Portland SNAP-Ed presents Food Hero at the Farmers Market!

If you have been to the King or Kenton Farmers Markets this season, you may have noticed the kids engaging in various food-related activities at the tables by the market info booth.

It’s Food Hero at the Farmers Market!

This free weekly nutrition education program by Portland Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) is geared toward children of all ages. So far this season at the farmers markets, the Portland SNAP-Ed team has taken young market shoppers through:

• Planting microgreens and taking them home to grow.
• A five-sense taste interactive game – using touch, smell, etc., to identify fruits and veggies.
• Receiving at-home cooking kits containing a recipe and some seasonal produce from a market farm vendor or seeds to grow the produce needed in the recipe. Kids received rhubarb to make a crisp and okra seeds to grow to make succotash later in the season.
• Creating salad dressing from scratch then tasting it on farm-fresh greens.
• Making flavored water with herbs, like mint and basil.
• Tasting new recipes like braised radishes and sauteed greens with carrots.

And there are more fun activities planned for July and August!

More about Food Hero & Portland SNAP-Ed team

Food Hero is an initiative of the Oregon SNAP-Ed program and was developed by Oregon State University Extension Service and funded jointly by OSU Extension Service, Oregon Department of Human Services, and the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service. Portland SNAP-Ed is part of the OSU Extension Service state-wide nutrition education program that focuses on introducing Food Hero resources to Portland-area residents.

Meet the OSU Extension Service Portland SNAP-Ed team!

Food Hero’s mission is to help low-income Oregonians improve their health by increasing their consumption of fruits and vegetables by offering in-person and digital resources about essential nutrition, recipes, ingredients, cooking skills, food safety, and tips for increasing physical activity. Food Hero also:

• Celebrates diversity by making Food Hero available and adaptable. All components of Food Hero are informed by racially and ethnically diverse work groups, kids, adults and older adults, and by continual connections with Oregonians from urban, rural and tribal communities.
• Provides tasty, quick recipes that are low-cost, adaptable, healthy and kid-friendly. Easy and practical tips help families stretch their food dollars, lower food waste and grow food at home, in schools and at community sites.
• Builds cooking, meal-planning and gardening skills with fun educational materials, including videos, color sheets and word puzzles.
• Increases purchasing, preparation and enjoyment of fruits and vegetables in households and at community sites.

Visit the Food Hero website for hundreds of free family-friendly recipes and other valuable resources about food, nutrition, gardening and more. Follow them on Instagram and Facebook for daily tips and inspo!

Sign up for their free newsletter, Food Hero Monthly, featuring recipes & cooking and shopping tips.

We are happy to continue our long-standing partnership with Portland SNAP-Ed for another season and more seasons to come! We are especially excited to have them back at our farmers markets after a two-year hiatus educating youths through amusing games and engaging activities about food and nutrition. 

Join in the fun at the Food Hero kids activity booth at:

• King Farmers Market: Sundays, 10 am – 2 pm through August 28, 2022.
• Kenton Farmers Market: Wednesdays, 3 – 7 pm through August 31, 2022.

And at Lents International Market, Food Hero offers adult take-home cooking kits for Double-Up Food Bucks shoppers every 1st & 3rd Sundays, 9 am – 2 pm now through August 28, 2022.