"Food, What?!" is a youth empowerment program based on our farm in Santa Cruz, California.  In March, we hired on 50 mostly low-income youth to be a part of our Spring Internship.  Working in five groups of ten, the program runs after school for 3 hours each week from March to June.  Each session includes an opening ice-breaker/energy builder, a farm activity, a leadership development or food justice workshop, cooking a farm fresh meal, and some reflective journaling time.  This week we focused on "eating a rainbow"--eating a diversity of colors for a healthy body and mind.  We tasted foods in each color while exploring how that colored food helps our bodies (like red food are good for our hearts).  We made little business cards (that we laminated) that have a drawing of our bodies with each color and their positive effects drawn in.  Then we went to the kitchen and the crew cooked up a vibrant healthy dinner with brown rice, beets, carrots, purple cabbage, broccoli, onions, and garlic.  Their stomach activists kicked in and many youth were surprised at how tasty it was to "eat a rainbow."  Next week we are going to dive into what a food system is, where to access this rainbow of foods, and begin the conversation around food justice.  And hopefully we'll get enough sun in the next week to start transplanting in the fields and lock in the direct action of growing food for ourselves and our low-income community!

Doron Comerchero