First they drop the onions into the pot. Then in go the chickpeas and garlic cloves, all under the watchful eyes of chef Luis Montoya.
For a group of women in Miami, Florida, mostly mothers and grandmothers, this one-pot meal can solve a challenge: how do you prepare easy and affordable healthy meals in a community considered a food desert?
Inside the Overtown Youth Centre in the US city, the women slice and dice and squeeze their way through a recipe for chickpea soup with lemon and herbs, a recipe inspired by the Mediterranean, a region known for populations that can live to 100 and more.
“The most difficult part is hitting the pressure button on the pressure cooker,” says Montoya, the South Florida chef leading the class, as the women prepare ingredients near the electric pots.
A group called Blue Zones, which swoops into communities to find ways to improve the health of residents through changes to the environment and diet, brought the cooking classes to Overtown this spring.
Miami Beach is also in the process of undergoing an assessment with Blue Zones to see what changes it can make to become a healthier place to live, work and go on holiday.
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