Birmingham’s Railroad Park adds Sunday cooking classes to Get Healthy program
Birmingham's Railroad Park will host cooking classes as part of its Get Healthy initiative. (iStock image)
Get Healthy on the Railroad, the exercise program at Birmingham’s Railroad Park, is expanding to make people even healthier. But instead of more or larger exercise classes, Get Healthy is offering cooking classes on Sunday afternoons at the park.
Classes start this Sunday, May 15, on the park’s 17th Street Plaza with Jones Valley Teaching Farm leading cooking demonstrations using produce grown on its teaching farms. Jones Valley also will lead a class on June 5.
Urban Ministry Chef Ama Shambulia (second from right) with the staff of WE Community Café. Shambulia will be teaching healthy cooking class at Railroad Park on Sunday. (Wynter Byrd/Alabama NewsCenter)
On June 26, July 17 and Aug. 7, Urban Ministry’s Chef Ama Shambulia will lead a cooking class focused on making Southern favorites healthier and more nutritious. Shambulia is director of wellness for WE Community Gardens and WE Community Café.
Classes will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on those days. Registration begins 30 minutes before the start of each class. The first 100 registered attendees will receive free produce and a recipe card so they can prepare that day’s dish at home.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama sponsors the Get Healthy on the Railroad initiative. The cooking classes will incorporate resources from REV Birmingham, Jones Valley Teaching Farm, Urban Ministry and Junior League of Birmingham’s Project Yummy. Project Yummy will be onsite on May 15 and Aug. 7 with fun children’s activities that incorporate nutrition education.
“Now in its sixth year, Get Healthy is the longest running initiative at Railroad Park, and we are thrilled to be enhancing it this year,” said Railroad Park Foundation Executive Director Camille Spratling. “Health and wellness are important to us at the park, and we can’t wait to couple free exercise classes with a nutritional component. When it comes to fitness, both are important.”
Get Healthy offers exercise classes every weekday at 6 p.m., weather permitting, at various locations in the park. Participants should arrive 15 minutes early to sign in for the class. The lineup: Jazzercise on Mondays, Bootcamp on Tuesdays, Zumba on Wednesdays, Yoga on Thursdays and Happy Feet Friday on Fridays. Cancellations are announced on Railroad Park’s social media channels.
