LEWISTON — St. Mary’s Nutrition Center’s Youth-Powered Cooking participants served spinach salad with walnuts and dried cherries and walnut cherry oatmeal cookies to food pantry guests on Jan. 5.

The taste tests aim to highlight different uses and recipes for some ingredients guests will be receiving in their food boxes. It’s also a way for participants to share food they have prepared from scratch with the community.

The program is a group of eight Lewiston-Auburn teens ages 14 to 17 who receive hands-on training in planning, cooking and sharing healthy meals while learning about their local food system.

YPC hopes these taste tests encourage guests to try new food, and sees the opportunity as part of a larger effort to get youths connected to the community in meaningful ways.

Other program activities include working with guest chef Tom Poulin from the Auburn PAL Center, visiting Bates Dining Commons, taking a walking tour of Lisbon Street restaurants, and hosting monthly community dinners at the Nutrition Center.

FMI: stmarysnutritioncenter.org.