Teen Chefs & Gardeners

Teen Chefs & Gardeners involves teens in growing healthy foods, cooking healthy foods, and eating healthy foods. Meals in this program are made from scratch by Teen Chefs with guidance from professional staff members. Ingredients used are 100% organic and locally sourced, including from the organization’s gardens, and the menu is diverse and plant-forward, drawing on many culinary traditions and cultures.

• Ages: 13–18 years old

The menu for Teen Chefs & Gardeners is designed by an Executive Chef who has worked internationally in Michelin-starred restaurants and is approved by a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN). The program is part of Ceres Community Project, which since 2007 has prepared home-delivered meals for people who are too sick to shop or cook for themselves. These meals are medically tailored for people facing serious illness such as cancer, diabetes, or congestive heart failure and are available to all ages. The organization states that it nourishes people, community, and the planet.

According to its mission statement, the organization provides beautiful, delicious, medically tailored meals made with love for those facing serious illness, mentors teens to learn about growing, cooking, and eating healthy foods and about their power to make a difference, and brings people together to care for each other and create a healthier, more connected community. It is recognized as a leader of medically tailored meals in Sonoma and Marin counties. The organization partners with healthcare providers and insurers to show how medically tailored meals help patients improve their health while reducing health care costs, and it is a member of multiple coalitions and networks, including the Food as Medicine Coalition, The Root Cause Coalition, the Federal Nutrition Advisory Coalition, the California Food is Medicine Coalition, the California Food and Farming Network, Meals on Wheels California, Hearts of Sonoma County, the Marin Food Policy Council, Sonoma County COAD, and Marin County VOAD.

Last updated March 28, 2026.