It was not enough that Woodhull Medical Center and a collection of Brooklyn senior centers released a cookbook promoting traditional, inter-generational family recipes for North Brooklyn residents.The hospital wanted to get their patients to cook with them.
Their first stop? La Marqueta, also known as the Moore Street Market, which is set to promote the cookbook, “Cooked to Perfection: Cherished Family Recipes That Are Good For You,” by offering patients coupons for discounts at the various vendors in the Market for fresh fruit and vegetables.
“Sixty to 70 percent of our patients have diabetes and hypertension,” said Network Senior Vice President Iris Hernandez.“That’s why we decided to create the cookbook. We modified the recipes so they’re healthier and we’re happy to have Moore Street Market support our effort.”
The partnership is the hospital’s latest effort to promote healthy eating through home cooking.The book debuted at the Brooklyn Food Conference in Park Slope last May before its official launch at Woodhull Hospital a few days later.To expand the book’s reach, Woodhull partnered with local BIDs and restaurants including Tower Cafe, Chimu’s Peruvian Cuisine, Jou Jou Cafe, and Manna’s wBrooklyn Economic Development Corporation
In the cookbook, Williamsburg seniors provided more than two dozen recipes in English and Spanish, which nutritionists and culinary students at the New York City College of Technology adapted for diabetic diets. The tasty and easy-to-make recipes include Polish roasts, Spanish delicacies, and soul food dishes, including Sheila Atkinson’s coconut fish.
“You can do it with blue fish, tilapia, or any white fish.It takes about 20 to 25 minutes,” said Atkinson.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Williamsburg) and Councilmember Diana Reyna (D-Williamsburg), who have given $1.9 million between them to restore the Moore Street Market, celebrated the new neighborhood partnership at a press conference at the market (108 Moore St.) on November 21 and received their own copy of the cookbook.
“We are a step closer to enacting health care reform and providing health insurance to 31 million people in the richest country in the world,” said Velazquez, just before Congress passed the health care bill. “We here in Williamsburg, we are saying to the President, we’re not waiting for you to enact health care legislation.We are doing it right here with this book.”
Reyna praised neighborhood seniors, several of whom were present at the conference, for contributing their history to the publication and continuing the traditions of their native cultures.
“This market is a place that we want to continue to preserve its culture. It speaks of who we are and it speaks of what we need,” said Reyna. “This book will show children how to cook generational cuisine and promote access to healthy living.”
“Cooked to Perfection” “Health Bucks” coupons will be distributed at senior and outreach events, to WeCoach participants, and through the Community Advisory Board at Woodhull Hospital.For more information about the Health Bucks Coupons and the “Cooked to Perfection” cookbook, call Woodhull Hospital at 718-388-8459 or visit Woodhull Medical Center at 760 Broadway, Williamsburg.
