Executive Director Roseann Bongiovanni has announced that GreenRoots will hold the grand opening of its Teaching Kitchen on Thursday, Dec. 14 at a newly refurbished site at 63 Pearl Street.
In explaining the innovative addition to her organization’s already substantial outreach in Chelsea and East Boston, Bongiovanni stated, “Our inspiration has been around community gardens and urban farms and addressing food injustice and food insecurity through urban growing programs.”
Bongiovanni added that the opportunity for a teaching kitchen arose through a grant from Massachusetts General Hospital. The kitchen will be located adjacent to GreenRoots’ urban farm and community garden.
“We see this as an opportunity to do an urban-farm-to-table concept, where you’ll have locally grown produce – fruits, vegetables, and herbs – bringing them from the urban growing space to the teaching kitchen and using them in a meal,” said Bongiovanni. “It will be a place where community members can share recipes across cultures, ethnicities and generations. We will also have formal programming on learning how to eat more nutritiously and cook more nutritiously.”
Bongiovanni said the GreenRoots community kitchen will be “very welcoming and will break down those barriers to formalized health care.”
Residents will be able to visit the facility and get a blood pressure test, diabetes screening, or a consultation with a nutritionist or a dietician.
“This will be a very informal way for somebody to have a conversation with a dietician, nutritionist, or a wellness coach in a much less intimidating way than at a traditional healthcare center,” said Bongiovanni.
The facility will open in a former warehouse at the corner of Marginal and Pearl Streets.
“We discovered that many years ago it used to be a horse stable,” related Bongiovanni. “The front portion, which is about 15,000-square foot, has been completely transformed into a state-of-the-art community kitchen.”
The GreenRoots’ Teaching Kitchen will have coffee hours and welcoming events to introduce the community to the new space. Formal programming and specific cooking classes for people of all ages will launch in January.
Bongiovanni’s new venture is generating excitement in the community and has the strong support of local officials, notably City Council President Leo Robinson.
“I had the honor of serving on the City Council with Roseann, so I have seen her undeniable commitment to improving the quality of life in Chelsea for many years,” said Robinson. “I look forward to the Teaching Kitchen, under Roseann’s capable leadership and direction, impacting lives in a positive way and developing careers for people in the hospitality and food industry, while advancing the health and nutrition of our residents in a safe and uplifting environment within our city.”