The Nourishing Kitchen of NYC reflects the creativity and ideas of Gina Puzzanghera, the Executive Chef and Director. She designed the soup kitchen as a café so that everyone coming in for a meal would feel comfortable where they eat healthy food. Curious about why Gina opened the Nourishing Kitchen? Read more below! 

Q: What inspired you to open the Nourishing Kitchen?

A: As a chef and nutritionist, I felt that it was a much needed program in Harlem. I've been a chef for ten years now and went to New York University for a nutrition degree because I wanted to learn more about food science, which covers everything from how food is grown to what happens to the body when it is eaten. After getting the degree, I was living in East Harlem and I noticed that there were very poor offerings for healthy food at grocery stores and restaurants in the neighborhood. I wanted healthy food in the area for myself and everyone else living there. I've never been someone who could just look the other way when something needs to be done. Since I've volunteered for years in soup kitchens, I decided to open one in East Harlem.

Q: You mentioned that Nourishing Kitchen is expanding-can you tell us more about that?

A: The Nourishing Kitchen has a satellite program with 5C Café on the Lower East Side, which is a cultural café that has regular entertainment like musical acts and spoken word. On the first Tuesday of every month we work with them to cook food and serve hot meals to the residents of that community. One of the Nourishing Kitchen's main goals is to open satellite offices in each borough and have participants from our nutritional training programs run them-this is another way to offer job and leadership training skills to community members while also helping more NYC residents get healthy food. People involved in our programs are learning about healthy food and then how to actually get a job that uses their skills to promote healthy eating.

We are also trying to start a four-month culinary training program for women in recovery from drugs or alcohol as well as for women with minor disabilities, such as mental illnesses, to teach them hands-on skills in cooking healthy food. We just need approval from New York State and the City to get government funds. If that doesn't work, we're going to try to get private donations because I think this program is very important for women who are seeking job training. The idea is to provide job skills as well as placement so program participants can get a job in the food services industry or run soup kitchens in other boroughs in addition to Manhattan.

Read more from Gina Puzzanghera by clicking the links below:

• Nourishing Kitchen of NYC
• Eating seasonally and locally
• Nutrition classes

To listen to our interview with Gina Puzzanghera, click here for our podcast page.

Harlem Word is a series of interviews with Harlem health experts written by HHPC and reviewed by our Health Advisory Board.