It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, and Paul L. Foster School of Medicine student Jennifer Pan already has food on the brain.

Pan, a self-proclaimed foodie, and other students from the Family Medicine Interest group, recently celebrated the country’s inaugural National Food Day by sharing it with women and children from La Posada, an El Paso shelter.

“When a friend told me about Food Day, I thought it would be perfect as an event for La Posada families,” Pan said. “It was an incredible success. Although the event was organized by the Family Medicine Interest Group, we also had a huge amount of support from … Sprouts Farmer’s Market, Aida S. Cuisine, Paseo Christian Church and UTEP.”

The National Food Day organization seeks to bring together parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, local officials, chefs and school lunch providers to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way.

The event was divided into three sections: a cooking lesson from chef Aida, which included three healthy recipes, a discussion with third-year medical students Chau Vu, Katrina De Leon, Jennifer Lopez and Hani Atallah, about the healthy diets for babies and toddlers, and an art lesson for children 3 years and older.

Students and volunteers also set up three food stations to teach the children healthy recipes for sandwiches, personal pizzas, yogurt-based ice cream and oatmeal cookies.

“We stressed the importance of eating healthy, especially fresh fruits and vegetables,” Pan said.