Let’s agree that it’s not easy to find a job in a 1.1.square –Mile City of South Tucson. Some have part-time jobs, some can’t find any.

This financial struggle makes it difficult for the residents to have health insurance or even pay for other basic necessities.

Tucson is located in one of the U.S. Southwest’s ‘’food deserts’’ areas. Fresh, healthy food is hard to come by due to socioeconomic and geographic factors. Thus, people eat saltier, sweeter, fattier foods.

According to statistics, people who live in food deserts get sick more often than people with the access to fresh food.

Food desert dwellers generally don’t have time to exercise and lack training in nutrition.

Now Tucson residents have a chance to improve their health. ‘’Garden Kitchen’’ located at 2205 S. Fourth Ave provides courses related to cooking and nutrition for free or for the low cost. More than 45.000 Tucsonans techniques can be integrated at home for Tucson residents to improve their well-being.

The Garden Kitchen gets local, state and federal grants. It teaches everything: food budgeting, meal planning, gardening, cooking, and exercising.

All these courses are available to anyone interested. The Kitchen Garden started in October 2010 at its location near UA Campus Agricultural Center at the intersection of East Roger Road and North Campbell Avenue. It moved to Tucson in October 2012.

Zumba classes are followed by a gardening lesson at the center, where the participants learn home gardening skills. Mostly it’s about container gardening since Tucson residents rent their homes.

One of the shortest ways to stay healthy is to eat vegetables. The Kitchen Garden teaches so many ways to incorporate more fresh vegetables into the daily meals.

Cooking classes for three hours from local chefs like Tom Kressler costs $55. He is specialized in Italian cooking courses and has been working for over a year.

He takes pride in teaching there. He said he likes to see the place succeeding.