A recent Cooking Matters class at the nonprofit Rubicon Richmond began with a bit of show-and-tell. The 10 or so people in the room each shared the favorite foods they ate over the past weekend. Eli Cruz, who was leading the class, tried a Purple Haze latte. Carolyn, one of the students, had Greek yogurt ice cream with cake crunch and honey. Joshua cooked himself scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes and English muffins.
“I celebrated my six months being out of prison.” Joshua said. “No violations, no nothing.” The class clapped for him. “That’s basically the best meal I had in a while.” (Richmondside agreed to use only the participants’ first names because of the stigma associated with receiving federal aid.)
Cooking Matters is a free, four- to-six-week course that teaches nutrition and healthy shopping and cooking practices for kids and adults to help prevent obesity. It’s sponsored by the Bay Area cooking nonprofit 18 Reasons and is offered in Alameda, San Francisco and Contra Costa counties for a range of ages at schools, libraries and community-based organizations such as Rubicon Richmond, a workforce development program. Cooking Matters classes are partly federally funded through participating counties. Contra Costa County provided $50,000 for those enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
But 18 Reasons will not be getting that money after this year because Congress eliminated the SNAP-Ed program as part of President Donald Trump’s new spending bill. Without federal funding, 18 Reasons will only continue if it gets contributions from donors, foundations and local governments, said Francesca Boulton, 18 Reasons’ community programs director.
The loss is part of a budget cut to the SNAP education and obesity prevention program, which received $178 million a year in federal funding, shifting much of the program’s financial burden to states and tightening eligibility requirements. For all SNAP benefits, as many as 5 million Californians could be impacted, depending on how much slack the state can pick up, according to the California Budget & Policy Center. (The food purchasing assistance program for individuals and families was in limbo for weeks starting Nov. 1 due to the government shutdown.)
The program expects to meet its fundraising goals this year, but Boulton fears the loss of SNAP-Ed and the loss of other SNAP benefits is contributing to a nationwide shift around nutrition policy that will make it more difficult to keep the program funded. In the face of this challenge, 18 Reasons is still determined to offer Cooking Matters programming, though Boulton said, “we might have to be more strategic about when and where we are offering programs, we might have to have a smaller food budget for the classes.”
By the end of this year, 18 Reasons expects to have offered 27 Cooking Matters courses. Since 2023, more than 300 SNAP recipients in west Contra Costa County have taken courses.
Before the Cooking Matters class began at Rubicon Richmond, Cruz and 18 Reasons program coordinator Molly Kornfeind gave a lesson on how to read nutrition labels and look for whole grains while grocery shopping.
“The main issue when it comes to the United States, is our diets are very high in calories and very low in nutrients,” Cruz said.
After the nutrition lesson, volunteer chef Denise Johnson talked about cutting board sanitation. Johnson has been teaching with Cooking Matters for two years. Before launching her lesson, she asked the class if they remembered what the French term “mise en place” meant.
AJ, a high school student at Life Learning Academy on Treasure Island who was attending with her mom, spoke up. “Ready to cook?”
Everyone agreed her answer was close enough to the translation, which is “everything in its place,” referring to the organizing of ingredients and utensils before cooking.
The menu for the third week of class was “Sweet and Savory Crepes” paired with a spinach salad.
The ordinary classroom became a kitchen, with three portable burners placed on a table at the front. Everyone picked a job. Brenda expertly diced strawberries for the salad. She has been cooking her whole life but said the Cooking Matters classes have taught her how to make healthier choices. Joshua tossed spinach and strawberries with a dressing he had prepared from the recipe provided. He has worked in kitchens but recently started a job at a packaging facility, enabling him to move into his own apartment.
Carolyn, by the stovetops, mixed flour, salt, eggs, milk and butter to make the crepe batter. She poured the batter onto the hot pan and swirled it around. The room smelled like pancakes and was filled with laughter as everyone chatted about what they would fill their crepes with — would they be savory with turkey and cheese, or sweet with fresh cut nectarines and maple syrup?
The best part of the Cooking Matters class, said Kimi Barnes, director of program innovations and experience with Rubicon Richmond, is “getting to have that confidence-building experience learning new skills and laughing with other class members.”
At the end of class, Kornfeind handed out grocery bags filled with fruits and vegetables, and Barnes distributed vouchers for a local farmers market.
The class ended with everyone enjoying the meal they made together. Carolyn cut her crepe in half, saving the other to take home for her mother to try.
This story is being simultaneously published by Richmond Confidential as part of “The Stakes,” a UC Berkeley Journalism project on executive orders and actions affecting Californians and their communities.
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