Today we’d like to introduce you to Mercedes Harris.
Hi Mercedes, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
To introduce myself, my name is Dr. Mercedes Harris and I along with my culinary director Chef Phil Barnum created Five Loaves & Two Fish Healthy Teaching Kitchen (www.52htk.com). We specialize in offering health education and nutrition consults (in-person and virtual) in tandem with hands-on culinary cooking classes for enrolled participants (youth to adult) within Central Florida and internationally. Our organization’s goal is to increase health/nutrition literacy, improve economies, quality of life measures, and stakeholders’ interests. We work in the community and are mobile to access communities of need. As part of our organization’s mission, we strive for health equity and accessibility. We do this through charitable contributions to local, national, and international/regional organizations who equally share the same mission. We volunteered and held virtual and in-person health and cooking events internationally most specifically within the Caribbean region.
Our organization was created based upon personal family tragedy from a close family member passing away from the complications of breast cancer. The organization’s mission is create opportunities for family members and the public to live happier, healthier lives and long-lasting memories. Additionally, provide health education and life skills training through culinary instruction to create positive health and behavioral changes.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has not been always smooth. However, that is the process of learning and growing. It is when the road is bumpy, you adapt your approach to fulfilling your dream and end goal. Learning experiences, I would say we experienced along the way is creating and developing a network of relationships albeit long-lasting with various stakeholders (i.e., current/future class participants to community leaders). Additionally, since there is a great need within communities for accessible resources to obtain quality, nutritious foods; seeking funding to reinforce trust and program sustainability is a learning process that we are diligently taking with care and patience.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We offer a fun, interactive environment where participants cook, exchange ideas, and learn culinary/health concepts in a culturally sensitive environment. With the goal of having participants learn positive behavioral habits including making healthy, nutritious cost-friendly meals that can also feed a household for a goal of $10. To challenge nutrition content and cost of unhealthy food choices. In addition, our classes offer health-focused cooking classes that highlight methods to improve blood pressure and other health markers. Since program conception, we have witnessed and received numerous feedback from participants stating improved health outcomes and shopping/cooking pattern change.
We tailor our classes to highlight monthly health awareness events such as November being Diabetes Awareness Month, February-Heart Health Month to June being Caribbean Heritage Month. Our website further highlights additional programs we offer such as custom meal preps/delivery, children and young adult cooking classes, corporate wellness employee programs to national programs such as the CDC National Diabetes Prevention Program and Cooking Matters by Share Our Strength.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Taking risks can induce fear, anxiety, and a whole host of nervous feelings. It can make us uncomfortable when we are stepping out of our comfort zones. However, when we shy away from taking risks, we rob ourselves of the opportunity of the potential that can be if we pursue our dreams and ambitions. Creating a teaching kitchen hosted by a pharmacist and a chef to help serve the public’s health is a fruitful lesson of taking risks. It is through taking this risk of developing a teaching kitchen and curriculum; we have learned incredible life-changing experiences that allowed us the opportunity to interview with OrlandoVoyager!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.52htk.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/52htk/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/52htk
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/52htk
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWXNzHNI0A91pEEtA3PVJVA
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@52htk
