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Ledette, Ali, Goerge, Kenny, Karen and Michel

RootDown’s Youth Leaders hardly got to rest this summer before we lured them into our new Entrepreneurial Training Program.  RootDown’s new Program Manager, Master Gardener and part-time Master DJ, Ali Bhai, reports from the business building front!…
As one of the newest additions to the RootDown LA team, I am very excited to be co-creating RDLA’s Youth Entrepreneurship Training with baker, businesswoman and master gardener, Ledette Gambini.

In partnership with WeCAN’s Urban Food Forest, we have developed this training with the goal of teaching our youth leaders about financial literacy, sustainable agriculture, community development, and, of course, building demand for healthy foods in South LA neighborhoods.

During the training, our youth will start their own urban farming business and in the process learn how to do market & competitive research, financial analysis, and PR & marketing of their fresh, local produce.  They will also learn how to design and make sustainable market gardens in sub-acre spaces, starting with WECAN’s office backyard garden.  Already underway is an intensive sub-acre farming operation, which will hopefully be replicated in all of the backyards on 60th Street.  It’s an ambitious project, and our youth are willing and more than capable to pull it off.


We took our Youth Leaders on a little retreat this past week, to celebrate an amazing first year at Jefferson High School and to check out another CA city food system – San Francisco!  We stopped by to say hello to LocalHarvest founder, Guillermo Payet, and visited with other youth leaders at FoodWhat?! in Santa Cruz.  We spent a night at Pie Ranch then had breakfast at the Mission Pie Shop in San Francisco.  Rainbow Grocery supplied us with our veggies for a stir fry we made later that night up in Point Reyes Station where we spent a night – tastings of local Cowgirl Creamery Cheese and Toby’s Coffee were a treat.

The kids couldn’t stop thanking us for the trip; highlights included a swim in the ocean & spotting a seal in Santa Cruz, strawberry picking, a sunset hike and sleeping under the stars at Pie Ranch, meeting other youth doing food systems work at FoodWhat?!, a first look at the Golden Gate bridge, and a night in Marin County, where almost all the food for purchase in local stores is sourced from local farms.

Francisco Leon takes command of the chili production.

This month, we finally got back to McGrath Family Farms with Vanya Hollis’ health class from Manual Arts High School.  Vanya was the first teacher to host RootDown LA when we began our trial programming three years ago.  We showed up with cutting boards, veggies, chefs knives and our goofy Food Systems Mural – depicting the change in our food system the past 100 years.  Students learn in just one hour – we’ve gone from eating mostly nutrient-rich whole foods to eating processed foods containing too much sugar and chemicals that can make our bodies sick.

Why don’t we eat our veggies?  Because they are NASTY if you don’t know how to make them taste better.  So we cook, chop, dice and season foods the kids can’t BELIEVE are healthy.  And we leave them asking for more.

The farm trips offer youth a chance to get out of the city and see where the healthiest food comes from – the earth!  Students giggle when they pull carrots from the ground and taste berries right off the bush.  They can’t believe how GOOD, even lima beans taste when they are farm fresh and cooked well.

But food from the earth also can be grown in the city!

This summer, our Youth Leaders will gain entrepreneurial skills when we help WECAN further develop their Urban Food Forest – setting up a new supply of fresh foods grown right in South LA backyards, to RootDown’s after school program and to our neighbors.

RootDown LA’s Food Systems Mural at Manual Arts High School in South LA shows – our food system has changed in the past 100 years..we’re getting too many additives in processed foods, and not enough nutrients from whole foods!

Thanks to Roxana Reyes and her team of artists who completed this mural in Winter, 2009.  They made a powerful point when they asked Manual Arts students, “What do you want to see on the walls and billboards surrounding the neighborhood?  Corporate advertising for unhealthy food or the images of healthier food and the abundance of it we can find even in urban areas…?”

Our Youth Leaders decided to end the year with a celebration of healthy food – by cooking and sharing their favorite recipes at Ross Snyder park last Saturday morning.  A few family members joined and we attracted some soccer players, local families and even the ICE CREAM MAN!  who all appreciated our fruit, homemade salsa, quesadillas, chili and arroz con leche.

Can't keep the kids from refilling the fruit plate! Who says they don't like healthy food?!

So many veggies on the menu!

Senior, Andres Chopin will head to culinary school this fall and return to RootDown LA as our first graduate intern!

Leave it to our own Costa Rican born Warren Calvo Leon to declare it COSTA RICAN DAY at RootDown LA’s After School Healthy Food Club.

Butter up the bread and you got a typical Costa Rican lunch without the salad…..

What? No salad?!!!  That’s ok.  Our kids are eating enough kale, lettuce, beets, broccoli and sauteed squash on other days.  Plus, pork chops can get a little pricey.  It’s ALL about finding the balance…

In just 2 months, RootDown LA saw our newest Youth Leader at Jefferson High, Kenny Wayne Hayes, Jr., turn from being a shy observer at our after school club to become a FULL-ON skilled chef at our tasting events. Thanks to Warren, who’s been leading RootDown’s charge engage and train youth to build DEMAND for healthy food in South LA. In the pic: Kenny showed up last week proudly wearing his new chef hat which he won in Jennie Cook’s latest Mystery Lunch Box cook-off.

We asked Kenny what he likes about RootDown LA, “I like cutting [nasty veggies of course] and I like to learn how to cook different food. I also like the other kids and were friends now.”  Who cooks in Kenny’s home?  “My Granny mostly. My mom doesn’t like to cook but my granny makes some great nachos. I make Salsa at home now and sometimes cook too.
We also asked Kenny, what could he teach others now, about healthy food and cooking? “That it tastes good and is fun.” Has RootDown changed Kenny’s mind about eating any new veggies?! “I try anything now…

Each year, Jefferson High School hosts a day where folks from the entire Jefferson family of schools can come and enjoy great food, entertainment and activities.  This year, RootDown LA was on hand to provide fresh local produce and lots of VEGGIES!  snuck into our homemade salsa and spicy hummus & sauteed veggie wraps.   Our youth leaders, and new recruits to the RootDown Healthy Food Club showed up to volunteer their time to feed the people healthy whole foods.  The morning started off a bit slow, with a few guests stopping by for sliced apples and citrus.  By noon however, the tables were THRONGED with students and parents who couldn’t get enough of the delicious, healthy and AFFORDABLE! food.  Thanks to Councilwoman, Jan Perry, for stopping by to say hello!  We’re supporting her moratorium on fast food restaurants in South LA by building demand for healthy food!

In just three two-hour sessions, LA Caterer and Restaurateur, and RootDown board member, Jennie Cook, gives high school kids (and their parents) the skills to devise their own recipes for a healthy gourmet VEGGIE meal.  Thursday, May 13th was the final-cook off for this latest round of culinary genius building.  After two sessions where students (and parents) got to practice new cooking techniques on various vegetables, they arrived for the third session to find a “mystery” vegetable around which they had to create a dish to impress a team of judges.  Jennie was impressed with the seriousness with which the participants approached the challenge.  As soon as they arrived in the final cook-off day, they quickly got to work to prepare dishes that ended up looking like they’d just come out of a professional kitchen.  The principal, several Jefferson High teachers, and our good friend from WECAN, Michel McLaughlin were on hand to taste the food.

A white bean pasta and spicy coleslaw dish took first place though all the teams were awarded prizes for the taste, presentation and overall creativity of their plates.   Let us know if you want us to bring the Mystery Lunch Box Cook off to your school or organization!