Community meal promotes healthy eating

Dinner was served to 2,000 neighbors and guests on a white table a half-mile long in St. Paul's Frogtown neighborhood Sunday.

The table ran down the middle of Victoria Street across the intersections between University and Minnehaha avenues, and on each side sat people of all ages and colors — drawn together by a desire to learn about making healthful food choices.

"A beloved community is a healthy community," said the event's chief organizer, artist Seitu Jones, quoting the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Jones, who lives in an old storefront in Frogtown, has seen people walk by with bags of groceries from a convenience store, and believed the event, Create: The Community Meal, would show there was nothing intimidating about healthy eating — and that it was tasty, too.

Local residents had the chance to take up the subject with their guests, as well, some of whom included the farmers who grew what ended up on the table.

Anthony Lonetree