We are so grateful to the volunteers from Cooking Matters who offered a class and market tour at the East Atlanta Farmers Market for low-income families in our community!

During the event, Open Hand brought their Cooking Matters Pop-Up Grocery Store Tour to the East Atlanta Market. Families who participated in the pop-up tour learned about how to identify whole grains, compared unit prices, read food labels, and purchase produce in affordable ways. As an incentive, participants received market tokens to spend at market as well as offered individualized tours of the East Atlanta Farmers Market by CFM staff. Participants had the opportunity to ask questions about items for sale and received cooking tips on how to prepare the bounty of produce our farmers brought to the market. For some new shoppers it can be a little challenging to navigate a farmers market so the goal of this event was to introduce residents to the market in a fun way and provide nutrition education at the same time.

Cooking Matters is a groundbreaking cooking-based nutrition education program and equips individuals with skills, confidence and knowledge needed to prepare, healthy, tasty meals on a limited budget. The full six-week hands-on courses, guided grocery store tours and interactive demos, taught by Open Hand staff, dietitians and volunteers focus on cooking technique, food safety, nutrition, and food budgeting.

Open Hand is an Atlanta-based nonprofit that helps people prevent or better manage chronic disease through Comprehensive Nutrition Care, which combines home-delivered meals and nutrition education as a means to reinforce the connection between informed food choices and improved quality of life.