Ger-Nis Promotes Eating Local; Community Development
By Kristen Oliveri 
November 12, 2010 
3 Comments
The borough of Brooklyn seems to be bucking the trend of providing local, sustainable, organic and fair trade agricultural products and Ger-Nis in Park Slope is no exception. Founded by Santa Monica, California-native Nissa Pierson in 2005, the concept behind Ger-Nis is to establish connections from the growers to the markets, from the markets to the community, from the partners to the growers, markets, community and each other, explained Pierson. “We personally believe in the connection between the grower and the eater,†she added.
“I witnessed the happiness of people who are connected to their food”
Pierson began cooking at an early age and spent a lot of time in Central America with her family where she learned the importance of knowing the person who owned the cow to produce dairy products and knowing the farmer who churned out fresh fruits each day. “I witnessed the happiness of people who are connected to their food,†said Pierson. She then went on to study in Minnesota—which Pierson says is a very progressive food city—and landed in Oregon where she discovered her love for gardening and growing.
Following Oregon, Pierson moved back to Southern California where her job at a basil company, Herb Time Farms, and began to teach cooking classes which would later inspire her to found Ger-Nis. This past summer, Pierson opened the culinary and herb center component to compliment the agricultural products the company sells.
Inside the culinary and herb center, Ger-Nis offers a plethora of cooking classes and education classes for children coined “kids in the kitchen†to motivate the neighboring community to learn about eating local and eating well. It recently teamed up with a local Girl Scouts Brownie troop to teach them how to make healthy pizza with veggie toppings and soda, added Pierson. “We’re giving them information on good food and how easy it is to make their own natural soda,†explained Pierson.
In Ger-Nis’ winter squash cooking class, participants were taught the very basics of different types of winter squash ranging from delicata, spaghetti squash, butternut squash and acorn squash, with accompanying recipes for each type. The class, taught be Tina DeGraff, culinary and herb center manager, was very informative and provided great cooking tips that can’t always be found in a cookbook. One of the quick and easy recipes was spaghetti squash served with a pesto sauce. The squash was steamed until it was cooked and then scraped out with a fork to resemble spaghetti. It was then topped with a traditional pesto sauce. DeGraff pointed out the spaghetti squash would also be fantastic with a simple tomato or marinara sauce.
Other recipes on the agenda was oven roasted delicata squash, an acorn squash cake and butternut squash quesadillas. For a list of upcoming classes, please visit the Website .
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This very connection that people form between their food and the process by which it was grown is the reason that we really like community gardens. Whether they are an interim land use on land that is now growing trash and not much else, or a more permanent fixture of the neighborhood with lofty goals about building social capital and connecting neighbors, local gardens are great.
And if some folks can become gourmets about it, as in Ger-Nis’, that’s great inspiration and publicity value.
What a great post! I think it’s important to eat local so everything is fresh and this really help community developement like you say