Embracing Healthy Food Traditions at Multnomah East

The Community Health Worker Program Lifts Up Traditional Cooking to Inspire Healthy Cuisine and Fellowship

Some clients of the Community Health Center want to make improvements to their health — but sometimes, they aren't sure where to start.

Thanks to the our Community Health Worker (CHW) Program, our clients are receiving support to make healthy decisions with heritage and tradition.

"The initial idea was to bring together a group of Swahili speaking women and ask them what health topics would be most beneficial to them," says Sylvia Ness, Health Promotion Specialist Senior.

The first session started off quietly as participants didn’t know each other and weren’t sure what to expect. But once they were asked to brainstorm what they wanted to learn, something changed, and participants could see and feel the excitement in the room.

The group prioritized learning more about heart health, stress, how to shop for food on a budget, and increasing physical activity. 

What Happens in a Nutrition and Cooking Class?

“Our classes use the Taste of African Heritage curriculum from the Oldways cultural food traditions series with a few supplemental sessions,” says Ness.

Mamie Zagabe, CHW at Mid County Health Center, continues, "Clients learn new recipes during class. And at the end of the class, participants are able to take home groceries as part of their homework to recreate recipes they learned to share with their families."

All of the sessions are interactive. A Taste of African Heritage is designed for participants to highlight culinary and other healthy traditions observed in African countries before coming to the United States.

In the case of this class, the focus was the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Participants also cook one or two recipes during every class.

Cooking and eating together are focal points of African heritage, and participants leave the classes feeling reinvigorated in their traditions and the importance of passing them on to the next generation.

And they had fun learning which helped cement the new knowledge and inspire them to return and take more classes.

“Group visits are kind of magical in this way,” says Ness. "Folks are able to relate around shared issues, to be with others who understand and share this knowledge, and be together which helps meet our intrinsic need for social connection."

Supplemental Sessions

There are five supplemental sessions that give participants the opportunity to delve deeper into topics of interest.

In the heart health session, participants built a model of the heart with water bottles, straws, and water dyed red.

Participants had the opportunity to learn how different organs work in the body. This exercise helped visualize this information and showed how exercise and medicine play a role in heart health. In the physical activity session, an instructor led the class in dancing, showing that exercise can be social and fun.

One of the great aspects of these classes is that they engage clients in being active participants in their own health outcomes. “One member of the class stated that she noticed a big change in her health, and her blood pressure numbers have improved as a result of her participation in the class.

She discovered new vegetables, how to retain nutrients in cuisine, what a healthy plate should contain including vegetables, whole grains, fruits and protein, learned what kinds of oil are healthier, the recommended sodium intake, and the importance of drinking water and exercise," said Zagabe.  

During the Healthy Eating at the Grocery Store session, participants read labels which included reviewing the fat content of meat and determining the level of whole grains in baked goods.

The final supplemental class was on stress, the most frequently requested topic in the group's brainstorming session. The class learned when the brain feels stress, it produces cortisol. And they gained skills around breathing exercises to reduce that cortisol and stress. After the class on stress, participants said they felt more calm and peaceful.

The series was such a hit that the participants want to keep meeting and learning more!

What’s Next?

The CHC's Community Health Workers plan to hold two more Taste of African Heritage classes and four Healthy Shopping classes in the next year and hope to add Taste of Latin American Heritage as well.

Clients participating in these classes will also be paired with our Food is Medicine prescription program (Veggie Rx) Menu of Options.

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Story by Sylvia Ness, Multnomah County Community Health Worker Program
Photos by Matt Christenson, Multnomah County Community Health Center