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Eat your vegetables - still some of the best health advice out there, but it can be especially tough for vulnerable populations or those in food deserts. One innovative program is helping people get more tasty veggies by getting creative with produce that would otherwise have gone to waste. WUWM's Maayan Silver reports from Milwaukee.
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MAAYAN SILVER, BYLINE: Amanda McVann is pulling a small cart through a farmers market in a Milwaukee neighborhood that's widely recognized as a food desert. She's food justice director for Tikkun Ha Ir, a Milwaukee Jewish social action organization. And she's greeting farmers like Jenny Yang.
AMANDA MCVANN: Hi. Hello. Good to see you again.
JENNY YANG: Yes, you too.
SILVER: It's nearly closing time for the day, and Yang still has piles and piles to sell.
YANG: Today, I have many different kind of vegetable like amaranth, squash tips, green bean, zucchini, bitter melon.
SILVER: As Yang goes through the food list, McVann asks for what hasn't been snapped up. She wants it for Tikkun Ha Ir's community meal program, Veggie Chop Shop. Yang shares why she regularly donates.
YANG: Because I have leftover. I don't want to throw trash.
SILVER: She says she wants to help the hungry.
RIC CABANATUAN: This is just totally amazing, what the farmers are giving this time.
SILVER: Ric Cabanatuan, one of two paid chefs on Veggie Chop Shop's staff, is checking out other stalls with sous-chef Brittney "Bea" Papador.
BRITTNEY 'BEA' PAPADOR: And this corn came from him?
CABANATUAN: Yeah, it's so sweet. It's like eating candy.
SILVER: By the end of the hour, they've hauled in 466 pounds of vegetables. They pile them into volunteers' cars. Shortly afterwards, they're in a basement kitchen space and cafeteria at All People's Church. That's where sous-chef Papador says they've decided what to do with the haul.
PAPADOR: Which is going to be a pesto primavera, apple-zucchini bread, braised greens, gazpacho and garden herb green beans.
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SILVER: The next day, the same basement cafeteria is brimming with about 20 volunteers.
UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER: Welcome, welcome. Hello. Hello. Everyone's all...
SILVER: Participants, some community regulars, some new volunteers, also women incarcerated in a local correctional center who've been allowed to join get right to work, chopping up zucchini and cucumbers and shucking corn.
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SILVER: Emily Waldoch is one of the volunteers.
EMILY WALDOCH: It feels amazing, I mean, just helping out people that need it. I know how it feels to, you know, be stuck and not have help from people, so it feels great.
SILVER: Over in the kitchen, chef Ric Cabanatuan is doing a low saute on what's become a signature dish - smothered greens from farmer Jenny Yang.
CABANATUAN: It's got smoked paprika, it's got onion, it's got garlic, and it's got a little bit of vinegar that's in here.
SILVER: The food goes directly to childcare centers as well as women and children centers that focus on recovery, domestic violence and homelessness. Since 2015, Veggie Chop Shop has served more than 51,000 community meals, out of more than 93,000 pounds of produce that would have ended up in landfills instead of being put on plates. One more place Veggie Chop Shop provides meals is at The Gathering Table, a fresh produce pantry outside of All People's Church. Antonio Felder volunteers at the pantry and lives in the area, also generally known as a food desert. He appreciates the accessible, healthy food.
ANTONIO FELDER: You're bringing it to the people, some things that people probably never tried before. This is pure. This is good for you.
SILVER: He eyes a container of braised greens but ends up going for the green beans, seasoned in garlic, butter and onions. He takes a bite.
FELDER: Delicious. Thumbs up to the chef.
SILVER: It's a full-circle moment, taking healthy vegetables from farms to the forks of people who may otherwise find them hard to find. For NPR News, I'm Maayan Silver in Milwaukee.
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