Lois Altman and the <i>Harvest Handbook: A Soup Kitchen’s Guide to Maximizing Resources</i>

Ball State University professor and chef Lois Altman doesn’t just feed hungry people; she teaches others how to do the same. A graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America and the Program Director of Ball State’s Hospitality and Food Management program in Muncie, IN, this teacher and chef volunteers each week at a local soup kitchen, the Harvest Soup Kitchen. Inspired to get others in on the act, she has written the Harvest Handbook: A Soup Kitchen’s Guide to Maximizing Resources.

Altman was recently profiled as a “Difference Maker” in the Muncie Star Press. She is known for her creativity and ability to stretch limited resources into tasty dinners for soup kitchen clients, and many of the recipes from the Handbook are available online. In its introduction, Altman offers a reminder that applies equally to family kitchens as it does to soup kitchens: “Remember, cooking should be gratifying and enjoyable and so should eating even in a soup kitchen. Maximize what you have and make it taste great!”