Food for Good
FOR AN ATLANTA DIETITIAN, CONNECTING FOOD AND THE PEOPLE WHO NEED IT IS A RECIPE FOR PURE JOY.
•A dietitian shares cooking skills with those in need.
JOY GOETZ IS VERY HANDS-ON AT THE ATLANTA (GEORGIA) COMMUNITY FOOD BANK.
You’ll find her mincing garlic, peeling peaches and roasting peppers as she demonstrates how to transform raw ingredients into healthy meals.
Goetz leads a team of nutrition educators who go into the community to meet people where they are and show them how to prepare nutritious food. The real joy in her day is helping others learn what to do with fruits and veggies once they get them home. Classes teach everything from the major food groups to good knife skills.
“It’s very rewarding for me to watch students have an ‘aha!’ moment, discovering they like a vegetable they didn’t think they liked because it was prepared in a new way,” Goetz says. “They tell me stories about how what they learned in my class impacted their lives and their families.”
At the end of the day, her goal is to help make a healthy choice the easy choice.
Before she joined the food bank, the registered dietitian counseled individuals and realized that part of what kept people from healthy cooking was a lack of access to fresh produce in areas where they lived. If she could help change that— and show how to hold back on the salt and fat but keep the flavor—she could make a difference.
Goetz and the food bank are now teaming with health care providers on a fresh idea: a food pantry set up next door to Grady Memorial Hospital in downtown Atlanta.
The concept is that patients can go to their doctors and get prescriptions for fruits and veggies—two food groups that are top promoters of good health—and redeem them at the new pantry. Goetz might even show them how to dress leafy green kale with lemon vinaigrette.
“I want to make sure everybody has access to the healthy food they need when they need it,” says Goetz, “so that everyone can live their best life.”