Tiffin Community Kitchen inspires healthy eating

TIFFIN, Ohio (WTVG) - Members of Seneca County Common Ground are trying to help community members eat healthier.

Thanks to a $150,000 dollar Tiffin Community Development block grant, they are doing just that with the Tiffin Community Kitchen.

“We’re always trying to eat fast food and we’re trying to make everything go, go, go, something, a kitchen like this, gives us the skills that we can take back out to our families and get back to having that family time,” Rob Malone a chef, who just moved back into the community said.

The community kitchen, still in its start-up stage, was hatched by Seneca County Common Ground, a local nonprofit that promotes the local food economy.

“So, we run the Tiffin Community Farmers’ Market, we are promoting community gardens, and we’re doing the Tiffin Community Kitchen, so our real goal is to both grow the consumer base for local foods and to grow the growing amount of foods that are grown locally in Seneca County,” Aaron Gerlach the president of Seneca County Common Ground said.

Gerlach said the community kitchen is more than just a kitchen, but a place for the community to gather.

“It’s a place for our community to gather around healthy living, just like we have this wonderful historic Ritz across the street that is for the performing arts, this is for a gathering for healthy living,” Gerlach said.

Rob Malone said the space gives him a launching point to develop new recipes.

“Develop healthy food, being in Seneca County, and the tri-county area there’s so many amazing local resources that we have available,” Malone said.

Malone stresses that healthy eating doesn’t have to be hard.

“It takes 5-10 minutes to sauté up some vegetables and olive oil. You can go downtown, buy fresh produce, buy local meats and you know where your food is coming from,” Malone said.

Gerlach said the kitchen will be moving into a new home soon, which will also support a full teaching kitchen.

“Our permanent home is going to be a $2.1 million dollar facility on the back of Old Trinity Episcopal Church, a couple blocks away. If people are interested in supporting this project, we definitely are able to take contributions and partners for programming still,” Gerlach said.

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