“Why eat juice from a can when I can eat the whole fruit?” “In my country, all the food we get is natural.” These are just some of the comments from participants at our food justice classes at Literacy Source this summer. Literacy Source offers classes for adult learners, many of whom are refugees and immigrants, to learn English, to read, write, and do basic math. They also offer assistance with naturalization applications for low income individuals. They make it possible for adults to gain the basic literacy skills they need in order to succeed in school, to find a job, to achieve life goals, and to create a better, more hopeful future.

Many of the students at Literacy Source are also new to the food in this country that they call their new home and unfamiliar with the food system. HIP teamed up with them this summer to offer some food justice classes. We talked about our food system and had some hands-on practice in cooking some healthy recipes from scratch including black bean burgers and whole wheat skillet pizza with white bean spread!

The participants brought a wealth of knowledge about food from their home countries. We shared what we know about food and food system in this country. Together we had a lot of fun and great sense of community over some delicious meals!