Lessons for healthy living: A local grocery co-op and Indiana University connect rural residents with fresh food and cooking ideas

A partnership between the IU Center for Rural Engagement, faculty researchers, local physicians, and a rural cooperative grocery is producing a nutrition prescription program designed to improve health outcomes and access to local food.

As Collin Spear unpacked an assortment of produce from a nutrition box, he chuckled about his new-found role as a cooking instructor. “Sometimes they call me Mr. Spear,” said the 17-year-old Lost River Market and Deli employee of the group of residents participating in a new farm-to-health food prescription initiative.

Spear and the team at Lost River Market and Deli are working with Indiana University food systems researchers and healthcare providers from Southern Indiana Community Health Care (SICHC) to create this new initiative, known as the Lost River Local Cooking and Nutrition Education Box program, to residents striving for improved health.

SICHC providers and the chronic care management nurse refer patients managing type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes who could benefit from greater access to fresh vegetables and nutrition education. Lost River Market and Deli creates nutrition boxes packed with local ingredients along with recipes and lessons on cooking methods that improve the nutritional balance of their meals.

IU Sustainable Food Systems Science researchers are analyzing qualitative and quantitative evaluation data generated by this initiative, together with the IU School of Public Health Biostatistics Consulting Center. In partnership with SICHC, the team conducts pre- and post-intervention biometric measures—including cholesterol and lipid panel, hemoglobin A1c and body weight—for participants and the comparison group. The team is also assessing participants’ consumption, purchase, and cooking of fruits and vegetables, and their perspectives on the design and delivery of the Lost River Local program and educational resources.

“Health providers, community leaders, value chain actors and farmers are exploring deeper connections between local food production and consumption in order to address community resilience and public health,” said Jodee Ellett, the project’s lead investigator who oversees community engagement at IU Sustainable Food Systems Science. “Increasing our capacity to promote food as medicine for prevention and treatment of chronic disease is a social, economic and environmental win.”

The program was developed before COVID-19 began its spread across the nation and state, and the team had to rethink how they could connect with food education sessions originally planned to be held in person at a commercial kitchen across the street.

Not daunted, Lost River Market and Deli began distributing local food boxes and recipe and nutrition packets to residents who were referred by their physicians, as well as those who joined a community box subscription at the start of the summer. Participants received a fresh set of ingredients each week, and some participated in a weekly cooking lesson held virtually on Facebook instead of gathering in person.

For some, making a conscious effort to eat better by joining this initiative makes all the difference. “I knew how to eat healthy, but it was a matter of doing it,” said William Taylor. He said that being a part of the program has inspired him to make more food at home instead of picking up fast food.

As this initiative increases the number of healthy meals on tables across Orange County and beyond, it also boosts the local food value chain. More produce out the door means increased sales for local farmers and a diversified customer base for Lost River Market and Deli. This program is part of a larger farm-to-health partnership between IU and food producers and distributers that focuses on connecting rural residents to local food across the region, from school meals to seasonal produce promotions.

“Initiatives like the Lost River Local Cooking and Nutrition Education Box are essential for improving health across our rural community, from increasing access to nutritious food for low income and rural families and growing economic support for local agricultural producers, to creating sustainable revenue streams for our community-owned cooperative Lost River Market and Deli,” said Katarina Koch, Lost River Market and Deli board president and an SICHC employee. “The health of the whole community can grow as individuals support each other and their own health goals.”

Spear says, as someone who enjoys preparing and experimenting with new recipes, it is fulfilling to share cooking and food knowledge with neighbors and to be part of a group that is helping each other improve their own health. “People walk in and tell me that they love it so much,” said Spear.