Bronx hospital offers kitchen program that teaches preparing healthy food dishes

One hospital is teaching Bronx residents ways to prepare healthy and delicious meals.
More than half of adult New Yorkers are overweight or obese, according to the New York City Department of Health Department.
The goal at St. Barnabas Health Systems' Teaching Kitchen is to turn that trend around.
"Food is life changing. We should enjoy what we eat. Nobody wants to just eat to live," says Abbie Gellman, the director of the Teaching Kitchen and Culinary Medicine.
Gellman says the variety of cooking classes they offer allow those who walk into the space to have control over their own health by intentionally choosing healthier options.
"You come in and you can cook with other people in the neighborhood, and you make five to seven different dishes amongst all of you in the class. You get to eat together and then bring home all the leftovers," Gellman says.
The Teaching Kitchen is just $5 a class and participants learn the art from the experienced chefs on hand.
The classes include Caribbean cooking instruction, introduction to meal preparation and meal planning. There is also courses that are focused on seasonal recipes as well.
"We teach them the knife skills and teach them some cooking basics. Also, if you are on SNAP or WIC, you get certain amount of money or foods every week," Gellman says. "We want to give you the tools to show this is what you have to work with, how do we make flavorful, delicious healthy food that you want to eat."
SBH says this is all about getting the borough healthy for all generations.
They encourage residents to sign up as the new calendar for October is now open.