food Asheville wants children in Buncombe County to be nourished by our region’s amazing array of nutrient rich fruits, vegetables, and meats, prepared with love. Through exposure and opportunities such as this, parents throughout our region can find ways to support local growers and reap the benefits of fresh, whole foods.
Email Nan Kramer, President of Slow Food Asheville, at nsrkramer@gmail.com, to help with this event or to get involved in the future. Shy chefs fear not, there are many ways to be a part of this effort.