Worried whether her daughter Stephanie was getting adequate nutrition in her vegetarian diet, Rosemarie Wescott had merely planned to accompany her daughter to the vegan cooking school at the Olivehurst Seventh-day Adventist church. However, before the class was over, she became a student of the class as well.

Wescott was not the only one to be pleasantly surprised by the two-day vegan cooking class that the Olivehurst church sponsored in September 2004. Organized and managed by Judy Long, Barbara LaRose and Darlene Cummins, the cooking school was inspired by a health and healing seminar that they had heard earlier by Danny Vierra in Lodi, Calif. Wanting to bring the health message back to their own church, Long, LaRose and Cummins collaborated to sponsor the cooking school.

The response to the class has been thoroughly positive. “I’m a home care health nurse in the Olivehurst area, and this is a wonderful thing that the church is doing,” said Collette Altomar, an attendee from the community. “It was so well planned out, not only the cooking part of it, but the educational part of it as well. And the instructors were very kind and spiritual.”

Advertising through flyers in grocery stores and fast food chains, cable television, a local radio station and the newspaper apparently paid off. More than 60 participants signed up, with more than half of them coming from the surrounding community.

“I was flabbergasted over the food and how well it was presented,” said Pat Davis, an attendee. “I have eaten vegetarian food before, but it was no contest to the food served at the Olivehurst school.” As a direct result of attending the cooking classes, Davis is now fellowshipping at the Olivehurst church. In total, two new members have started attending the church due to the class, and the church has received many calls and donations requesting follow-up classes.

Supplementing the cooking school demonstrations, each attendee received a church-sponsored cookbook that included “The Eight Laws of Health and Informative Health Information” and educational literature on issues such as controlling dietary cholesterol and sugar. Some of the recipes that were demonstrated and included in the cookbook were baked oatmeal, tofu lasagna, millet patties and gravy, and banana-coconut pie.

As for Wescott, she has a new found affinity for vegetarian cuisine. “I have been so impressed with what you can make with the nuts and the grains—and it all tasted so great. The group of helpers at Olivehurst made my daughter and I feel part of a great big family.”