Eskenazi Health is celebrating National Kale Day on Wednesday, Oct. 5, and is inviting the public to join the festivities. The day will celebrate kale’s incredible health benefits, highlight kale’s culinary versatility, and promote eating, growing and sharing kale throughout America.

Regarded as a super food, kale provides plant-based power in your diet that goes well beyond just standard vitamins and minerals. Kale is packed with special phytonutrient molecules, making it a power plant that can fight obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

Eskenazi Health is dedicated to promoting healthful diets for everyone and kale provides a number of amazing nutrients rarely found in any other food. We take pride in integrating kale into food for our patients, visitors and staff, and we look forward to this year’s National Kale Day party on The Commonground being our best yet,” said Amy Carter, Director of Outpatient Nutrition at Eskenazi Health.

Dr. Lisa Harris, CEO of Eskenazi Health, serves on the advisory board for Team Kale, the organizers of National Kale Day. Eskenazi Health has actively participated in National Kale Day for the past four years by serving kale in the hospital’s dining facilities, providing recipes and facts about kale to staff and patients, and taking part in a video streaming that will promote the powers of kale.

A kale party will be featured on The Commonground at Eskenazi Health, which will allow the public to try free samples of kale-inspired recipes, including spaghetti squash with kale chimichurri, mint chocolate chip kale ice cream and assorted gourmet pizzas on a kale pizza crust. Food demonstrations will also be available, and kale will be given out at a number of food pantries. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 5, with jazz music provided by The Tucker Brothers Group featuring kale enthusiast Joel Tucker, who performed last year during Eskenazi Health’s Kale Day, and his brother Nick.

An exciting kale-inspired menu will be served in the Ingram Micro Mobility Marketplace at Eskenazi Health and Café Soleil at Eskenazi Health and at Duos on National Kale Day. Eskenazi Health Menu items that day include spicy rice with kale, kale salmon cakes and kale grilled cheese with caramelized onions. In addition, at Duos, menu items will include white beans and kale with faro; kale salad with sugar snap peas, apricot, feta and ginger miso dressing; and potato kale soup with a hint of fennel.

In addition to the kale party, Eskenazi Health will be handing out kale bunches at each of its 10 Eskenazi Health Center locations, along with distributing kale in downtown Indianapolis and at area food pantries.

All of the kale, along with other produce grown on The Sky Farm at Eskenazi Health, is made available to patients, visitors and staff in various ways on the Eskenazi Health campus.

To learn more about National Kale Day and efforts throughout the country, recipes and how you can participate, please visit NationalKaleDay.org.