CUSTOMER FEATURE: Appetite for Change

CUSTOMER FEATURE: Appetite for Change. This Minneapolis-based non-profit is one of our newest partners. Its mission is to use food as a tool to build health, wealth, and social change in North Minneapolis. The organization brings people together to learn, cook, eat and grow food, creating change that lasts.
 
Access to fresh food has been a longtime challenge for North Minneapolis. At one time there were many grocery stores in the community, now there are mostly fast-food places.  The one grocery store remaining was shut down for several months due to damage from the George Floyd protests. 
 
Appetite for Change co-founders Princess Haley and LaTasha Powell recognized chronic health conditions are often linked to a poor diet. If a community has limited access to fresh food, it makes it more challenging for folks to heal and overcome these health concerns.
 
“If health is linked to how we eat, and people in [our] community have little access to fresh food, they cannot be well in other ways,” said Haley in a recent Minnesota Public Radio story.
 
Since the pandemic, Appetite for Change has been partnering with Minnesota Central Kitchen and Loaves and Fishes to provide free community meats for North Minneapolis and the Twin Cities at large, producing 7,500 meats a week. 
 
In addition to its own farm plots, Appetite for Change also sources ingredients from other regional farms. Appetite for Change kitchen manager and chef Jim Pfeffer recently used our goat meat with several recent community meals: dirty rice featuring goat offal and goat curry served with corn on the cob and coconut rice (see in photos). 
 
Appetite for Change offers a variety of programs, including

• 7 farm plots across North Minneapolis, which the fresh fruits + veggies are distributed to the community
• Community Cooks: workshops on preparing and enjoying new ingredients and recipes; 400+ homes receive Community Cooks Meal Boxes that go along with the workshops
• Training: Programs focused on leadership, urban farming, culinary, advocacy, job skills 
• Northside Fresh: Network of community members, organizations, and businesses working together for food justice in North Minneapolis

The organization also has several food ventures: Breaking Bread Catering + Café, Station 82 Drink + Eatery, and the West Broadway Farmers Market. 
 
To learn more about Appetite for Change and the compelling stories of its founders Haley and Powell, visit my profile link to read or listen to the feature MPR article, A garden is the frontline in the fight against racial inequality and disease by Yuki Noguchi. 

Learn more about Appetite for Change:

• Website
• MPR Story: A garden is the frontline in the fight against racial inequality and disease

Article source: MPR: A garden is the frontline in the fight against racial inequality and disease, by Yuki Noguchi, November 2020. www.mprnews.org/story/2020/11/27/npr-a-garden-is-the-frontline-in-the-fight-against-racial-inequality-and-disease