82-Lanca»tar Farming, Saturday, May 21, 1994
Engle’s ‘Wanderings’ Creates Wealth Of Research
For Her Job As Lancaster County Home Economist
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.)
Althea Engle has finally come
home after years of “wanderlust
ing” that look her crisscrossing the
U.S. and abroad.
Hc r wanderings were not pur
poseless. As a registered dietician
with a master’s degree, Althea has
spent years in researching nutrition
and evaluating diets. Now, she
wants to use all the knowledge she
has gained through research in her
position as home economist for
Lancaster County Cooperative
Extension.
“People find nutrition informa
tion confusing. I hope to clarify it
and interpret how scientific find
ings arc produced,” she said.
The Conestoga Township
native remembers the 4-H cooking
club of hcr youth where she
learned to make chili con come
and a salad dressing that she con
tinues to make today.
It was ihc combination of expo
sure to 4-H cooking classes, her
grandmother's cooking expertise,
and her work in the family’s bak
ery business that influence Engle
to pursue a degree in home eco
nomics at Goshen College,
Indiana.
After she taught home econom
ics at SoLnco High School for one
year, a restlessness prompted her
to search for other opportunities to
use her degree. She found it by
working in Greece with the Men
nonitc Central Committee for two
years. While there, she volun
teered her services by first teach
ing cooking at a poor rural village
and later demonstrating how to use
commodity foods. This was a
“Food for Work” program where
villagers planted trees in exchange
for food. The waterfront area had
EFNEP Advisors Win
First-Place Award
advisors, won a first-place award for teaching youth at a
juvenile detention center.
LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.)
Brenda Stallman and Anita
Rhawn, nutrition education advi
sors for the Expanded Food and
nutrition education Program
(EFNEP) of the Penn State
Cooperative Extension Service,
won a first place award from the
Pennsylvania Extension Para
professionals Association for their
“Leam to Earn” 4-H program with
youth at Barnes Hall, a juvenile
detention center. Called ‘The Boli
Rollers” 4-H Club, the group
(earned to make money at a “leg
al” enterprise while making their
little resources and was being
developed as a resort area to help
provide income for the residents.
Engle had to set up a cooking
program. She quickly learned that
American favorites were not taste
receptive to Greeks. She gathered
Greek recipes to teach and com
piled them into a cookbook.
At first, Engle used a translator
during her teaching sessions, but
soon she became fluent enough to
teach independently. Previous stu
dies in Latin, French, and Spanish,
and a perchance for languages
enabled her quick adaptation to
modern-day Greek.
After a two-year volunteer sdnt
in Greece, Engle felt a need for
more nutrition education and
returned to the slates to study at the
University of Wisconsin. After
receiving a master’s degree in
nutrition and food science, Engle
taught a year of home economics
in Wisconsin and did a nutritional
evaluation of the slate’s Head Start
Program before moving to Florida.
It was at the University of Florida
that Engle had her first experience
in working with cooperative exten
sion. Her responsibility was to
train aides to work in the Exten
sion’s statewide Expanded Food
and Nutrition Education Program
(EFNEP).
Engle visited a migrant camp in
order to plan the training and
decide upon foods that would help
low-income families improve their
diets. Nutritional aides visited
individual homemakers to teach
nutrition, community resources
available to meet their needs, use
and care of kitchen equipment,
food safety, sanitation practices,
food money management, and
food preservation.
After two years with EFNEP,
Engle joined a team that conducted
favorite and most successfully
prepared food stromboli.
While learning techniques of
proper food handling for food
safely, organization for mass pro
duction, and management and
marketing for profitability, the
youth had “hands on” experience
making strombolis and selling
them to agency personnel and
close friends. A profit of $633 was
made and contributed to the
purchase of toys for “Toys for
Tots.” It was the first time in their
life that some of the youth had
wrapped a present
AKhM Engle Is the recently-appointed Lancaster County Cooperative Extension
home economist. Engle has worked In many different areas of the U.S. and abroad I
mostly in research, and hopes to use her knowiege to teach others proper nutrition. |
health and nutrition examination Engle would like to use her COLD YOGURT AND *
surveys. As dietary coordinator, research background in her exten- CUCUMBER SOUP 1
Engle interviewed people to col- sion work by offering innovative (TARATOR) I
lect data for a nationwide survey to programs that influence the health 3 small cucumbers
determine the nation’s nutrition of people. Of prime importance to 3 cups plain yogurt .
habits. Those who participated in her is using dietary guidelines to 2 tablespoons olive oil J
the survey received an extensive encourage lower-fat and more fruit 2 teaspoons finely minced garlic
health examination in exchange and vegetable consumption. /> teaspoon salt or to taste
for answering the questions. A
cross-section of one to 74-year
olds showed that malnutrition was
a problem, especially in southern
states.
For four years, Engle became
the field operations manager in
charge of mobile units set up at dif
ferent locations across the U.S. A
team of 13 people traveled
together to work approximately
three to six weeks in each state.
“I met interesting poeple from
all over the U.S. and it definitely
broadened by horizons. I learned
to do things I would never have
attempted otherwise,” Engle said.
Hawaii and Washington state were
two of Engle’s favorite places.
When that study was phased
out, Engle spent in interim period
in Lancaster County until she was
hired by American Health Founda
tion to work in New York.
Research by the Foundation
changed from time to lime,
depending on grants. Some of
Engle’s research included doing
food recalls with elementary
school children and evaluating the
results, analyzing diets from diffe
rent countries for colon cancer
research, and a feasibility study on
a low-fat diet to prevent reoccur
ance of breast cancer.
Findings showed the correlation
between diet and health. But,
Engle said, people often find nutri
tional information confusing. She
hopes to clarify and interpret how
scientific findings are produced as
some findings if not worded cor
rectly (end to encourage sensation
alism rather than factual findings.
Since Engle began her job at the
extension on April 18, she is
becoming acclimated to the posi
tion, which in addition to county
home economist requires her to
oversee the EFNEP program in
Dauphin, York, Franklin, and Lan
caster counties. She has not yet
decided upon definite programs
and methods, but she would like to
offer hands-on classes for lower
fat cooking and foods with ethnic
diversity.
Her research has convinced her
of the need for dairy products.
She said, “1 really want to see
people drink more milk. It’s
important to prevent osteoporosis.
When I was growing up, we drank
milk at every meal. It’s important
that children drink milk during
those early years when bone mass
is being built.”
Engle herself is a fan of plain
yogurt. She enjoys the taste and
believes this cultured dairy pro
duct is an excellent source of cal
cium needed to prevent
osteoporosis.
Engle, influenced by world
travel and nutritional studies,
enjoys trying ethnic foods, espe
cially if they are nutrient-packed.
Here is a recipe that incorporates
yogurt and an ethnic flavor from
Bulgaria. Bulgarians are known
for their longevity many live to
be 100 years of age. Bulgarians
consume large quantities of
yogurt, which may play a role in
their longevity.
Homestead Holes
3 lablcspoons chopped walnut
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dilf
Peel the cucumbers. Slice thenf
in half lengthwise. Scoop out and
discard the seedy core. Cut the
flesh into 'A -inch cubes. ,
Place the yogurt in glass, stain*
less steel, or other noncorrosible
bowl. Beat the yogurt 1 minute
with a spoon.
Beal in the olive oil one teas
poon at a time. Be sure each new
teaspoon of the oil is thoroughly
beaten into the yogurt before
adding the next teaspoon.
Add the cucumber, garlic, salt,
and all but 1 tablespoon of the wal
nuts to the bowl. Thoroughly blend
the ingredients.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate
and neatly ladle it into the soup
bowls. Garnish the top of each
serving with dill and the remaining
walnuts. Serve immediately.
Additional keys to success: Buy
cucumbers that are small for their
variety. Large cucumbers will be
exceedingly seedy and their flavor
will be too bitter even soaking
them in salted water won’t com
pletely diminish their bitter note.
Whole-milk yogurt is preferable
to the skimmed product. You can
decrease the quantity of minced
garlic to taste, but if you use less
than 1 teaspoon, you shouldn’t call
your soup tarator. For the sake of
color contrast, use nonwhite soup
bowls. A deep red, black, or yel
low hue is ideal. If fresh dill is
unavailable, substitute fresh mint.