I grew up in a food desert in a poor African American neighborhood in Oberlin, OH, which is shocking to most because Oberlin is known for its incredibly conscious class of people.  I was the daughter of a single mother who suffered a digestive disease, causing her to spend many  days in the Cleveland Clinic.  At 6 years old, my 9-year-old sister and I were in charge of managing the food stamps and making our way to the closest market – a convenience store that rarely stocked fresh produce. At our young age, we didn’t know what to do with the little veggies and grains that were available.  Of course we purchased only what we knew how to cook, white bread, chipped ham, mayonnaise, milk & cereal.

Eventually we changed locations after my mother went back to school, got a better job and bought her first house.  However the market was still a ways away and my sister and I remained in charge of the kitchen when our momma was not well; this meant walking through the cold Ohio tundra like winters in search of groceries.

One of the greatest gifts I’ve been given in life is to have lived in so many different social classes, from poor, to middle class, college student, Hollywood hip chic as a wanna be actress living the chic life w/ a diamond dealer and eating in the best restaurants in the world, to marrying into a truly southern family dynasty that has it’s roots in cattle and grocery stores.  I’m now a rancher’s wife and a well-rounded food gal myself.  All of these different experiences have given me an aerial point of view when it comes to what life is like in America’s kitchens.

The social divides within society have been the obvious, money, education & stuff, however today that divide is found on the dining room table and in the pantry.  The wealthiest people and the poorest share something in common – they eat processed unhealthy foods, and the majority of folks wealthy & poor no longer have a clue what to do with whole grains, beans & most fresh produce. If it doesn’t come in a box & have a picture on it then we are lost.

One thing that I know is processed food is processed food, regardless of brand name, being labeled organic, or generic – crap is crap and the cheapness is that it lacks the natural freshness, vitamins & fiber that our bodies need.

FOOD DESERTS ARE NOT JUST LOCATED IN POORER NEIGHBORHOODS BUT IN THE AVERAGE AMERICAN KITCHEN.

Some folks live in a food desert and others have a whole foods market down the road and yet still most of us don’t know what to do with what is available.

I was definitely one of these people, most of the meals I prepared in the past were at least HALF processed, and maybe I added some veggies or meat.  Had I not gotten super sick I probably wouldn’t have learned what I learned; now I’m cooking meals to prevent illness in my kids.

But have no fear ‘cause life is changing and if I have my way PKIA will deliver nobility via a cooking class every where I go.

This past weekend was packed with greatness I taught a USN evening cooking class and met a bunch of great women all well educated and attempting to do their best to make healthy food choices for themselves as well as their families. Just like the rest of us they are swarmed and torn with WHAT is healthy and what is not.  Here is my rule if it’s fresh, low in sugar, found in it’s complete form not shipped off to a factory before arriving on your table it’s healthy.

I prepared a kid friendly meal of Miso soup with daikon greens & steamed tofu, millet mash with a yummy kuzu gravy – that was slightly watery – oops, collard greens w/olive oil & garlic, Israeli “schnitzel” tofu wrapping it all up with an apple kuzu drink for desert.  These folks loved it and I felt the sweetness of success, as I’ve taken the basics of macrobiotic cooking and ancestral simple foods and created meals that heal.

On Saturday I met with Ravi Patel, the founder and creator of Nashville’s Mobile Market – his goal is to bring food into food deserts.  This past Saturday he did just that.

First, I gotta give you the run down on what a MOBILE MARKET is, it’s a giant trailer that has been turned into a full on market packed with mainly fresh veggies and some grains like brown rice.  The city of Nashville has been attempting to bring better grocery stores into the city’s food deserts but we all know how difficult a process this can be and why would a pricey market want to enter a poor neighborhood where most people can’t afford to shop.  Ravi Patel decided to not wait and instead created the Mobile Market that comes to the all food deserts and sells fresh produce at a greatly lower price.  By the way ANYONE can drive to where ever the Mobile Market is and shop it!

*FINALLY we are catching up to third world countries where this is how most folks get their produce and foods, via the back of a truck.

This past Saturday he was at the Edge Hill Projects and folks were shopping. I was like a Chihuahua as I moved through the Mobile Market, ‘cause my main goal has been how to bring the food to the neighborhood surrounding Corinthian Baptist Church where the Noble Food Makeover is taking place, I practically jumped on Ravi Patel when he said he would not only bring his mobile Market to my Open House Event on the 26^th of Feb. but, that he would work with me to bring the food truck to Corinthian Baptist Church on the days I taught cooking classes – what does this mean?  It means that the neighborhood surrounding Corinthian Baptist Church will no longer be a FOOD DESERT but instead be a FOOD OASIS!

Yahoo, my plan is to eventually work with this Mobile Market to enter all the food deserts and teach classes with what they have on the truck that day.

Saturday night I climbed into bed exhausted and inspired, the gals from the USN cooking class encouraged me to keep my feet moving by being so open and kind, the Mobile Market & Ravi Patel were a message that THIS IS HAPPENING….I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep knowing that soon Nashville will be connected by A MEAL THAT HEALS….