We can’t wait to start another fantastic season bringing the freshest, healthiest food to our neighborhood.  See you at the market!

Where: 230 Bowdoin Street, Dorchester
Parking lot of the Bowdoin Street Health Center

When: THURSDAYS, 2:30-6:30pm
June 20th through October 31st (closed July 4th)

SPECIAL EVENT SCHEDULE:

• Healthy Summer Kick-Off – June 20th
  
  • Start your summer off right with loads of fun farmers market festivities.  Take the “Soda-Free Summer” pledge, get active, and find all sorts of information about summer opportunities for youth and adults.
• Family Fun Day – July 18th
  • Join us as we celebrate Bowdoin Geneva’s families with special guests Vegetable Circus.  Facepainting, kids’ games, and other activities and giveaways abound!  Co-sponsored by the Family Nurturing Center/Dorchester CARES.
• Celebrate the Fruits of Our Ocean – August 8th
  • Come by to watch the biggest seafood throwdown in Bowdoin Geneva history in honor of the amazing local seafood available at the market.  Co-sponsored by the Boston Collaborative for Food and Fitness and the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance.
• Senior Celebration – August 15th
  • Each year, we honor the seniors and grandparents of our community with a special event especially for them.  Live music, raffle prizes, and discounts for seniors are hallmarks of this great market day.
• Fall Fair for Teens – September 19th
  • Join us for a market day geared towards our neighborhood’s youth complete with teen employment opportunities, social media plugs, music, health information.  Co-sponsored by Boston Youth Fund and Catholic Charities Teen Center at St. Peter’s.
• National Food Day – October 24th
  • Food Day is a nationwide celebration and a movement for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food.  For a third consecutive year, Bowdoin Geneva will be a hub for community members to pledge their support and celebrate together.  Co-sponsored by Food Day MA.
• Halloween Harvest Festival – October 31st
  • “Trick-or-Treat” at the market this Halloween.  Come in costume to earn prizes or make your way to our facepainting booth for a touch up!  Vegetable Circus is back as we celebrate the end to a fantastic market season.

We’re still seeking volunteers, guest vendors, co-sponsors, and entertainers for many of these days, so if you’re interested in taking part, please call our market manager, Maura Beaufait at 617-754-0026.

The whole time, BSHC healthy food folks along with Javier Gutierrez from the Boston Public Health Commission – Healthy on the Block Program were on the sidewalk outside America’s Food Basket.  We were giving away healthy snacks and beverages to all the Boston Shines volunteers and promoting the fact that these healthy items are now available right here in the Bowdoin Geneva neighborhood.

Being outside with Maura and Javier giving away free healthy snacks and beverages was actually fun. There was whole lot of people coming out and helping each other making the community cleaner and better for everyone. There was a lot being supportive and seeing people realize that it’s not only inside their house that they have to clean to make beautiful but the outside too.  What is the whole point if around your area is dirty and your house inside is clean?

I enjoyed it because obviously there was a lot of people and they was fun to be around and also there was loud music that kept our feet moving which was fun because we was actually dancing in the street. ( I’m still wondering if there was some people watching us, but hey that’s what we do if were having fun).

Working with American Food Basket was really nice and they were really helpful they gave away some juices and water for the volunteers because they deserve it after all they did to help out.  America’s Food Basket has been really working on getting more healthy stuff in the store so it was good to make sure that people know about it.  There are still more products we want them to add, but they’re getting there!

There was whole lot of random people coming up to us asking us if were selling food or donating food, and they were excited when we told them it was there for them to have for FREE.  Maura was having long conversations with all of them about the Bowdoin Geneva Farmers Market that’s opening on June 20th as well as two Healthy Corner Store Tour that we’re leading in May. After the tour, everyone will be receiving a free $5 gift certificate to spend at the store and you get a free workbook full of tasty recipes and simple tips on buying healthy, low-cost foods and last but not least a free reusable shopping bag and a calculator. That’s something you should not miss if I was you because your basically missing out the fun that you will have but having that tour with Maura and also those free things you will be receiving .

Out of everything we was talking about, there was some things I liked and some things I disliked:

One thing I liked about the video they showed is that there were whole lot of people I knew on it and all the little kids having fun and getting along with each other just the way they are supposed to.

A thing I disliked about the video is that the Globe was only showing how much violence is happening here.  The video showed what had happened years ago, how there was  whole lot of shooting around which was really disturbing to me because I really didn’t know anything about that.

We can make a change in our community and it’s happening too, but I didn’t see much of that. There are a lot of things going on on this street. They could have chosen some other things instead of a grown up shooting a little kid. I mean, I understand that’s one of the biggest problem we have with our community but there are good things too.

I also felt sad because they showed so many negative sides of the Cape Verdean community.  There are Cape Verdeans doing great things here too – and there are people of other races who are part of the problem.  Being Cape Verdean myself, it makes me worry that what the Globe showed about my community might make people think differently about me.

In order to make a change in our community, people have to come together with a different conversation instead of only the violence and bad education because there’s whole lot of things going on in Bowdoin-Geneva that need to be changed.  Homeless people need a place to stay and food to eat.  Sick people need others to take care of them.

Instead of putting people down about their culture, I hope we can all talk about something that’s more positive and do something to make things better.

At my school, I’m also the president of the Multicultural Club.  That means I’m responsible for organizing and thinking up new ideas for school events.  In January, we’re running a Black History Month event that’s focused on Cape Verdeans.  I’m proud of being the president because I get to be a leader and I feel like I am good at helping out.

I was born in Cape Verde and came here when I was 8 years old. Since I came to the US, I have lived in Dorchester. To me, Dorchester is fun – I can’t lie – and I’m looking forward to learning more about the community where I live.

I have 2 brothers, one is older than me and one is younger. During my free time I like to listen to music and watch TV. Among other things, I like to play volleyball – the only sport I’m actually good at. My favorite food is pizza, even though it’s not healthy but I like it anyway.  On the other hand, my favorite vegetable is broccoli so that’s pretty good.

When I get older, I want to be a nurse because I love helping others.  Working in a health center is a great opportunity to reach my goals and learn more about my future career.  I’m looking forward to being here this year.

& that would be it folks

Our Better Breakfast Biscuit draws upon hearty whole grains and low-sodium turkey bacon along with delicious veggies scrambled into the egg to start your day off right.  And the homemade version is costs half as much as that fast food villain   Join us on Wednesday, January 9th at 6pm at the Bowdoin Street Health Center as we taste test our newest recipe transformation!

< Update: Due to the flu outbreak, we are not able to taste test this month, but try making the breakfast sandwich for yourself!  It’s sure to leave you with a smile on your face and warmth in your belly.  To make up for it, we’ll double up our taste test at a future meeting, we promise!  Yum. >

And as always, the foods for our monthly Healthy Corner Store Challenges are made exclusively with ingredients available at the Bowdoin Street branch of America’s Food Basket.

BSHC Violence Prevention Coordinator, Susan Young, assists two previously homeless clients to find healthy, affordable food.

After the recent shooting in Newtown, CT and The Boston Globe’s incredible series 68 Blocks: Life, Death, Hope profiling the Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood, we at Food in the ‘Hood have been thinking about the interelationships between healthy food access, economic development, and violence prevention.  Felicity Lawrence of the UK-based Guardian wrote recently about the correlations between nutrition and agressive behavior.  ”The pandemic of violence in western societies may be related to what we eat or fail to eat.  Junk food may not only be making us sick, but mad and bad too.”

Join us as we explore this issue and the broader context of food and violence in Bowdoin-Geneva.

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From a nutrition science perspective, studies have shown a strong correlation between Omega-3 deficiency and increased violent tendencies.  Over the last several decades, American dietary patterns have changed significantly with a replacement of these healthy fats with more saturated (animal-based) fats – which not only contribute to obesity, but also are correlated with mental health issues.

Even beyond this, however, it’s easy to contemplate the impact of structural injustices in the food system and their effects on the prevalence of unemployment, crime, business success, and of course, health disparities.  The impact of living in a neighborhood plagued by violence on health outcomes –  both physical and psychological - is well-documented.  The converse of this relationship is also true: discrepancies in health outcomes may also be causes of increased community violence.

This is especially true when it comes to food access.  All too often, those who can afford to, drive across town to the high-end grocery stores to purchase organic vegetables and other gourmet treats, while the only options for many of Boston’s poorest inhabitants are corner stores specializing in ultra-processed goods loaded with sugar, salt, and chemical preservatives. With obesity and diabetes rates soaring in these populations, the ramifications upon community health and economic success are equally apparent.  Challenged by illness, it becomes difficult for individuals to get and maintain solid employment, ever reinforcing the cycle of poverty – and by extension, the persistence of violent crime.

In a recent article in the opinion section of The Boston Globe responding to the 68 Blocks series, Lawrence Harmon writes ”Fresh food shouldn’t be the exclusive domain of the economic elite. This is the right time and place to spread the nutritional wealth.”  He discusses the emergence of an effort to bring a food co-op right here to the Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood in an attempt to address these very issues and bring both good food and meaningful employment opportunities to this community.

The work of Food in the ‘Hood is likewise vital as a component of addressing violence in our community from improvements in healthy selections at neighborhood corner stores to building a thriving farmers market for residents to congregate, share, and celebrate healthy local food.  Our collective investment in opportunities for residents of Bowdoin-Geneva to access healthy food and economic success  is indeed another method for breaking the cycles of poverty, unemployment, health disparity, and violence in our neighborhood and beyond.

Now, desserts (if consumed in moderation) can be part of a healthy, balanced diet so we figured we’d give creating two healthier versions of traditional holiday baked goods a go.  Try our Iced Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies and Dark Chocolate Walnut Cookies, both made exclusively with ingredients available at the Bowdoin Street branch of America’s Food Basket.

Join us this evening, December 12th from 6-7:30pm, at the Bowdoin Street Health Center to taste these lovely treats and celebrate an incredible year of progress in making nutritious food more accessible in Bowdoin Geneva!

Here’s to a festive, flavorful, and healthful holiday season and a very happy New Year!

Donated food can be placed in the marked box in the BSHC Community Health office at any time or can be contributed during the Food in the ‘Hood Meeting on December 12th at 6pm.  We will continue to accept donations through Wednesday, January 2nd.

While all food donations help to alleviate hunger, we are also aware of the need for contributions of healthy items in particular. As you consider your donations, please opt for items low in saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar whenever possible. The chart below may be helpful for additional guidance in making the healthiest choices possible.  Starred items are available for purchase at America’s Food Basket on Bowdoin Street with options within the nutritional recommendations.

(Please NO perishable foods, baby food, baby formula or glass containers.)

Thank you to everyone who came out and shopped this season, and especially to our amazing vendors: City Harvest – Trustees of Reservations, Heavens Harvest Organic Farm, and Cape Cod Fish Share.  We couldn’t have done it without your help!

Please join us as we plan for next season and work together to bring affordable, healthy food to Bowdoin Geneva.  The Food in the ‘Hood Committee meets the second Wednesday of each month from 6-7:30pm at the Bowdoin Street Health Center.  Our first meeting of the off-season will be held on November 14th.  Hope to see you there!

In the meantime, we hope you’ll enjoy these wonderful photos of an incredible season at the farmers market.  We look forward to seeing you again in June 2013!