A Lesson in Nutrition--The Squash-a-Thon

From the Mail-Tribune (OR).

"ACCESS food pantry volunteers and staff are gearing up to deliver 20,000 pounds of butternut squash they hope will provide heaping doses of vitamin A and C along with a hefty side dish of education.

On Thursday, food gurus from the Oregon State University Extension Service hosted a "squash-a-thon" at the ACCESS Olsrud Nutrition Center kitchen.

Food pantry volunteers were on hand to enjoy soups, stews, breads and cookies made from the bright orange flesh of one of the first deliveries of the squash.

ACCESS Nutrition Programs Director Philip Yates said the purpose of the class was to teach the volunteers who will, in turn, teach food bank clients how best to benefit from the delivery of butternut squash in addition to other types of nutrient-rich squash.

The butternut delivery, part of 200,000 pounds being delivered around the state by the Oregon Food Bank, will come in several shipments.

Yates, donning an apron and hair net, pulled freshly baked squash from one of several ovens in the sprawling kitchen. "Butternut is a wonderful squash. There are so few seeds and it's so full of vitamins," Yates said, setting the large tray alongside two others for volunteers to help process. "We're really hoping to teach our volunteers how easy it is to process the squash so they can in turn share that information."

Marian Traina, a family food educator and master food preserver with the Extension Service, took her educational role seriously on Thursday, wrapping a banana squash dubbed "Hannah Banana" in a baby blanket and greeting students of the afternoon class.

"She's an ambassador. Hannah Banana teaches people to love squash," Traina said with an earnest grin. "I think it's a fabulous thing that we have people interested in teaching others what to do with the squash and how to enjoy it. It's a necessary thing to educate people on how to use the things that are donated and given — and things that are nutritious."

Debra Bowman, a volunteer for the West Medford ACCESS Food Pantry, situated in the Santos Center, said it was a good idea to teach volunteers and clients how to utilize healthy ingredients.

"It's really neat to learn all the different ways of making the squash so you can cook it," she said. "It's good for people, so we want to teach them what to do with it."

Mary Ward, manager of the same food pantry location, said food bank clients often slip past raw ingredients, such as squash or root vegetables, in favor of processed, boxed foods. "I'm really hoping that they will use the squash and it will have some good nutrition they might not pick up otherwise," said Ward.

"People do tend to shy away from fresh produce. Most people are meat and potatoes people, but maybe if we can teach them that will help."

Yates said shipments of butternut squash would happen soon and continue for many months. He hoped the squash would encourage families to learn to cook and prepare food together.

"We're trying to inspire 3,400 families that we serve every single month to try something they might not have tried before," said Yates.

"A can of pumpkin is up to almost $2. Why not take a pumpkin or a squash and get six cans worth for a fraction of the cost — or for free from the food bank?"

Indeed, Mr. Yates, why not? Because schools no longer teach Home Ec classes, and that leaves you and your lovely volunteers to pick up the slack. If more food banks did this, we might be able to teach people how to feed themselves economically again! Obviously, the schools aren't going to do it, and if Mom never learned, it isn't going to happen at home.

Remember 4-H? Remember the high school cooking class? Remember Girl Scouts? I bet great-grandmothers remember belonging to some sort of Hostess Society or Food Service program after school.