LWPC March 2026 Spotlight:
Cooking from the Heart of Northside Cookbook
By Dr. Florence Rothenberg,
Board Certified Cardiologist
Executive Director, Food For Thought Cincinnati
CEO Heart In Balance, LLC
CEO Ounce of Prevention
Food holds a special place in our lives not only because we need it to survive, but because it is also a way to show love and build connection. In trying to understand why our American diets have become so unhealthy, I learned that much of this is because we have lost this important connection to food, cooking, and community.
Many of my neighbors pointed out that they didn’t have easy access to healthy ingredients, couldn’t afford these kinds of foods in grocery stores, and didn’t know how to prepare a meal that tasted good from these ingredients.
To address this problem, Occupational Therapy students from Xavier University (Lulu Moretti, Maggie Sullivan, and Maddie Fletcher) helped create 20 simple recipes of healthy meals you can make from ingredients that can be obtained in Northside markets. We tested them and made tweaks to improve their taste and ease of preparation. Each of the recipes should be able to be prepared with simple tools that most people have: a knife, an air-fryer, or a single burner.
It is my hope that this will be the beginning of a conversation with the community. I hope to hear what you think of the recipes, how you may have made them even better, or recipes that you love and that you want to share. Finally, it is also my hope that these recipes will help make you healthier not just in body, but also in spirit through community.
Proceeds from the book will be used to support our indoor gardens, where the food we grow is used in local stores to increase access of healthy ingredients (we are currently partnering with Melt Revival). Please share your recipes with us. If it is simple, healthy, and can be prepared with ingredients that are found in Northside, we may publish your contribution in later editions. We look forward to connecting with you!
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