Families gather for Butte’s first family cooking night

By Maddie Vincent, Montana Standard

“If you were a vegetable, what would you be?”

This was the question Butte FoodCorps service member Courtney Nucito posed to a small group of people in a Kennedy Elementary School classroom on Wednesday night. Nucito asked the two families and volunteers to write their answers on sticky notes, then try to guess what vegetable they thought their siblings or parents chose on a separate note.

“I chose a tomato,” said Zoey Lyons, 8.

“Why did you choose a tomato?” Nucito asked.

“Because my friend is a red head,” Lyons answered.

Photo by Meagan Thompson, The Montana Standard

The vegetable icebreaker was how Nucito started Butte’s first family cooking night. Led by Nucito and with donation help from Western Meat Block and Safeway, the night aimed to bring a few of Kennedy Elementary School’s fifth-grade families together for a meal around the table and to educate them on how to prepare healthy, low cost meals.

“It’s hard for families to find the time to eat a meal together,” Nucito said. “It’s good to have that positive experience of all sitting down for a meal.”