I recently invited Chef Eneitra Beattie to visit Bernheim’s Edible Garden. Kenyetta and Bernheim’s Horticulture Director, Renee Frith, met Chef “E” at a quarterly Healthy Change event hosted by Change Today Change Tomorrow in West Louisville. Over a bowl of Chef E’s delicious plant-based chili, it was discovered that Chef E had been to Bernheim numerous times, but she didn’t know we had an Edible Garden focused on sustainable gardening. So, we extended an invitation and what happened next was exciting.
On a sunny end-of-summer day, Chef E and her daughter Dajiana Woods, who is also her VP, shared more about their health through food vision. Chef E is the owner of Greenz N Tingz LLC, an urban gardener, professional chef, community educator, and food visionary. She also runs the garden at the Parkland Boys and Girls Club in West Louisville. Chef E and Dajiana are passionate about touching minds, consulting with elders, and using fresh, healthy food to open a dialogue about what a healthy future for their community looks like. Through the community aspects of growing, cooking, and sharing food they see a bright future for themselves and their community.
Bernheim’s Edible Garden Steward, Casey Hammett also joined the conversation. Casey and Chef E discovered they had a common friend in Chef Mark Williams who is the former executive chef at Brown- Forman. Chef E credits Chef Mark with helping her develop her skills and her culinary vision.
Nobody quite knows where all of this is headed, but cooking demonstrations in Bernheim’s Edible Garden and participation in future Bernheim events is certainly on the table. Possibly the dinner table. One thing everybody was excited about was the prospect of getting youth involved in learning more about the joys of eating fresh food grown in community with other people. Real food from real soil prepared by happy people. Stay tuned.
About the Bernheim Ambassador Program:
The Bernheim Ambassador program is an intentional effort to foster relationships between Bernheim and individuals and organizations that are currently under-represented at Bernheim. Generous funding from the Brown-Forman Foundation has allowed Bernheim to hire Kenyetta Johnson to serve as Bernheim’s first Ambassador. For the past year Kenyetta has initiated conversations with individuals focused on serving Black and Brown communities in urban Louisville and surrounding communities. Her conversations begin without any preconceived ideas about what might happen next and sometimes evolve into amazing new relationships. The goal is to create healthy new relationships beyond Bernheim’s borders, support them, and see what common paths we may end up traveling together. For more information, you can email Kenyetta Johnson.