On Monday, December 18, Culinary Medicine held a No-Cost Farmer’s Market for the 12th Street Neighborhood. The event was a tremendous success, which means we will be doing it again soon! We distributed 584 pounds of produce and 62 pounds of bakery goods. The remaining 220 pounds went to the UAMS food pantry, Stocked and Reddie. The 12th Street Community Café was an excellent place to host, and we hope to help bring in customers along the way.
We started setting up for the event early in the day to make sure everything was perfect. After a few hours of preparation, we were ready for community members to come on in. And they did. First, customers are asked to fill out a survey so that we can improve things in the future, then they are free to take whatever they need. Sweet potatoes, bell peppers, carrots, onions, oranges, apples, a variety of breads, pineapple, and even some advent calendars are just a few examples of the offerings.
RD Alyssa Frisby and medical student Breyanna Dulaney cooked up delicious red beans and rice for the tasting. Thanks to Potluck Food Rescue, community members had a wide variety of foods, such as produce and bakery goods, as well as flowers and some basic need items to select from and take home.
Potluck Food Rescue is one of our wonderful partners that helped bring in more options to the neighborhood. They travel around the city to different restaurants and grocery stores to gather leftover food and re-distribute it to people in need. We appreciate their mission and are thrilled to have them help us with this project.
As mentioned above, we will be doing this again. Our next 12th Street No-Cost Farmer’s Market will be held on January 22 at 5:30 p.m. We plan to host these events at least once a month. If you need help with food security, please come and join us. All are welcome.