Turnips? Tortillas? Food bank translates local cooking customs

By Leslie Fulbright
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

	KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES Blossom Landau, left, a volunteer with social-services agency Hopelink, shows the ingredients she used in a bean salad to Zhanna Yegiyan of Bellevue, originally from Russia.
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The Russian food-bank clients refuse corn on the cob, and Muslims don't want hot dogs. Asian clients tend to turn away tortillas, and Latinos stare at fresh turnips, perplexed.

It's not that they're ungrateful. It is a mix of cultural preferences, religious restrictions and, often, unfamiliarity.

Over the past decade, local food-bank employees have gained knowledge of foreign cooking customs through the waves of new immigrants moving through their lines. Now, some are offering cooking classes and recipes in several languages to help immigrants prepare unfamiliar or unpopular foods.

It wasn't until they got an interpreter that workers at Bellevue's Hopelink food bank learned that in Eastern European countries, corn is fed to livestock, not people; that in Latin America, rutabaga and turnips are very rare; that many Muslims are vegetarians; and that tofu is not readily available in Mexico.

Food banks Area food banks are always accepting donations. • Northwest Harvest has drop-off locations throughout King County. To donate, call 206-625-0755 or visit its Web site at www.northwestharvest.org • Food Lifeline is looking for volunteers and donations. Reach them at 206-545-FOOD (3663) or www.foodlifeline.org • To donate or volunteer at Hopelink, call 206-625-0755 or visit www.hope-link.org

"As a courtesy, we had to learn these things," said Jennifer Cole-Wilson, manager of the food bank in Bellevue, where about 60 percent of clients are foreign-born. "It is a challenge for us, but we want to help them get the most they can out of the food bank."

Most food banks allow clients to choose what they want to take home. By observing the choices, employees learn which foods are popular with each group.

"We had Eastern Europeans ready to riot over beets, and the Latinos had no idea what to do with them," said Win Hogben, Hopelink's former director of emergency services.

Distributors try to judge the cultural relevance of donated foods and deliver them to the food bank with the most-suited population.

"Two of our produce donors give a lot of Asian fruits and vegetables, some that are quite unfamiliar," said Victoria Watson, of Food Lifeline, a Shoreline nonprofit that provides food for 253 programs. "We bring those products to agencies that serve Asian populations."

Some food banks conduct surveys in several languages to gauge favorites.

"We found out our Hispanic population doesn't like canned fruits and vegetables," said Stephanie Meyers, of the Providence Regina House in South Park, which serves about 40 percent Latinos. "They prefer fresh produce."

	KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES A hands-on demonstration in a cooking class at the food bank shows how different ingredients can be used to prepare meals.

Through Bellevue clients' survey answers, Cole-Wilson learned that some choices are made because of the language barrier. Non-English-speaking immigrants had nothing against Bisquick but were refusing it and some other packaged goods because of the long instructions. If you don't read English, Rice-A-Roni and cake mixes can be confusing.

In addition to finding out preferences, some programs are teaching clients how to use foods that are unfamiliar.

Hopelink volunteer Blossom Landau, 77, does cooking demonstrations with unpopular food-bank items and passes out recipes in English, Spanish and Russian. Vietnamese and Farsi translations are coming soon.

Landau was recruited for the job after bringing a big pot of vegetable soup to an office potluck.

So far, she has used the not-so-popular government mashed-potato flakes to make a soup, and the abundance of canned beans collected during food drives to make a salad.

"It works," she said. "Some people have no idea what to do with the stuff they get."

Others are simply set in their ways.

	KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES Volunteer Blossom Landau, center, was recruited for the job of offering cooking demonstrations at the food bank after bringing a big pot of vegetable soup to an office potluck. She uses items that might be unfamiliar to immigrants in her demonstrations.

"Russian women didn't want the soup because they only use real potatoes," Landau learned while doing the potato-flake presentation.

Her mission now is to find a recipe that uses macaroni and cheese, tuna and canned peas.

Immigrants don't generally select packaged macaroni and cheese, stuffing mixes or anything else with a flavor packet. But people born here flocked to those items one recent Tuesday, especially the Pasta-Roni.

"Canned and packaged foods are American in nature," Landau said.

The state's Emergency Feeding Program prepares culturally based bags. For Latinos, they include tomatoes, corn, pinto beans and Cheerios cereal. Asian bags have tuna, sardines, noodles and fish sauce.

"We try to cater purchases based on the needs of particular communities," said Michael Regis, who buys food for Northwest Harvest, which distributes to 300 state programs. "In Yakima, the migrant workers want staples, beans, rice, tomatoes and ground meat. In the urban areas, the Asian and Eastern European populations want lots of rice and potatoes, fresh fruits and veggies."

Bellevue started seeing substantial amounts of immigrants about 10 years ago. First, it was mostly Southeast Asians and Eastern Europeans. Then came Hispanic immigrants. More recently, the staff members are seeing immigrants from Morocco, Algeria, Iran and Bosnia.

"You read about something in the paper and then six months later, they are in line," Cole-Wilson said.

Leslie Fulbright: 206-515-5637 or lfulbright@seattletimes.com

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