Welcome to our food day celebration!
1. Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods.
2. Support sustainable farms and limit subsidies to big agribusiness.
3. Expand access to food and alleviate hunger.
4. Protect the environment and animals by reforming factory farms.
5. Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids.
6. Support fair conditions for food and farm workers.
Our family and friends come from diverse backgrounds with physical and emotional challenges or chronic illnesses, such as Cerebral Palsy, Autism, and Heart Disease.
Our Meal
The main course is a tri-color pasta with a variety of toppings to choose from. Our garden provided us with tomatoes, onions, broccoli, cucumbers, and basil. We purchased spinach, pasta sauce, locally grown fruits, part-skim mozzarella and for the meat eaters we had ground turkey meatballs and shredded chicken. In addition, we prepared a red, white and green grilled cheese sandwich from the US Dept of Health and Human Services cookbook “Keep the Beat Recipes,” recipes. A free copy of the cookbook is available on their website.
The dessert was a big hit. We made fruit kabobs using locally grown fruits and paired with low fat ice cream and for Jake we prepared a smoothie using the same ingredients.
From Our Garden
Adaptations and Individual Preferences
The meal would feed six people, each with unique needs.
My son Jake was born with Cerebral Palsy and is a quadriplegia. He is unable to hold utensils and requires a straw to drink fluids. Finger foods and a weighted cup with a flexi straw usually provide him the most independence.
When purchasing pasta, I look for shapes about one-inch long and easy to hold, such as Rotini (a helix or corkscrew-shaped pasta). As a backup plan, sandwiches are easy to make from most recipes and a perfect finger food.
Resources and References
