Alaska News

Shannon Kuhn: A taste of community in the kitchen classroom

For Jenifer Rogers, who teaches English as a Second Language, the kitchen is the perfect classroom.

Born in South Korea, Rogers moved with her military family to Fairbanks when she was 5 years old. Rogers, 34, has wanted to be an educator for as long as she can remember. "I was always making my sister play school with me," she laughed.

For the past 10 years, she has been teaching ESL to immigrants and refugees living in Anchorage through her work as curriculum and projects coordinator at the Alaska Literacy Program.

Her friends know about Rogers' propensity to teach through food. Indeed, it's striking. The first time I met Rogers she introduced me to homemade caribou liver pate and Arctic cloudberry wine. I've knocked on her door and been given a tutorial on how the moose hanging from the garage ceiling would be processed into bulgogi and sausage.

Rogers began her master's degree in public health at the University of Alaska Anchorage this January. Her assignment was to organize a community engagement project for National Public Health Week, April 6-12. She quickly decided to host a healthy potluck with her students at ALP and coordinate a time to cook together for it.

"Cooking brings people together all over the world, and we can learn a lot from other cultures right here in Anchorage," she said. Combining her personal love of food and cooking with health and literacy was like a light bulb clicking on in Roger's head. Things were coming together.

Cooking together

Nohemi Rainey from Mexico hosted the first healthy cooking party in her JBER kitchen.

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She welcomed six women laden with supplies and ingredients into her house. With so many hands, it was easy to quickly prepare a homemade sourdough pizza, a vegetable casserole, a potato salad and a Mexican tostada salad called tinga, made with spicy, smoky-sweet shredded chicken.

For Rogers, the relaxed atmosphere made an ideal classroom.

Rainey demonstrated to classmates from the Dominican Republic and El Salvador how to shred the chicken for the tinga, pausing to ask what the English word was for "shred." Rogers replied, then asked them what the word translated to in Spanish. They explained that there are different words, depending on the country -- dislachar, deshilada, despenicado.

As the students practiced their English around the table, it was clear to Rogers that their time together cooking had increased the students' confidence, language abilities and motivation.

"As an immigrant, it's easy to feel isolated when you don't know the language and the customs of the country," she said. Cooking with others was a way for the students to build trust and community.

"We're like a family now."

Eating in America

It's hard to be healthy in the United States as an immigrant, especially in Alaska. The cold weather makes it difficult to get daily physical activity; fast food and processed foods are cheap and readily available; and there's little time to cook or exercise when working two or three jobs.

Being a child of an immigrant gives Rogers perspective on this experience. "I've seen what my mom struggled with, moving from Korea to the U.S.," she said.

A lot of immigrants come to the U.S. healthier than their American counterparts, but after a few years adopt the unhealthy habits and lifestyles they see on TV. Rogers hopes to help introduce her students to community members who can show them what real food in Alaska is like and show them that not all Americans eat at McDonald's.

Anna Ivanova, an ALP student from Russia, said that when she came to the United States she couldn't easily find the ingredients she was used to. "That was disappointing. And as a result, I start eating unhealthy because it's easy. This kind of workshop can help people to be more confident in themselves and to learn more about different products and spices, plus practice their English. And people can see that you don't need to spend too much time in the kitchen to prepare a good dinner for a family. We can prove that one hour in the kitchen is better than fast food."

The kitchen classroom is a place to learn English, but "it's also a place to learn to be healthy. Now I have the motivation to do more. Sometimes you need a little push," Rainey said.

To sign up to host a cooking party or learn more about the Alaska Literacy Program, visit alaskaliteracyprogram.org.

Shannon Kuhn lives in Anchorage, where she writes about food and culture. She can be reached at play@alaskadispatch.com.

Shannon Kuhn

Shannon Kuhn lives in Anchorage and is co-founder of the Anchorage Food Mosaic. She writes about food and culture and can be reached at play@alaskadispatch.com (subject line: Shannon Kuhn).

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