FARM Rx: Wholesome Wave Georgia’s place based Food for Health Program in Athens, Georgia.
Araceli’s Story
Araceli was born in Mexico and moved to the US when she was 14 years old. She recalls that everything, in Mexico, was alive: “My dad used to grow corn. He planted tomatoes, he planted chili, he planted beans. You find life in Mexico with anything. Everything is handmade.” For Araceli, food, in Mexico, made sense: living food feeding living people. Her mom cooked a lot: “She cooked beans. She cooked meat. There, for example, the neighbors kill a pig and sell the meat. They sell it to make chorizo, ground pork, all that. My mom cooked all that.” When she got to the US, her relationship with food changed; she ate a lot of processed, sugary foods because that’s what was available to her. She was diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago, and has been trying to make changes to her diet ever since.
She now lives in Athens, GA with her husband and three highschool daughters, all of whom love the produce she brings home from the market. For them, it’s just a matter of access; she knows the recipes for carnitas, nopales, and tamales by heart; she remembers her mother’s dark, nutty mole sauce that would take her days to make; the tortillas; the fresh tomato salsas and pickled chilies. But, she hasn’t been prioritizing making those recipes because food has been too expensive, particularly fresh fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, chilies, avocado, spring onion etc.
Araceli is grateful for the FARM Rx program and all the locally grown fruits and vegetables she’s gotten from the market. Many foods native to Central and South America– tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, tomatillo– grow well in Georgia, and many Hispanic families in FARM Rx are comforted by this familiar assortment of fruits and vegetables.
Porch Chat Interviewer: What do you like to cook with the produce from the market?
Araceli: “Ayer hice nopales con verdura, chiles, todo eso le piqué. O sea, trato de usar toda la verdura que no me gusta echar a perder comida, trato de usarla todo. Los chiles siempre los uso yo para hacer chile con huevo y tomate. O sea, todos los pimientos los uso en las pastas, hago pastas y le pongo pimiento, pollo, o sea, todo lo que venden. El okra me gusta también.”
Translation: “Yesterday I made nopales with vegetables, chiles, I chopped all that. I try to use all the vegetables because I don’t like to spoil food, I try to use everything. I always
use chili peppers to make chili with egg and tomato. I mean, I use all the peppers in pasta, I make pasta and I put peppers, chicken, I mean, everything that they sell. I like okra, too.”
Porch Chat Interviewer: Has the FARM Rx program connected you to a sense of community?
Araceli: “Conocí a gente cuando tuvimos la gran reunión de orientación y los reconocí con solo mirarlos. Y cuando fuimos a las clases de nutrición y español, bueno, allí volví a ver a las mismas personas. Me miran, me saludan, a veces ni siquiera recuerdo sus nombres, pero me saludan de todos modos. Aquí hay una comunidad fuerte. Ir a los mercados a comprar comida me hace sentir bien, porque conozco a otras familias allí y ellas me conocen a mí”
Translation: “I met people when we had the big orientation meeting and recognized them just by sight. And when we went to the nutrition and Spanish classes, well, there I saw the same people again. They look at me, they greet me, sometimes I don’t even remember their names, but they greet me still. It’s a strong community here. It makes going to the markets to shop for food feel good, because I know other families there and they know me.”
Porch Chat Interviewer: What was your experience with the SNAP-Ed classes?
Araceli: “Aprendí sobre medidas, por ejemplo, las onzas de un vaso de leche o la porción de cereal. Sí, hasta mi hija a la que le gusta cocinar entiende más las medidas también. Aprendí mucho y cuando mi hijo viene aquí le doy verduras porque vive con su novia y ella sufre de anemia. O sea, uno trae muchas verduras a casa y a veces cuando viene a verme mi amiga de Pakistán le doy jalapeños porque le encanta la comida picante. Me gusta compartir lo que aprendo y los alimentos que traigo a casa del mercado.”
Translation: “I learned about measurements, for example, the ounces in a glass of milk or the portion of cereal. Yes, even my daughter who likes to cook understands measurements more too. I learned a lot and when my son comes here I give him vegetables because he lives with his girlfriend and she suffers from anemia. I mean, one brings a lot of vegetables home and sometimes when my friend from Pakistan comes to see me, I give her jalapenos because she loves spicy food. I like to share what I learn and the foods that I bring home from the market.”
About FARM Rx
FARM Rx is the Athens-based Food for Health program that works in partnership with Wholesome Wave Georgia, St. Mary’s Hospital, and the Athens Farmers Market. The program runs for eight months (April to November) and provides participants, and their families, with
weekly allotments of tokens which they can use to purchase locally grown fruits, vegetables, and edible plants from the Athens Farmers Market. Participants also attend nutrition education classes that UGA SNAP-ED hosts. This program serves those suffering from food insecurity and diet-related illnesses, with the idea that improving both food access and nutrition education will improve participant’s health and overall quality of life.
About Wholesome Wave Georgia Food for Health
Wholesome Wage Georgia’s Food For Health promotes affordable access to produce and healthy eating in underserved communities through partnerships with healthcare providers, community organizations, and retailers. Healthcare providers give families innovative prescriptions that can be spent on fruits and vegetables at participating farmers markets.
This Porch Chat was conducted and written by Maya Alandete.
The 2024 Athens Food for Health Program was made possible through the support of UnitedHealthcare’s Empowering Heath Grant.
