http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/06/nyregion/with-food-hub-premium-produce-may-reach-more-new-yorkers-plates.html 2016-09-06 03:07:18 With Food Hub, Premium Produce May Reach More New Yorkers’ Plates A new $20 million center in the Bronx aims to expand access to high-quality vegetables and fruits as part of a growing “food-to-institution” movement. === Lunches at a senior center on the Upper East Side of Manhattan come with organic kale, vine-ripened tomatoes and freshly plucked summer squash — all grown not that far away in the Hudson Valley. For a suggested donation of $1.50, regulars at the center operated by the “It’s very satisfying,” said Antonio Perez, 71, who retired as a laundry worker at the Four Seasons Hotel in Midtown and recently tried zucchini for the first time. Arugula and bok choy are not just for food connoisseurs anymore. There is a growing appetite for fresh, local, high-quality produce in New York City at places such as senior centers, schools and soup kitchens, as the benefits of such foods have been embraced beyond the walls of artisanal restaurants and health food stores. In recent years, initiatives have aimed to get fresh produce onto more dinner plates, particularly those of poorer residents who cannot afford to shop at, say, Whole Foods. Now the city is going to get a new $20 million food hub to support these efforts. The Last year, GrowNYC distributed more than 2.5 million pounds of fresh produce through a wholesale produce delivery service that it started in 2012 in a rented warehouse, up from 500,000 pounds the first year. It has turned down requests from dozens of community groups because its 5,000-square-foot warehouse is packed to capacity. Marcel Van Ooyen, the president and chief executive of GrowNYC, said the new food hub would allow it to “dramatically increase the number of farmers we support and New Yorkers we help feed.” The greenmarket food hub will be built on 300 acres of city-owned land in the Hunts Point neighborhood in the Bronx, which already serves as one of the nation’s largest food distribution centers with existing produce, fish and meat markets. Maria Torres-Springer, president and chief executive of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said the new hub would expand and strengthen the food distribution system. In addition, city officials are investing more than $150 million on other improvements to the Hunts Point food distribution center over the next decade, including modernizing the existing markets and improving transportation lines. The city is feeding more people than ever, and its population of 8.5 million has never been larger. But while organic broccoli and fresh peaches may be regularly eaten at many dining tables, they remain out of reach for poor New Yorkers. Advocates have estimated that 1.4 million city residents live in households that cannot afford to buy enough food, let alone premium produce. “There is a stereotype that low-income people don’t want healthy food, so all we need to do is fill their bellies so they don’t starve,” said Joel Berg, the chief executive of City Harvest, a hunger-relief organization that collects and delivers food to 500 soup kitchens, Barbara Turk, the city’s director of food policy, said city officials were working to increase access to fresh produce by expanding programs like Health Bucks, which provides money to food stamp recipients who shop at farmers markets. “The single largest barrier to accessing healthy food is economic,” Ms. Turk said. “It’s having enough money.” The kitchen at the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House produces an average of 1,350 meals a day for two senior centers, an early childhood program for low-income families and a shelter for homeless women with a history of mental illness. A blackboard near the entrance of the larger of the two senior centers, at 70th Street and First Avenue, lists the fresh local produce that will be served for the week. Lynn Loflin, a chef who owns an organic vegetable farm in the Catskills, was hired in 2011 to overhaul a menu that was heavy on meats and processed foods and light on vegetables. She started by replacing frozen broccoli for the fresh kind and preparing locally produced polenta and basmati rice instead of baked potatoes. Ms. Loflin also cut meat servings nearly in half, to six or seven ounces — to the dismay of many. “It was very unpopular,” she conceded. “They were very happy with a large meat portion.” Soon, dishes like vegetable biryani were replacing standbys like cheese lasagna — which Ms. Loflin described as a “vegetarian dish” with no actual vegetables — and Uncle Ben’s rice. Then there were homemade muffins and granola, and salad dressings like a beet vinaigrette and ranch made from yogurt. She enlisted GrowNYC to supply local produce and grains at affordable prices. Ms. Loflin said she was able to spend more money on the fresh produce and grains by spending less on meat. In 2015, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House started a training and technical assistance program, called the Teaching Kitchen, with Ms. Loflin at the helm, to share the lessons it had learned with other organizations as part of a growing “farm-to-institution” movement in the city. The healthy meals have won over Jackie Pratt, a former medical assistant who cannot stomach old, overcooked vegetables. Before Ms. Loflin’s arrival, Ms. Pratt said she found the “mystery meat” and the salty, canned sides just too unappetizing. “Let’s say Army rations might have been more palatable,” she said. But now Ms. Pratt comes almost every day. If the food is not to her liking, she does not hesitate to let the kitchen know. After she complained that her salad was drowning in dressing, it was served on the side. “The food is markedly better,” Ms. Pratt said after a recent lunch of whole-wheat spaghetti with meat sauce and local organic broccoli. “It’s the difference between Tiffany’s and Woolworth’s.”