Maria Tello considers helping others her mission. After each Happy Kitchen cooking class ends and participants start gathering to leave the People’s Community Clinic, Tello feels a sense of accomplishment. Her role as a sustainable food center facilitator allows her to continue doing this work.
“It’s the most fantastic and beautiful thing I’ve ever gotten to do in my life,” Tello said.
The Happy Kitchen program helps community members prepare “delicious, nutritious and inexpensive recipes” according to its website. Hosted by the non-profit Sustainable Food Center in Austin, these free cooking and nutrition classes meet once a week.
In each class, attendees learn to cook healthy meals using local and sustainable groceries. At the end of the process, they understand nutrition labels and how to balance a meal with vegetables, grains and proteins.
Tello considers herself a pioneer of the Happy Kitchen classes, which she started attending in 1999, shortly after its founding in 1995. Weighing 400 pounds at the time, Tello’s doctor recommended she take nutrition classes to better her health. So, she finally gave in to her friend, who insisted she attend Happy Kitchen’s class.
“My weight loss story has served a lot of people,” Tello said. “Back then, I used to only know four types of vegetables; peppers, tomatoes, onions and cilantro, but now I know others like spinach and how to properly feed myself with the help of the Happy Kitchen classes.”
Tello later earned her certification in nutrition promotion, before taking on her role as a facilitator for the program. Tello credits her expertise and knowledge in the nutritional sphere to her participation in UT’s Latino Research Institute’s program “İSalud, Salud!” and contributing to asthma studies at UT for five years.
“Having that empowerment to know that ‘si se puede’” Tello said, referencing a Mexican motivational motto. “There are resources throughout the community. It all depends on whether you as a person want to dare yourself to take that challenge and obtain more benefits toward your health.”
Above all, Tello’s greatest satisfaction is connecting with others and seeing them smile during these classes. She met fellow facilitator Selene Dominguez while attending the Happy Kitchen classes together.
Like Tello, Dominguez has thrived on the connections she shares with the people in the program since she joined 10 years ago.
“I’m a resource finder,” Dominguez said. “I love diffusing information to the community for them to benefit off of. That’s how I found the Happy Kitchen.”
At the end of the classes’ six-week cycle, attendees receive a cookbook to take home. The book has a variety of recipes, including the ones learned in class. Recipes incorporate nutritional values and produce’s agricultural seasons to make use of available groceries.
Along with their work at Healthy Kitchen, Dominguez said she and Tello contribute to health promotion in families by promoting sustainable and affordable food access through other SFC programs, like Farmer’s Markets and Double Up Food Bucks Texas.
Addressing the elements of a balanced meal and preventative healthcare is important in potentially reversing or correcting any health conditions. Dominguez said she hopes to do that by helping others discover the importance of nutrition.
“Every class I teach brings me so much satisfaction,” Dominguez said. “We witness change within families and their kids once they start introducing new food elements and leave behind bad food habits.”
When Tello and Dominguez met, it marked the start of a lasting friendship and work partnership. The two continue to give back to their community through each new class they teach.
Tello and Dominguez regularly teach the class at People’s Community Clinic, located northeast off I-35 on Camino La Costa.
The group offers classes in Spanish on Tuesdays from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. and in English on Thursdays from noon to 2:30 p.m.
“We’re not dietitians, we’re facilitators,” Dominguez said, “but our passion for this leads us to investigate and teach about these values.”
