CLEVELAND, Ohio — Chef Susan Porter has been cooking for decades, but it wasn’t until recently that she started cooking with her community’s physical health at the forefront.
Porter recently assessed the needs of senior citizens living in Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority properties and noticed that most of their issues were connected to the kitchen.
“All of their problems that they identified were health-related. They were diabetes, heart health, high blood pressure, and obesity… and obesity, not so much in themselves, but in their grandchildren, and these were huge concerns and they were all affected by diet — every single one of them,” Porter said.
Porter launched the “Recipe Re-Mix,” a program which aims to bring positive culinary literacy programming to Cleveland’s senior citizen and urban populations and remove barriers to healthy eating. She took her talents to various senior centers and Cleveland communities, showing people how to cook healthy food. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, staying connected to those in need became a challenge.
“How do I broaden my audience? What are the needs of the residents in the county that are different from within the actual city of Cleveland?” Porter said.
With help from “The Lab” — a program launched by Cuyahoga County which connects local entrepreneurs and businesses with public sector partners — Recipe Re-Mix is developing technology product to expand healthy recipe programming and benefit enrollment assistance to county residents, using smart devices.
Becky Eby is Cuyahoga County’s innovation manager and says connecting entrepreneurs directly with county resources and experts is a recipe for success.
“We know that for entrepreneurs, three main things that they need access to is, you know, capital mentors and information, right? And so, we couldn’t necessarily provide capital through this program, but we thought, hey we can provide mentors, we can provide subjects, subject matter expertise, and we can provide them with additional information, whether it be data, and also have space to test our products,” said Eby.
Porter’s community partner is the Cuyahoga County Public Library, which will help Recipe Re-Mix gather information and expertise to identify potential audiences and expand virtual program delivery.
“The reason Susan’s project really spoke to us with Recipe Re-Mix was that we have a very active culinary literacy program here at the library, so our ability to be a community around food is something that really fits with the library and the library’s role, and so taking that a step further and helping our community do it in a healthy way fits with Recipe Re-Mix, but also has been something that we’ve seen a real interest in from our customers too,” said Becky Ranallo, of the Cuyahoga County Public Library.
“My overall vision is to be able to create a menu that people can utilize no matter what their skill level is, using verbal commands, like using smart technology to access information, and then watch it on the screen, whether it’s a tablet or Google Nest, or whatever their device is,” said Porter.
