Nourish // East African Cooking from Seward Co-op on Vimeo.

Shegitu Kebede filled her house with the smells of Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine. She hoped her children would fall in love with cooking. “You’re passing a tradition,” said Shegitu, a former community activist, restaurant owner, and longtime Seward Co-op shopper and class instructor. She moved to Minneapolis in the 1990s as a refugee from Ethiopia and raised her family in the Seward neighborhood. “The Franklin co-op was our everyday store. Now my daughter is a grownup and she works here.”

Shegitu’s recipes have been a pillar of Seward Co-op’s Nourish program for years. Shoppers will often find them on the recipe racks in stores. Shegitu and her daughter, Seward Co-op employee Asnat Ghebremedhin, are working together to reach more Seward Co-op shoppers with tips on eating well on every budget. “I always say that as long as you eat, and we all do eat, why don’t you feed yourself a good meal that you’ll be so proud to prepare?” Shegitu said.

The mother-daughter team is offering Nourish cooking lessons through an online video series. Nourish is a Seward Co-op program offering a needs-based discount, food and wellness staples at a low price every day, recipes, and classes. Shegitu and Asnat cook beef tibs, as well as gomen (greens) and keysir (beets and potatoes) using Nourish recipes— meals that can feed four for $15 or less. The dishes can be eaten on their own or served with injera, rice or pita. Seward Co-op offers injera every day at the Franklin store and on Fridays at the Friendship store.

“All of the dishes are a really good introduction to Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine,” Asnat said. “Beef tibs is a staple. We’d go to the co-op and get our fresh meat and our fresh vegetables and make this dish for us. It’s just an everyday meal.”

Food for Fuel
Shegitu said people eat food for a purpose in East Africa. Ingredients like garlic and ginger do more than add flavor. They’re a way to support your body. Shegitu adds flax to her food and drinks—4 tablespoons a day—to promote hair, skin, joint and digestive health. First, she roasts the raw flax seeds in a pan. Then “when I have a meal, I just grind it and use about two tablespoons over a meal or over my latte. I just throw it in my coffee and drink it.”

Watch Videos
Follow Seward Co-op on YouTube and Vimeo for videos with Shegitu and Asnat as they prepare Nourish recipes that Shegitu developed.

Sign Up for Nourish Classes
Learn basic from-scratch cooking tips and enjoy a meal at our Nourish classes. Healthy East African Cooking is sold out, but a waiting list is open. Register for Nourish 101: Tempeh Tacos here. Learn more about the Nourish program, which includes a recipes, needs-based discounts, and a staples list, here.

Theo Chocolate is issuing a voluntary recall on three-ounce sea salt 70-percent dark chocolate bars with lot code 3092529 due to an undeclared milk allergen.

Theo Chocolate 3 oz. Sea Salt 70% Dark Chocolate
Lot code: 3092529
Best-by date of 1/2020
Price: $3.79
UPC: 8 74492 00325 8

No affected product is currently available at Seward Co-op stores, but it may have been sold between Dec. 29, 2018, and March 29, 2019.

If you purchased this product at Seward Co-op, it will be fully refunded at either our Franklin or Friendship store Customer Service desks.

We’re looking ahead to 2019, which will feature our first year of Community Choice SEED grant recipients. Our selection process for our 12 yearly SEED recipients is entirely staff-led, with the majority of cashiers serving on the committee. Show your support to our front-end staff by rounding up at the register throughout the year!

Here are our 2019 SEED grant recipients and the months during which they’ll receive funds. There will be one Community Choice recipient each quarter.

January: Mental Health Resources (Community Choice)
Mental Health Resources’ Seward Community Support Program (“CSP”) drop-in center on Minnehaha Avenue provides healthy snacks, meals, and health mentoring for 400 neighbors who are recovering from serious mental illness so they can thrive physically and mentally.

February: Cultural Wellness Center
The Dreamland Co-Café, a project of the Cultural Wellness Center, will create a blend of Culinary Heritage, self-love, and business incubation for African American food entrepreneurs in a cooperative and supportive environment that will allow us to reconnect, rediscover and reinvent the culinary traditions of our past.

Come sit around the “farm table” at the Seward Co-op Creamery Café and learn more about the Cultural Wellness Center 6-8 p.m. Feb. 19. Enjoy a meal designed by Creamery Café staff and inspired by this work, with ingredients sourced from Community Foods producers. Tickets are limited and may be purchased via Eventbrite.

March: Soup for You Café
Soup for You provides free, healthy, organic meals to all members of our community, Monday through Friday from 11 a.m.–1 p.m. We build community one bowl at a time.

April: Sexual Violence Center (Community Choice)
Sexual Violence Center, a nonprofit rape crisis center in Minneapolis, provides free support services to individuals impacted by sexual violence in Hennepin, Scott, and Carver counties. Funds from this program will help us build a gender-neutral bathroom in our office.

May: Appetite For Change
Appetite For Change advocates for food justice and economic development in North Minneapolis, with SEED funds supporting our Youth Training and Opportunity Program and our policy and advocacy work through Northside Fresh Coalition.

June: Urban Strategies, Inc./Green Garden Bakery (Community Choice)
Green Garden Bakery youth, supported by the nonprofit Urban Strategies, Inc., grow vegetables in their urban garden, bake them into healthy vegetable-based desserts (vegan and gluten-free), and market them using sustainable practices. We sell the desserts for “pay-what-you-want” and donate our
proceeds back into our community.

July: Isuroon
Isuroon is dedicated to building support for Somali women and girls social connectedness and self-sufficiency so that they can lead healthier, more productive lives in Minnesota and globally. SEED funding will be used in support of a culturally-specific food shelf that provides support for social connectedness, dignified service and healthy foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables, to any person in need.

August: Southside Services, Inc.
Southside Services supports adults with cognitive and developmental disabilities to become increasingly active, contributing members of their community.

September: Dream of Wild Health
Dream of Wild Health is a Native American-led nonprofit farm that provides leadership programs for Native youth. Dream of Wild Health grows indigenous seeds and foods and supports Native youth in advocating for a healthy community.

October: Village Financial Cooperative
Village is establishing a loan fund to disrupt the predatory financial market; establishing a Black-led credit union, filling the void of accessible and affordable banking; and providing cooperative development for emerging co-ops in North Minneapolis.

November: Sabathani Community Center
Sabathani provides food, clothing and housing to 26,000 neighborhood residents each year in South Minneapolis. We feed the chronically poor, those on disability or chemical dependent individuals and families. Sabathani Community Center has been providing basic
needs services for nearly fifty years.

December: Open Arms of Minnesota (Community Choice)
Open Arms cooks and delivers free meals tailored to meet the nutritional needs of individuals living with life-threatening illnesses. They also serve the children and caretakers of those living with illness, free of charge.