New test kitchen provides healthy choices

By: Jennifer Ward

Posted: 11/4/08

Charlene Barnes was laid off from her job in 1994. With no financial support system, she decided to turn her home kitchen into a bakery. There she founded Echols Gourmet Wholesale Desserts.

But she didn't stop at baking. Entrepreneurs such as Barnes have to outsource for production, testing and government certification of their products. That's where Nelson Farms came in, a processing site that operates under Morrisville State College.

"I realized I had to find a means of keeping what I'd gotten when I realized nothing was stable or secure," she said. Barnes said an acquaintance enlightened her to the new test kitchen where Lynne Foster, a product development chef, helped her take her business to the next level.

The Syracuse Community Test Kitchen was created to give people from underprivileged neighborhoods a chance to join in on the local food revolution. There's hope that the project will stir up interest in local food systems and help generate culinary skills within the community.

The Test Kitchen is part of the Falcone Center's South Side Innovation Center (SSIC), a small business incubator on South Salina Street.

Eating local is a big part of gourmet grocery stores and hip bistros, making it the food fad of the decade. The launch of Edible Finger Lakes magazine and the recent increase of farmers markets across the nation have infiltrated Central New York.

But in a neighbourhood not too far from campus, eating local is a luxury most people can't afford.

"We wanted to make a difference right in our own backyard," said Nola Miyasaki, director of the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship at Syracuse University.

Chef Foster helps people develop their home recipes for large-scale production.

Foster has worked on product development at both Con Agra and Nestlé. Her goal in Syracuse is to support sustainable food businesses on the South Side.

"There are plenty of people out there with good products, the hardest part is marketing and distribution," Foster said. She said that by integrating food science and business plan components, the program helps people branch out.

The Syracuse Test Kitchen is more about big picture community well-being than the usual health issues.

"What we want is for people to see products that are made by people right here in their community. It gives them pride to see local people prospering," Foster said.

She said the new healthy foods on the market just haven't caught on in the Syracuse area.

"What works here better than organics is made local," she said. "That has a bigger impact."

After opening last March, the kitchen hasn't produced any Newman's Own products. But that doesn't mean it hasn't made a difference in the lives of South Side residents.

Glenn Gaslin, general manager of the auxiliary corporation that oversees the farm, praised the quality of work being done at the test kitchen.

"A lot of the people coming to us from the SSIC have a real good product when they walk in the door," he said.

Gaslin champions the Pride of New York program and the stores that support it, including Nelson Farms' own country store.

"Buying local is better for everybody," he said. "The more that we buy locally, the more we get a safer product, and the more we help the economy, locally."

jward04@syr.edu