Four guys, one mission: ``To provide a healthy alternative while educating our community and securing our place in the organic culture.''

So say Chad Cherry and his partners in Be Organic catering -- Roosevelt Desir, Kirk Nelson and Andre Walker.

''We want people to live a more organic lifestyle,'' Cherry says. 'Not necessarily 100 percent, but to incorporate being `green,' sustainability, taking care of your body and your mind.''

For at least two of the four, that last admonition is more than trend-speak. Cherry, 28, has Type II diabetes, and in 2006 Desir, 26, developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma -- in remission since a bone-marrow transplant last year.

''As soon as I finished treatment, my best friend introduced me to Kirk and Chad about organic,'' Desir says. ``I took the opportunity and ran with it. I always loved to cook and took some of what I know and what I learned from the guys and clicked right off the bat.''

The cooking quartet has a division of labor that works like a well-oiled machine (organic oil, of course).

Nelson, 27: ``I'm the head chef. I come up with the sauces for all the dishes.''

His pride? Pineapple jerk sauce, mango peppercorn sauce and a honey mango that's perfect, he says, for that holiday baked ham.

Desir: ``Growing up, I watched what my [Haitian] mother and stepmother cooked. I try to infuse their techniques with American dishes and foods from other countries.''

His specialty is a dish called legumes -- long-steamed eggplant and cabbage, sometimes with carrots and parsley.

Walker, 34: ''I jump in wherever needed -- marketing strategies, for instance. But cooking is a love of mine'' -- and codfish fritters are his specialty.

Cherry: ``I make a mango mousse with fresh strawberries and a strawberry reduction.''

In addition to catering, the quartet has a multipronged sales plan to make their sauces ''must-haves in every kitchen,'' Cherry says. ``We plan to be the new face of organic.''

To contact Be Organic, call 786 277-9466. Nancy Ancrum writes about the culinary legacy of the African diaspora.

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