There is an old saying attributed to Otto von Bismarck that “to retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making.” When we make sausages or laws, we generally like the outcome, but we don’t want to see how they’re made. Recently the Franklin legislative delegation was in town, not to make laws or sausage, but to cook some things that were actually fun to watch.

Rep. Roy joined his colleagues Senator Karen Spilka and Senator Richard J. Ross at a taping for some cooking shows to benefit the Franklin Food Pantry. They worked with Trisha Perez Kennealy from Artistry Kitchen in Franklin to prepare healthy meals from food available at the food pantry. The meals included several variations of chicken, a kale soup, and a sausage stir fry. Each were prepared in under 30 minutes. The segment below features the sausage stir fry recipe.

The Franklin Food Pantry serves nearly 600 families annually, including 1600 individuals. More than a third are children. About 75 clients “shop” at the Pantry weekly, and 270 visit monthly.

Typical clients include working families trying to make ends meet, people experiencing a temporary job loss, individuals whose SNAP (food stamps) benefits are reduced, and seniors. A growing number of seniors are seeking help from the Pantry since most are on a fixed income and are impacted by such things as medication costs and higher fuel expenses.

The legislators took the opportunity to highlight the work of the pantry and at the same time show some of the healthy options that are available when preparing food from the pantry. During the show, they talked more about the work done at the pantry and how residents can help in this effort to provide food security in our community.