UW Farm Food Security Intern Learns about the Farm’s Collaboration with The UW Food Pantry
By Taylor Clementz, Junior, Environmental Studies & Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health Major, UW Farm Food Security Intern
My name is Taylor Clementz, and I am wrapping up my third year at the University of Washington. I am double majoring in Environmental Studies in the College of the Environment and Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health in the School of Public Health. This quarter I am the UW Farm Food Security intern. This means that I am responsible for tracking all of the produce harvested throughout the quarter and all of the produce being delivered to the UW Food Pantry.
As a food systems major, I am well aware of the prevalence of food insecurity. The major also introduced me to the UW Food Pantry, where I have volunteered since the beginning of January. Through my volunteer work, I have seen how eager people are for fresh produce from the campus farm, which made me curious about how the farm and the food pantry work together. So when I found the farm’s food security internship on the website page, it seemed like the perfect culmination of my interests.
Some produce items are more popular than others at the pantry. As I began thinking about how I could promote the farm produce to shoppers at the food pantry, one idea was to start writing recipes that shoppers could see and take pictures of. This way, people can see how to prepare fresh produce items that are not as common and hopefully be more encouraged to take them and try the recipe themselves. By introducing user friendly low cost recipes, student consumption of produce might increase, leading to healthier eating habits
Recently, we had a lot of rapini that we delivered to the pantry. The picture on the left shows rapini growing in the fields at the farm site at the Center for Urban Horticulture. As you can see, it looks similar to broccoli but it tastes much more bitter. I had not heard much about rapini before and was excited to try a couple of different cooking methods. I ended up making a delicious creamy rapini pasta recipe that I have attached below. The pantry printed this recipe and posted it on the fridge so it was ready to go when the rapini was delivered! As the quarter continues, I will be doing more of these recipes.
Recipe of the Week:
Creamy Rapini Pasta (Serves 2)
Ingredients:
1 bunch, about 4 ounces, of rapini, raab, broccolini, or sprouting broccoli
1 onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces (½ box) box of your favorite pasta
⅓ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 lemon
Paprika
Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Rinse your rapini under cold water and pat it dry. Make sure you thoroughly dry your rapini.
Cut your rapini and onion into bite sized pieces.
Add two tablespoons of olive oil to a pan and let it heat.
Once heated, add your rapini, onion, and salt and saute for about five minutes until the rapini has turned a lush green color.
Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil.
Once boiling add 8 ounces (half a box) of your favorite pasta and cook 8-10 minutes until al-dente and then drain the pasta.
In a bowl combine half a lemon, ⅓ cup sour cream or plain yogurt, paprika, and garlic powder to taste.
Combine the sauteed vegetables, pasta, and sauce in a bowl and enjoy!
AAPI Heritage Month; A look into The Danny Woo Community Garden
Explore the Danny Woo Community Garden in the International District in Seattle- click to learn more about its history and current goals at this community garden.
To get more information about The Danny Woo Community Garden check out their website.
News and Noteworthy:
UW Farm and Dirty Dozen RSO Plant Sale May 20th
Come out and support UW student farmers in their annual plant sale at The Center for Urban Horticulture.
The UW Farm donates regularly to the UW Food Pantry. During peak season we also donate to nearby food banks. The links below are resources to help you or someone you know with food access.
Every year, we have the capacity to grow more food and increase our educational and research program at the UW, but not without your support. Every contribution goes to work immediately, helping us better serve students. Your support can sustain our momentum and help seed new opportunities for student internships, academic work, and future growth. Please consider making a gift to the Farm online
The Weekly Dirt is produced once a week by the University of Washington Farm, a program of the UW Botanic Gardens, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, College of the Environment. It is published nearly year-round for educational purposes and the majority of the content is written or contributed by students and farm staff.
This issue’s contributors:
Managing Editor: Althea Ericksen, UW Farm Intern, Communications Coordinator
Around the Farm: Taylor Clementz, Food Security Intern Contributing Editors: Perry Acworth, Farm Manager; Chrina Munn, AmeriCorps Volunteer 2022-23 Photo Credits: Perry Acworth. Other photos retrieved from the internet and noted in sections
Some produce items are more popular than others at the pantry. As I began thinking about how I could promote the farm produce to shoppers at the food pantry, one idea was to start writing recipes that shoppers could see and take pictures of. This way, people can see how to prepare fresh produce items that are not as common and hopefully be more encouraged to take them and try the recipe themselves. By introducing user friendly low cost recipes, student consumption of produce might increase, leading to healthier eating habits
