Get To Know the Mill City Farmers Market Team, Part 3

Article by Becky Fillinger

Jenny Breen, Market Chef

Did you know that the Mill City Farmers Market (MCFM) has Market Chefs who prepare delicious food using what’s available that week? Meet Jenny Breen, a longtime food justice advocate, culinary master and innovative health educator. We talked to her about showcasing what’s fresh at the MCFM, her ancillary work endeavors and how to be a better food steward.

As a MCFM Market Chef, Jenny Breen has given countless demos on creative ways to use produce, cheeses, meats, heirloom beans and other items from the vendors. Photos above and below, Mill City Times

Q:  Your LinkedIn profile tells us that you use cooking education as a vehicle to address the issues of personal, public, community and environmental justice, health and sustainability. How did you become interested in cooking as a way to address food and environmental injustice?   

A:  Great question. It's a long and twisted story, starting with a year I spent living/working on a Kibbutz in Israel during college. Living outside the Western world, in a true socialist setting, while working on the land was amazing - living as a Jew in a country fraught with oppression was distressing. I returned to the U.S. confused, and shocked by what I experienced as excessive consumption that most (white, privileged) people seemed to believe was their right to live this way. Somehow this all translated to food for me - first in my own body - I consumed as little as possible, losing weight and wearing tattered clothes. Ultimately, back in Minneapolis, I discovered ways to live out my values through food. I worked at the Seward Cafe, where I learned about the local food system - the people producing food, how it got to us, why it mattered and how to honor that story by putting my heart into the preparation and feeding of said food, while telling that story to others.

Q:  You have many endeavors – Chef at the Mill City Farmers Market, Chef and Culinary Nutritionist Instructor at the U, food systems and food justice consultant, etc. Please give us an idea of how you keep all these balls in the air. 

A:  And I used to own a catering company! I no longer have the catering company, but am a food systems and nutrition educator/consultant - so in addition to teaching 3 classes at the U, I’m currently partnering with M Health Fairview, and Hennepin Health Care in their 'food is medicine’ work. As for the juggling, it is simply how I operate. I am (to many people's surprise) an introvert, but an educator and networker at heart. So, in my mind pretty much all the work I do is connected, I am sharing the same message in a different context or setting, perhaps with a different audience, but surprisingly mostly with the same questions, concerns, beliefs and skills. My work and life blend together much of the time - and food is a thread throughout all of it. This is why I love my work, because it is connected to every person, every community, every culture and every system. While there is much work to do to align values of equity and justice, and to re-build the food system, I think the more we make these connections, the more successful we'll be. I also happen to be incredibly efficient.

Jenny arrives early to gather fresh ingredients she'll use for her Mill City Cooks demo. Photo, Mill City Times

Q:  How often do you cook and showcase your recipes at the Mill City Farmers Market? How do you go about selecting the produce to use in your market presentations? Have you convinced reluctant shoppers to try a vegetable they’ve never eaten?   

A:  I am not at the market as much as I'd like to be :). I am there about once a month this summer, along with my friends and chef colleagues Nettie Colon and Beth Jones. As for selecting the produce, I know generally what will be there, so I'll have an idea - for example last time I was there it was early June, but super-hot, so I knew there would be lots of greens and herbs, and I didn't want to turn on the heat. I made a chimichurri and radish and snap pea 'salsa' for a bruschetta. I do my best to use as many different vendors as possible because I see my job as highlighting and promoting them. My goal is to get as many people as possible to buy as much as possible from as many farmers as possible! Yes, I've definitely convinced reluctant shoppers to try things and more importantly, I've shown a lot of parents that kids have palates and to let them taste stuff!  

Q:  Your cookbook, Cooking Up the Good Life, was released in 2011. Do you have plans to update it or release another cookbook? 

A:  I definitely have plans, and an outline and a vision for another cookbook. It will focus more on “food stories” and the stories behind our food, but also the incredibly important relationship between human and environmental health...and how delicious food can be a part of that. As efficient as I am, I might need to take a little 'work break' to actually get it done though :)

Q:  Please give us your advice, as individuals, on being better stewards of sustainable food systems.

A:  Our food choices matter. They matter for our health and the health of the community, the farmers and producers and animals, and the planet. While our current system is inequitable and often makes 'healthy food' inaccessible, those of us who have the privilege and resources to take time to be informed and intentional, must engage and focus on the work of food justice, until everyone can start to eat in a way that supports and regenerates us and the planet. This has to be a priority and it takes a commitment. I help people figure out what this looks like on an individual, or organizational level. 

Q:  How may we follow your news?

A:  My website, transformingthetable.com (it is being updated - and will look even better soon, but you can still find me there). Also, my email, jennybroccoli@gmail.com, is the way to reach me directly.