Two Women, One Bright Idea

Planted in Houston, Texas—and taking root nationwide—

Brighter Bites is a nonprofit that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables directly into families’ hands, while teaching them how to use and choose a different type of fast food.

The idea for Brighter Bites occurred to founder Lisa Helfman in the fall of 2011. For several years, she and her family took part in a weekly produce co-op, and she watched as her little boys began asking to swap their breakfast bagels for apples, and steal bites of Swiss chard off of her dinner plate. The pinnacle moment came when her son Drew rejected a piece of birthday cake at a party, claiming it was too sweet—and requesting blueberries instead. He was six. This was big.

Working at the time as an attorney at Texas Children’s Hospital, Lisa couldn’t help but wonder what kind of influence this kind of co-op might have on all kids—especially if it were free to families. She was inspired to try to replicate the positive impact she’d witnessed in her own household in underserved communities, where obesity is high and access to fresh produce is low. Because nutrition education in these communities is often equally lacking, Lisa’s vision was to bring a produce co-op to schools in these neighborhoods that included an educational component—and that made all this good stuff fun.

She created a collaborative partnership with Dr. Shreela Sharma, an epidemiologist and dietitian at UTHealth School of Public Health, and together they launched the program now known as Brighter Bites. Today, Brighter Bites operates programs in Houston, Dallas, Austin, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Southwest Florida.

How We Work

Every week, Brighter Bites heads to kid-centric sites like schools and summer camps and distributes fresh, seasonal produce for participants to pick up and take home.

PRODUCE DISTRIBUTION NUTRITION EDUCATION + FUN FOOD EXPERIENCE

Families receive two bags of 20–25 pounds of fruits and vegetables, along with recipe cards, nutrition education materials, and ideas for preparation. During produce pickups, our staff and volunteers create a fun food experience for the whole family, demonstrating colorful recipes and passing around smiles and samples that incorporate the week’s fresh produce.

These pages feature our most delicious, nutritious, and family-friendly recipes from over the years. Simplicity and substance are the focus: short, plant-based ingredient lists that are easy to prepare and yield bright, beautiful dishes that show even the most skeptical eaters that healthy food can be happy, too! The best part? We know this works. Part of Shreela’s role in launching Brighter Bites with Lisa was to develop the rigorous criteria and robust research platform we’ve been using to study our program since its inception. She and her team at UTHealth have published numerous papers on the success of the behavior change occurring in participating families—a recent study shows that two years after participating in the program, an average Brighter Bites family consumes 19 additional servings of fresh fruits and vegetables over one week. Since 2012, we’ve been privileged to deliver over 22 million pounds of produce and hundreds of thousands of effective educational materials— including many tips and tools you will find in this cookbook.

Two Women, One Bright Idea

How We Work

This article is from:

Brighter Bites Cookbook