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By: Brendan McDonough

Reporter for North Tonawanda

Residents at the Imagine Community Gardens learned ways to cook and eat a bit healthier at “Meet the Chef Day,” where people presented dishes they made using only ingredients from the garden.

The garden came about thanks to Lumber City Church as a way for residents to grow their own food and save money at the grocery store.

Now they are taking things one step further and showing people how to make healthier dishes using those vegetables from the garden itself!

Residents got up before the crowd and presented their dishes. Each explained how it was made and what ingredients it encompassed. At the end of each presentation people got a chance to taste those same dishes.

“We also have recipe cards for people so after they are done tasting the dishes they can take theses recipes and take them home to prepare fresh vegetables in a tasty way,” said Bob Zima, President of Imagine Community Gardens.

From zucchini lasagna to dishes with fresh tomatoes and basil there was something to satisfy just about everyone’s taste buds. The goal is to get people across the area to lead a healthier lifestyle starting with a fresh vegetable from the garden.

“They American way,” said Zima, “everything is processed. When a lot of people think about vegetables they do not think of something delicious and what we are trying to do is show people how to prepare them in a way that is tasty, but also healthy. The nutritional value of the vegetables that you are eating from this garden is significantly higher than the vegetables you buy from the store; and we are beyond proud of that.

In addition to getting their hands dirty in the gardens, many people have also formed lasting friendships with other garden growers.