By Eric Bowen

Special to the Salisbury Post

2015 was a good year for food in Rowan County. It was probably the best the Farmers’ Market has had in its “new” location at the intersection of Fisher and Jackson streets. Riot in the Pasture drew close to 450 people to try amazing food from Jason Nain (Morgan Ridge), Gian Moscardini (Salty Caper) and pitmasters Aaron Goss (Carolina Malt House) and Seth Morris (Shakerag Catering).

New Sarum’s new brewery will open in a few months. And I’m sure a lot of local restaurants will keep serving local food specials as long as folks keep asking for it.

But it’s certainly not all roses in Rowan County. Towards the end of my first year at Bread Riot, I learned more and more about the challenges facing local eaters. Obesity is stubbornly high among both adults and children, mirroring the same patterns seen in most of the country.

Expanding waistlines are driven by poverty, decreased exercise and widespread consumption of sugary products (soda, juice and added sugar in other products like breakfast cereal). Poverty — arguably the most complex of the issues driving obesity — causes food insecurity, stress and can make fresh fruits and vegetables more difficult to access.

I learned stark numbers at the first Community Conversations on Childhood Obesity, convened by Smart Start. Access to fresh fruits and vegetables came up again and again as a huge piece of the puzzle in the fight against obesity and many other health risks. The Community Conversations ended with a commitment by 17 organizations to a number of principles, which included collaborating more in our efforts to promote a healthy community.

We took the challenge seriously at Bread Riot and developed the Holiday Harvest program, an effort to share the harvest with people who need a little extra help accessing fresh fruits and vegetables around the holidays. People shouldn’t have to choose between gifts for their kids and healthy food on New Year’s.

So we put together 50 fresh, local food boxes containing sweet potatoes, apples, butternut squash, mustard greens, black-eyed peas and collard greens. Everything, including the apples, came from within 60 miles of Salisbury, while the black-eyed peas came from Bear Branch Milling down east in Brunswick County. The collards were donated by Two Pigs Farm.

Holiday Harvest is similar to our Winter Harvest program that provides a cost effective local food subscription to 50 households. That program runs about $30 a week, while the Holiday Harvest boxes are available to identified families for free or on a “pay what you can” basis.

Five partners helped us place Holiday Harvest boxes: St. John’s Lutheran Church (Danielle DeNice), St. John’s Child Development Center (Joanna Smith), Head Start (Dione Adkins-Tate and Clara Marts), Partners in Learning (Ashlee Hawkins), and Cornerstone Child Development Center (Heather Fidler).

Most of these organizations were signatories of Smart Start’s commitment to work together on childhood obesity and we are extremely grateful for their help with this program.

We plan to continue the program and will offer boxes for Easter as well if we can raise enough funds. I hope you’ll join us in our efforts to build a healthier community. Here are some ideas (and a recipe) that might help you with healthy personal habits or expanding your impact to the broader community:

• Volunteer

• Eat fresh, eat local (try our sample recipe for inspiration)

• Donate

Happy New Year!

Rachel Ray’s Asian Style Collards

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 bunch thinly sliced, stemmed collard greens

Pinch salt

Rice-wine vinegar

Lower-sodium soy sauce

Fish sauce

Directions: In a large skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium-high. Add garlic and stir until softened, about 30 seconds. Add collard greens and a salt. Toss until wilted, about 2 minutes. Stir in a splash each rice-wine vinegar, soy sauce and fish sauce.

Rachel Ray’s Roast Squash

1 large butternut and 1 medium acorn squash,

6 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces and softened

1/3 cup molasses

Ground nutmeg (or freshly grated if available)

Ground ginger (or freshly grated if available)

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions: Pre-heat the oven to 425°F.

Poke squash with a fork or knife. Microwave squash for about 2 minutes per pound (7 minutes total for the included squash). Now, being careful handling the hot squash, rinse briefly in water until cool enough to handle. Cut the squash in half and remove seeds.

Place butternut squash halves on a large baking sheet with the cut-side up. Divide the butter pieces among all six halves, smearing it all over the cut side of the squash.

Drizzle each half with molasses and season with nutmeg and ground black pepper. Roast the squash for 20-30 minutes, or until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork. You can serve in whole section, as slices, or scoop the flesh from the rind and mix together – whatever makes you and yours happy.

Sweet Potato, Bacon, Apple Hash

2 medium yams, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

Extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

4 to 6 slices thick cut bacon (I recommend antibiotic free when available), cut into lardons

1 large onion, cut in 1/2-inch dice

2 apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch dice

4 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced

Directions:  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, add the sweet potatoes, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, to taste. Toss to coat and arrange them on a baking sheet. Roast the sweet potatoes until they are soft but not mushy, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and reserve.

Coat a large saute pan with olive oil. Add the bacon and put the pan over medium heat. When the bacon has started to get crispy and brown, add the onions, season with salt and saute until the onions are very soft and aromatic. Add the apples and the scallion whites and saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the sweet potatoes, and saute until the sweet potatoes are cooked through and starting to become crispy, about 7 to 8 minutes.

Modified from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/sweet-potato-bacon-and-apple-hash-recipe.html

Black-Eyed Peas, Bacon & Pork

1 pound dried black-eyed peas

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

6 ounces pork shoulder, diced into 1/2-inch cubes

4 strips thick sliced bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 medium onion, small diced

4 garlic cloves, sliced

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

3 bay leaves

Hot-pepper vinegar, as desired

Total Time: 14 hr 20 min

Prep: 20 min

Inactive: 12 hr

Cook: 2 hr

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Put dried black-eyed peas in a large pot and cover with about 4 inches of water. Soak the peas overnight, then drain the water and rinse. Alternatively, you can “quick-soak” the peas by bringing them and the water to a boil for 2 minutes. After this, remove them from the heat, cover the pot and soak the peas for 1 hour. Then, drain and rinse the peas.

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the pork. Sear until the pork is browned on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the bacon, onion and garlic to the pot and cook, stirring, until the onion and garlic are lightly browned, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the salt, black pepper, cayenne and garlic powder.

Cook until the entire mixture is coated with the spices, about 2 minutes. Pour in the stock and water and drop in the bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes.

When the pork begins to fall apart, add the prepared peas to the pot and simmer until the peas are very soft, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

(Cooks Note: Using the back of a spoon, smash some of the peas against the inside of the pot then stir them into the mixture. This will break up some of the peas and give them a creamier consistency. Alternatively, you can puree 1 cup of the peas and broth in a blender or a food processor, then return the puree to the pot.)

Taste for seasonings, and add some hot-pepper vinegar, if desired. Discard the bay leaves and transfer the black-eyed peas to a serving bowl.

Recipe courtesy of The Neelys