AUSTIN EATS STRIVES TO PROVIDE FOOD AND EDUCATION

Austin natives Briana Shields, Founder of the Austin Community Food Co-Op, and Chef Michelle Scott of Thank God 4 Raw and Vegan Treats. Photos provided by Austin Coming Together
Austin natives Briana Shields, Founder of the Austin Community Food Co-Op, and Chef Michelle Scott of Thank God 4 Raw and Vegan Treats. Photos provided by Austin Coming Together

 Austin Eats strives to provide food and education

BY TIA CAROL JONES
     In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic Austin Coming Together wanted to provide food and other resources to community residents who
were hit hard and needed assistance.  Austin Eats was born out of that and a year later, it has expanded to include a film screenings.
     JeVon Moore, planning and investment manager at Austin Coming
Together, said Austin Eats was an immediate response to the pandemic
to make sure residents had the access and knowledge of food distribution. Moore said the need for food distribution in the community really hit before the pandemic, but the need increased because of the pandemic.
     “Before the pandemic, around 4 to 10 households were already making that stressful decision between food, healthcare and transportation. With the pandemic hitting, you can only imagine how that impacted that stat a lot more,” he said.
     Moore said Austin Eats is a collective of several community
stakeholders and groups that came together to address food challenges, food insecurities, food apartheid in the Austin community. Those stakeholders include Austin Community Garden Collective, Chicago Botanic Garden, Forty Acres Fresh Market, Hope Community
Church, Austin Harvest and Good Neighbors Campaign.
     He said it is broken down to working groups that include community
gardens, food pantries, grocery stores, culinary entrepreneurs and restaurants, as well as one that focuses on food education, which is where the film screenings come in.
     Moore said there will be a total of three film screening as part of
Austin Eats this summer. The first film screening, “Soul Food Junkies” took place on Saturday, June 26. There were more than 100 people in attendance, physically and virtually. During the screenings there are discussions about healthy eating. One Earth Film Festival, partnered with Austin Coming Together and Austin Renaissance Council to host the film screening.
     Moore said food education is important because looking at challenges facing the community when it comes to food access. He said 55% of Austin residents report have easy access to fruits and vegetables. He said one of the reasons for this can be not having transportation to buy fruits and vegetables or intake of fruits and vegetables.
     “We found out that only 17% of Austin adults were eating the recommended fruits and vegetables a day. And, a lot of that just boils down to not knowing how to cook the food or not knowing prepare it,” he said, adding sometimes when you know better, you do better. “With that in mind, Austin Eats as a group, believes that educating an teaching people about healthy eating, letting them know how they can healthy, eat good, where you can find these things, working with our gardens.”
     Moore said teaching people about the process of growing vegetables in the garden and harvesting it for consumption is also part of the education. He said it plays a major role in proper food education and its results.
     Moore said Austin Eats also will get a brick and mortar grocery store in the community, with the assistance of Forty Acres Fresh Market and Austin Town Hall City Market. He said, each Thursday from 1 to 6 p.m., there is a Farmers Market at Austin Town Hall Park, located at 5610 W. Lake St.
     For more information about Austin Eats, visit austincomingtogether.org.

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