I Want To Bring Our Culture To The World

When I asked a group today what value they would get from starting a new local food business, I heard "To take care of the world", "To provide healthy food for our community", "To support our local farms", "Because homemade tastes better is is healthier and more tasty", and "To bring our culture to the world". This group of 30 students in the Advocacy Outreach Family Literacy Program are super excited to start new food businesses.  Together they brainstormed ideas for products that would use locally grown ingredients:  Purple corn tortillas, tomatillo salsa, sweet potato empanadas, specialty cakes, fruit cups, tamales, and many more! I shared our plans for the ELF - Elgin Local Food Center, a commercial kitchen and education center to be located in downtown Elgin, Texas.  There's no doubt that these folks will open new businesses in the ELF.  We're eager to finish funding this exciting new business development center and commercial kitchen. Today's presentation is part of our USDA Rural Business Development grant project to help rural business get started and succeed in our communities.  Advocacy Outreach will begin using the Beyond Fresh workbook developed in partnership with the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), to be released in early 2019.