Cooking class 'good for the public'
2/4/10 | 13 comments

Cooking class 'good for the public'


Nutrition Kitchen giving a hand-up, not a hand-out
By Diana Bowley
BDN Staff
BDN
Volunteer Lori Scribner of Williamsburg Township lets out a laugh while receiving instruction on how to make a white sauce for fried chicken as instructor Thomas Iverson (Piscataquis County Emergency Management Director), stooped over on left, cleans up. Dover-Foxcroft Police Chief Dennis Dyer, right, was the other instructor during a cooking class at the Missions of Virtue Nutrition Kitchen in Dover-Foxcroft Wednesday, February 3, 2010. (Bangor Daily News/John Clarke Russ) Buy Photo

DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine — Hovering over a hot frying pan Wednesday, Judy Morrison was a little sloppy in making her first waffles.

“They’re dripping over the side,” the Milo woman remarked as she pushed a clean white chef’s hat into place on her head with the palm of her hand.

“I didn’t know you could actually cook them yourself,” she muttered.

Taking a peek at Morrison’s work, Tom Iverson Jr. of Sebec turned around and flashed a big grin to the approximately 20 people in the audience who were gathered around in a cafe-type setting watching the pair prepare southern fried chicken on a waffle on two television monitors.

“She’s got a little mess over there, but that’s OK for the first time,” he said.

While foodies watch Emeril Lagasse on television to learn how to prepare exotic concoctions, those who need lessons in basic food preparation watch cooks in the Nutrition Kitchen in Dover-Foxcroft prepare healthful but inexpensive and quick meals using common ingredients.

The Nutrition Kitchen is the brainchild of Chris Reardon, who semi-retired after selling his partnership in his fast-paced California company years ago. He then moved across the country and settled into an aging Grange Hall in Dover-Foxcroft where he began devoting his life to people who need help to improve their lives.

Reardon, who believes most people don’t need a handout but rather a hand up, co-founded the John Adams Institute, which helps show others how to stretch their budgets by cooking healthy and low-cost meals.

The institute also distributes food through the Social Advancement of Virtues Endowment, or SAVE, a nonprofit organization that Reardon also founded. While one purpose of the organization is to feed the hungry with donated and solicited foods from throughout the country, its longer term purpose is to train and provide mentoring services so the needy can improve their lives.

“I believe the current pantry system is broken as it exists today; it institutionalizes hunger,” Reardon said. People need to learn how to stretch their budgets and eat better, he said.

More than 500 people are served each month at the SAVE pantry on the first floor of the grange hall. The second floor of the hall is used to teach cooking and other skills. Reardon has converted the third floor into his living quarters.

Wednesday’s cooking session on a spacious stage equipped as a kitchen on the second floor educates pantry users and visitors from other organizations who can then share their knowledge. Participants included local residents, several people from the Penobscot Indian Nation in Old Town and representatives of local organiza-tions. It was a chance for Judy Morrison to see how the Nutrition Kitchen could fit into her role as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer.

“Isn’t this great?” Morrison said after she and the other attendees tasted the fried chicken and waffles, which were smothered in a white sauce.

Iverson, Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency’s director, and Dennis Dyer, Dover-Foxcroft police chief, were the guest chefs for this week’s cooking lessons. Dyer demonstrated how to make a quick and hearty macaroni and hamburger soup and provided the recipe and a taste of his famous sweet-and-sour meat-balls.

“I think this is good for the public because it isn’t a high-class cooking school. We’re just people off the street who like to share our techniques with others,” Dyer said.

And that is what Reardon intended it to be. “The purpose is to teach [people] how to cook pantry food to turn the meal into a family time,” he said.

National statistics show that 67 percent of the average American household budgets are spent on meals prepared outside of the home, and those meals are typically higher in sodium and fat content, Reardon said. “That’s pretty appalling,” he said.

Reardon draws no salary and gets donations from the community, the Good Shepherd Food-Bank and corporations throughout the country. He said he can stretch every dollar that is donated to SAVE into about $30 worth of food and $30 worth of training.

Mary Ryan, a volunteer at the Indian Women’s Mission Center Inc. on Indian Island, found it amazing that Reardon has devoted his time and building to show others how to stretch their budgets by cooking healthful and low-cost meals.

“I was surprised at how quickly you can make a delicious soup,” she said, adding that it also was fun.

For Reardon, the cooking lessons have to be fun, familiar, affordable and easy to cook.

Not registered? Click here
E-mail this
Print this
Guidelines for posting on bangordailynews.com

Bangordailynews.com is pleased to offer a forum for readers to react to our stories, discuss them and provide additional information. We are reluctant to delete comments, but do reserve that right for those who abuse our forum. For more on using this site, please see our terms of service.

The primary rule here is pretty simple: Treat others with the same respect you'd want for yourself. What does that mean specifically? Here are some guidelines (see more):

Comments
13 comments on this item
On 2/3/10 at 10:17 PM, sebec39 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

What a great idea! The best of luck to you folks who are doing this. Maybe it will spread to other areas in Maine?

Report abuse
On 2/4/10 at 3:34 AM, ajinblue wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

what a great story to help people eat, grocery shop and cook better... the chef should do a cook book and have it sent to the food pantries all acrossed the state and the book stores just an idea.... there are some cooking classes inthe bangor area people just don't have time for them or they cost to much... i have collection of better homes and gardens cook books that work great i also have a progam called Master Cook i bought at staples for $10.00 has a bunch of different cook books on it and also give you the breakdown of nutrional values fat, cal, and so on...

Report abuse
On 2/4/10 at 5:46 AM, Ladyslipper wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Chris Reardon said,

.

"I believe the current pantry system is broken as it exists today; it institutionalizes hunger,” Reardon said. People need to learn how to stretch their budgets and eat better, he said.

.

SO TRUE..... Mr. Reardon is providing a terrific service and I agree with sebec39, I hope this idea spreads.....Thank you Mr. Reardon and SAVE

Report abuse
On 2/4/10 at 7:33 AM, 420Revarie wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Fried chicken and waffles smothered in white sauce=heart attack on a plate...low income folks need this? Bad message.

Report abuse
On 2/4/10 at 9:42 AM, moosereiver wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Chinese proverb.

Report abuse
On 2/4/10 at 10:10 AM, concernsme wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

He said he can stretch every dollar that is donated to SAVE into about $30 worth of food and $30 worth of training.

This is true. It is usually more useful to donate money than food items, especially to larger organizations, like Good Shephard food bank. They can turn every dollar into much more food than you could buy with it at the grocery store.

Report abuse
On 2/4/10 at 10:13 AM, concernsme wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Thank you, Mr. Reardon, for devoting your time, effort and talent to such a worthy cause.

BDN, maybe a little information about how people sign up or qualify for these classes, or maybe contact info? Just a thought.

Report abuse
On 2/4/10 at 12:03 PM, hooligan wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

Report abuse
On 2/4/10 at 12:36 PM, thejude46 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

The Nutrition Kitchen Events are FREE! I don't know how Chris does it. In the present economic situation many of us are in, why wouldn't anyone go to this event once a month, Hot, delicious, nutritious meal and good portions for FREE!!!! Plus, with the GUEST Chef concept, it is a chance to spend a couple of hours with some of your neighbors & get to know them better than just what they do for a living/profession. Free lunch, live, laugh & learn!!!!!

Report abuse
On 2/4/10 at 1:10 PM, starwalker wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I wouldn't have suggested FRIED chicken... but the concept of a white sauce (which can actually be made with not much fat at all) and previously cooked (roast or boiled) poultry on a potato, or bread base is a pretty good place to start for making all sorts of creative variations.

It was good to teach that you can make waffles (I have never had any other kind) but to branch out and share that you can serve a basic meat/"gravy" over a baked potato or toast (for me it would be whole grain) is a good concept. Add some veggies to that meat and sauce, or put a salad on the side and you are good to go.

I taught a friend who also pretty much bought everything prepared or ate out some skills, and in her estimation the best lesson she learned was that you can substitute and make variations and once you have a bit of experience, you don't need a recipe. Essentially the meat/gravy/veggie/starch meal could be anything from chicken a la king to beef stroganoff... based on whatever was on sale that week, served over whatever you had on hand. I am always surprised that folks don't get that concept and think of food only in distinct recipes, which they cannot make unless they have all of the right amounts of the ingredients asked for.

Report abuse
On 2/4/10 at 4:31 PM, jimbastion wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Yum Hamburger Soup. Probably followed by Allen's Coffee Brandy.

Report abuse
On 2/9/10 at 8:29 AM, JacobM wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

"More than 500 people are served each month at the SAVE pantry on the first floor of the grange hall", how many pantries you need in that area? I am moving to DF to erase my grocery bill. Maybe I will open a pantry?

Report abuse
On 2/24/10 at 3:41 PM, amethystshadows wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

...I don't want to dis this program, but... There are actually people out there who don't know that waffles can be MADE? Haven't we heard of a waffle maker?!

Yes, fried chicken, waffles, and white gravy *could* be healthy... but, southern food? Why not teach something people up here actually eat?

...and add a VEGETABLE.

Great program idea though. I live in Guilford (about 6 miles away) and have never heard of this. 500 seems like a lot...so kinda surprised that this hasn't caused a buzz in this area before now...there are certainly more than that who are cooking challenged. I know people who have been to cooking school who still can't cook. A large problem people seem to have with nutrition is that they don't "like" certain foods. If all your food is in the white/brown color range (like chicken and waffles)...and you're unwilling to try anything different cuz it's "gross" you're never going to learn to really cook, anyway!

Report abuse
You must be logged in to post a comment. click here to log in.

Powered by: Creative Circle Advertising Solutions, Inc.