Food Revolution Group of the Week: Fort Wayne

Food Revolution Group Of The Week: Fort Wayne

Thu 09 Jun 2011

Story by Chef Deb Salay Storch
 

On April 17 I was missing my daughter. She was living in Uganda, Africa at the time and it was her 21st birthday.

I was sat at my computer, surfing the net and wondering how she was spending her birthday in a place so different to home. As I checked out different sites and pages I decided to go through Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution website and find out what he is really trying to accomplish.

I discovered that Jamie had started the Facebook groups as a way of connecting people across the country. I immediately realized that I was the right person to become the founder of the Fort Wayne Food Revolution.

I have supported Jamie’s work since watching season one of his Food Revolution in Huntington, West Virginia, when I quickly started doing my part to promote the show and his cause in my circle of friends and associates.

Around this time I was actively participating in several Fort Wayne networking groups, making a presence in the community promoting myself as “Chef Deb” and the catering company that I was running at the time. But I felt so passionately about Jamie’s cause that I needed to do my part to get people to watch the show and understand.

So I started promoting Jamie Oliver and the Food Revolution instead of myself at the networking meetings. I was instantly amazed at the number of people who loved what I was saying and were genuinely excited about the cause.

As a chef I am totally supportive of fresh, sustainable ingredients. I have spent the last few months working on all the details to open my own restaurant, “Salay’s American Bistro”. The entire concept of the restaurant is in line with what Jamie is trying to teach America – that fresh food, simply prepared with fresh, wholesome ingredients is the best way to eat.

This is what I will be promoting in my restaurant and at area schools and colleges. It is because of these beliefs that I felt I was the right person to start the Fort Wayne Food Revolution and as you can see by the number of people on our Facebook page, Fort Wayne is ready to embrace the Revolution!

I have done cooking demos and fun activities for kids from the age of four all the way through upper elementary school. It is important that our children learn where food comes from. They need the adults in their life to teach through example and provide them with fresh, wholesome food to get them started on the right track.

I have been given permission to educate kids in one of our local schools; I begin in the fall, and also have access to one of our local high schools. In addition it has been arranged to hold a few cooking classes in one of the dorms of an area University.

We have started some local excitement when it comes to the Food Revolution and we plan on keeping it growing and educating the “Fort” on the benefits and joys of eating healthy cuisine.

Family…Friends…Food!

About the author: Chef Deb is the leader of the Fort Wayne Food Revolution Group. Visit the Facebook page for more information - and if you’re a local, join up!