A new Evansville group wants to help you get more plants on your plate
EVANSVILLE – Why put more plants on your plate?
No matter how you eat, everyone agrees that eating plants is healthy. Even if you love meat and want to keep eating it, including more fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans and whole grains in your diet can only make you a more well-nourished person. And it can save you a few bucks.
Still, many of the most nutritious plant foods remain mysterious to the average cook. If you’re not a foodie, you may never have cooked Indian red lentils, or spaghetti squash, or made a kale salad with goji berries; yet all those incredibly nutritious foods are easily to be had locally.
Now there’s a free, fun group you can join to learn.
More: Evansville-area food news: 9 bites of food news for you this week
Susannah Dickman of Eat Plants Be Well, with her husband Daniel Dickman, are founding a new community group called the Tri-State Healthy Plant-Based Community.
Wait, is this just for vegans or vegetarians?
No. It’s for anyone who is curious about why plants are healthy and how to include more of them in your diet. You do not have to have taken Susannah’s Eat Plants Be Well classes or agree to take them to be part of this group.
“That’s exactly the message I want to get across,” Dickman said. “You don’t have to be completely plant-based or want to go totally plant-based to be in this group. Maybe you’re just like, ‘I’ve heard about quinoa, maybe I can learn what to do with quinoa.’ It’s open to anyone. The only restriction is that when we have a potluck, we want people to bring only plant-based food for everyone to eat.”
Right. Will meat eaters be encouraged to give up meat?
Nope.
“We only want to encourage eating healthier by eating more plants. It’s not like you join and in two months you have to be completely plant-based,” Dickman said. “Whatever you choose to do is fine, it’s open to everyone. We hope to have an education component to teach people how and why plants are healthy. We all need help to learn to eat a little healthier than we are.”
OK, tell me about it. Who is Susannah Dickman?
Susannah is a licensed Physicians' Committee For Responsible Medicine Food for Life instructor who regularly teaches classes on the links between health and plant-based living under her business name Eat Plants Be Well. She wants to create community of people outside the classroom where people who eat only plants and people who want to learn how to cook with plants can talk, hang out, eat together and learn from one another.
What activities will there be?
There will be monthly meetings. Susannah and her husband will lead the meetings, but they will not be classes. Expect to see some speakers and an educational component, about food but also related interests such as environmental sustainability. Dickman hopes to eventually host potlucks and offer community service opportunities. The group will welcome members from Evansville, Owensboro, Henderson and Southern Illinois. There’s no website or social media yet, but there will be soon.
How do I join?
There's no formal joining procedure yet; just show up to the first meeting, which will be on Thursday, April 25, at 6 p.m. at Ivy Tech Community College at 3501 N. First Ave., in Room 160. There will be signs directing visitors to the room inside the front doors. Please RSVP if possible, by e-mailing Susannah Dickman at Eatplantsbewell77@gmail.com, as she’ll be bringing a snack for everyone.
Tri-State Healthy Plant-Based Community
What: First meeting
Where: Ivy Tech Community College at 3501 N. First Ave. in Room 160
When: Thursday, April 25, at 6 p.m.
RSVP: Susannah Dickman at Eatplantsbewell77@gmail.com,
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: New plant-based and plant-forward cooking group in Evansville
