the guiding hand of natural selection
our world is quite firmly holding a fork
now we eat largely describes how this
world was used food nourishes a lot more
than just our bodies
it creates community it brings us
together and it certainly nourishes our
soul and brings us health not only this
food described to a great extent the
biology of our existence here but
through food we’re able to write the
biography of our existence so the first
thing we want to start off with is just
basic stories the sort of restaurant
madness now restaurants are a difficult
business each and every single one of us
in this industry have experienced our
fair share of ridiculousness you know
what sort of stories would you like to
share with us well actually I when I
first opened Hanks oyster bar in Dupont
you know I wanted to open us a
restaurant that was small enough where I
could do pretty much everything myself
in our first couple of weeks of being
open we were very busy and my manager
quit and two of my shuckers didn’t show
up for work on Saturday night I have to
cook the line I have to expedite I’m
gonna have to see people and I’m gonna
have to shock and I’m thinking what was
I thinking
so fortunately a guy named Tony walked
in the door looking for a job not only
was he looking for a job he could start
that night
and he was a shucker so it was like a
dream come true so you know from one
extreme to the next and that’s how the
restaurant business is for me yeah I
think what Jamie is saying is in the in
that business and I think you have to be
those of you out there that are in it
know that you have to be a little crazy
to get in in the first place
right and and you work really hard to be
lucky like like Jamie felt she was that
night but she had worked really hard but
I think that’s something we all share
when I had I had worked for a dozen
years to get to a point where I was
going to open up my own restaurant and I
thought this was the culmination of my
career and this was it was going to be
easy from here on out right I refer to
my four plus years now owning and
operating my own restaurant as my first
experience in the nonprofit sector
I got a kitchen but the thing that that
the recurring thought I had every day
when I woke up was whose job am I going
to do today am I gonna be waiting tables
am I gonna be tending bar am I gonna be
cooking but the beauty of it was it was
all about that creating that community
in that service and so whatever job you
were doing had meaning and importance
and it it brought something else to
other people and I think that’s a common
theme that we’ll probably talk about a
lot tonight but certainly we used
through food in the power of community
to that that it creates
I remember that V Smiths one year
busiest busiest weekend of the year is a
Mother’s Day weekend with Mother’s Day
on Sunday of course and all the
graduations my pastry chef
you know her daughter her children work
there her husband was the food runner
her daughter-in-law was it was like
seven of them that ran that were in my
kitchen out of 27 people so that’s a
significant amount Saturday morning
busiest weekend of my life that that
year they weren’t there I found out that
it was because their visas that expired
and what we did
I spent a quite a bit of money and time
in Costco that morning and that weekend
and I got to tell you they got some
great chocolate cake
I’m telling you I was a southern
restaurant and so rose corn bread huge
for us and I you know people didn’t miss
a beat I mean all of people they had no
idea we got compliments and we kept
Costco until we replace the sous-chef
but I mean you know we did and I’d be
honest with you Costco doesn’t we’ll
talk about preservatives and GMO they do
an excellent corn every day they do
great golfer I don’t know what’s in
sorry I know that doesn’t fit in with
your whole shtick but we’re already off
the rails right that really proves
something to me and my cooks that worked
the people that really hung in there
with me it was you know I slept there
that night and I opened up the next
Maury
nights I slept in my office my wife was
not happy but I did it and I was proud
of myself I’m still I love this I love
it because I know I can do it and if you
know another pastry chef decides she
wants to you know her visa expires I can
do it again yeah when I had one time you
know when I was running hook we’re
really known for serving a huge
diversity of seafood we had a lot of
different fishermen that we just dealt
with and if you catch it we’ll buy it
you know that’s great and we had more
Autobahn guides in my kitchen than we
had cookbooks because every day I had to
figure out just what the hell it was I
was serving and you know one day we had
600 reservations on the books Thursday
night I mean we were busy I was already
stressed out fish you can come so I
finally you know finally the box shows
up and I called my fish perfect it’s
like my cool what exactly did you send
me in my language was of course
perfectly gentlemanly proper and prim
and he said well you know we had a bad
day fishing but you know I didn’t want
to leave you in a lurch so uh well we
just sent you all the leftover bait I
hope you can do something with it
oh my god
Oh pulled out all my cooks off the line
and hey you know flying fish why not we
can we can work with this you know the
in filleting fish is already in art form
why not throw a wing bone structure onto
it no problem you know what I told my
servers I told him the absolute truth I
took that floating fish mola you know
flayed it up a little bit of tarragon
lemon zest olive oil
I rolled it up like Rollmops rosemary
skewered it to little things smoldered
it over an orchard would fire 250 smoky
sexy seductive degrees put it over a
Vidalia Onion and juniper broth into
which was braised Dukey knee and summer
squash sit there with a little bit of
herb salad on top of it I hope you all
have that dinner already
haha we sold that a flying fish that
night by seven o’clock and to this day I
still have people asked me like hey when
you get more flying fish in fact I can’t
even get fishermen to send it to us but
the next topic that I sort of want to
get on because we are in the midst of
celebrity here is the rise of the
celebrity food culture and this is
radically altered really the shape and
nature of our industry and I want to
point out first off that you know rock
has really been one early adopters of
this we’ve really been able to take
advantage of it but also then to talk
about how this has changed our industry
what is done is given us a larger voice
so we have heroes that can work at
Harvard I mean that’s pretty freakin
cool and talk about food and you know
how it impacts the globe and how we can
sort of take this thing back and really
have some huge impact and 15 years ago
you tell someone that you made someone
cilantro they were amazed now it’s just
like listen you know I got it I got a I
got a merchant circulator in my basement
buddy you know when you come when you
come out to the table you better talk to
me about some real food you know people
are more educated they’re there they’re
informed they’re empowered so that’s the
one thing I appreciate I’m extremely
grateful for about the television aspect
is that it’s given us a voice now what
we do with that voice once we get on the
stage is totally up to us what’s
fascinating for us at the kitchen is I
think it’s very fair to say that the
kitchen was really built
on the back of hospitality industry
restaurants in particular in chefs
that’s really how the whole thing
started and if it wasn’t for the
incredible support of that community in
the belief and what we were trying to
create at that time we would not be
where we are now in what’s been
incredibly rewarding for us is to see
these chefs that as their celebrity has
grown so too has their commitment to the
community to really create good to
create change in the community in a way
that I think benefits us all my
interview process we you know I would
ask potential cooks to to cook something
right I mean that’s pretty reasonable
expectation I was getting kids cooking
deconstructed beef stew with sous-vide
beef with carrot foam and celery jelly
and a you know onions a specter of onion
we had real food it’s like what wait do
you know how to construct beef stew not
that there’s not value in that food but
it’s sort of it’s all based on
foundation and yeah I found that that
could be a detriment and then sort of
that willingness to step over some of
the such fundamental processes of
building beef stew before you learn how
to deconstruct us along those same lines
you know chefs in the limelight really
had the opportunity to create incredible
influence and I think the ultimate food
hero the Alice Waters forty years ago
Alice Waters began to ask a simple
question what is the food that we’re
eating and what is it doing to us what
is it doing to our community and I think
that’s a question that is certainly
influenced each and every person on this
stage and I’d love to ask each of you to
speak to how she has influenced us and
how you in your own way have sort of
carried on that work so what I what I do
is I I work very closely with my oyster
farmers we sell you know we go through
thousands and thousands of oysters a
week and I offer six different kinds of
oysters every night we change them every
night so I have a lot of different ways
to farmers that a lot of local fun
murrs small farmers that farm just
specifically for me so for me she’s
influenced me in that way where I’m
really looking at the local product and
trying to maintain a sustainable product
and you know the fish we try to always
use local fish as much as we can abide
by the Monterey Bay seafood aquarium
guidelines for sustainable fish which i
think is very important at one point my
career you know it was just like listen
people want steak they want steak it
won’t be they want chicken
I don’t care where it’s coming from I
don’t want to hear that then I’m like
whoa Monsanto is nuts I’m not serving
any of that you know and and I’ve done a
lot of stuff with the you know on you
know with the Pew Charitable Trusts
you know antibiotic free and organic and
so I heard and now right now where I am
now I was speaking about you know buying
organic I was in greatest Southeast
Hospital and speaking to people that you
know food stamps are being cut and we’re
talking about healthy cut was promoting
my book and talking about healthy
cooking for kids they bought a bunch of
my books and I’m like and I went to
because I was out of butternut squash I
went to the the yes organic or one of
those organic all righty Pennsylvania
Avenue east of the river and butternut
squash was like eight dollars for four
ounces and I went back to this demo and
I’m just like you know what you know
okay we got a relax for a moment here
local local local it’s great awesome but
we can have strawberries California
strawberries because of advances in
transportation and refrigeration and
things of that nature and it’s not a
horrible thing I know it you know I’m
gonna carbon footprint I get all that
jets but we have made you know probably
scientists are like hey what do you know
we changed the world so I’m sort of we
have to do it responsibly I don’t know
I’m you know you probably like bars over
there like I’m gonna beat this guy
but I think that I’m saying you know I
feel like we got to feed a bunch of
people and Americans or people in
general need to eat like to eat at the
kitchen run it you know being the
director of kitchen operations for a
little bit am I gonna say you know no
thank you to 5,000 pounds of ground beef
from a you know from beef grower in
Texas that had an overrun no because we
got 5,000 people to feed I wish I could
serve organic beef and chicken all the
time but you all want paying $42 for
chicken sandwich at my restaurant so so
I think Rock is right that it’s all
about balance we started a couple years
ago a program where we’re putting local
are not local but fresh fruits and
vegetables whole vegetables value-added
cut products into corner stores in the
city’s food deserts we’re servicing 64
corner stores now mostly in Ward 7 and 8
east of the river
and sales are increasing every month in
these stores where people thought that
would not happen you know people would
say you know those people won’t buy
fresh fruits and vegetables well if
they’re not on the shelves
they’ll be right a hundred percent of
the time no no no one will buy that
what’s known about what’s not there and
I was so excited to tell Alice about
this when I saw her last January I just
thought she would be thrilled that this
was happening and without missing a beat
she turns around and says and now we
have to make it all organic you’re
killing me it’s that that is it’s an
admirable goal to be to go towards but a
lot of what we’re buying locally is an
organic and and we we certainly want to
create opportunities not only here in
the urban community but extend that to
the rural communities that we’re
supporting through this local purchasing
program so I think again it’s balance
and really figuring out your impact in
the community when I was just starting
off I was a you know passionate young
man I loved food I was traveling all
over the world and you know just loved
food and it was fun and then I was
presented the opportunity to check out
to go run cafe annex over on 14th Street
so I got on the phone I said send me
striped-ass send me bluefish I want
oysters I want blue
ooh this is gonna be fabulous and the
guy on the other and the line said kid
what are you talking about we ate all
those what else do you want
and I realized right then and there the
guiding hand of natural selection in our
world is quite firmly holding a fork and
the way that we eat largely describes
how this world was used and so I set off
in my career to really think about how I
as a chef as an individual buying one
case of organic chicken buying one fish
that was new and different and
interesting that flying fish whatever it
was how we could have an impact on our
community how I could have an impact
directly on the oceans but also just in
terms of revitalization of neighborhoods
we’re not just talking about the
environments that sustain us but also
the neighborhoods in which we live the
neighborhoods that sustain us you know
this really is almost the redemption of
neighborhoods and sure there’s issues
with gentrification and and other
political issues as well but there’s
really a huge opportunity here and
that’s what I want to close on when I
was first chef at Cafe Saint acts a man
named Robert dagger walked into my
restaurant introduced himself and he
said hey we’re neighbors but I want to
meet you he was the founder of DC
central kitchen and the course of 20
minutes he convinced me that a chef is
more than just the sum of the
ingredients that he or she puts on the
table the chef can be more the chef can
be part of a community a chef can be
uplifting revitalizing and can bring
opportunity to those people everywhere
around this not just those we serve and
that’s what got me introduced to DC
central kitchen helped me as far as
taking everything from my family I’ve
helped people up at gunpoint
but you know you know I had decided in
my life that I didn’t want to live like
that anymore and I was just tired I’m 44
years old I have been doing drugs for 32
years I smoked crack for 23 I’ve had two
heart attacks I just decided that you
know I enough was enough in other words
this is like a second chance for me to
get my life back and I will do so
first day of every class you look out at
the men and women who are coming in and
they can look hard as nails you know but
it’s just a mask they’re terrified of
what’s ahead hey welcome everybody this
is going to be the 21st anniversary of
the kitchen this week so much of what we
do in America in charity is about the
redemption of the giver not the
liberation of the receiver we wanted to
turn it around so that everybody got
liberated and that’s what the kitchen is
about every day everybody who comes in
here gets served everybody
my life I’ve actually came up do
something with myself I haven’t changed
the person and this bit of time my
family
they love it
but they welcome me now and all
places things for me
and so with that I’d like to Michael to
talk about what DC central kitchen is
and some of the opportunities it
presents sure well thank you Barney
again for allowing the kitchen to be
part of this I think we are so
incredibly blessed again to be part of
this community we’re serving close to
12,000 meals a day in this city but we
could be serving 30 40 50 60 70 thousand
meals a day and people will still be
hungry tomorrow what the kitchen is
about and what we’re using food as a
catalyst for is to create opportunity to
put people in a place to break this
incredibly destructive and generational
cycle of violence addiction
incarceration hunger homelessness and
ultimately poverty and we just started
our 98th culinary job training class
since the recession hit in 2008 we’ve
graduated over 600 men and women
formerly unemployed and homeless who are
now employed in the city’s restaurants
hotels catering operations institutional
food systems you go to a museum downtown
you’re gonna see one of our graduates
that we have graduates working at at NIH
in law firms around town in schools now
they are part of this community in a
very powerful an economic way many of
these men and women that you saw in that
video cost this city millions and
millions of dollars in incarceration
costs halfway houses stays shelter stays
and what we’re trying to show is that
with just a small investment not charity
investment in this community using food
as that tool we can create economic
opportunity and economic growth and
inclusion inclusion for a vast majority
of the men and women that want to be
part of this community it costs forty
four thousand dollars a year
incarcerated someone in DC it costs
$12,000 to train them once at which
point they become contributing members
of a tax base they take themselves out
of the welfare net of the city and
actually begin to contribute to it for
$12,000 investment you get all of that
in return and that’s the redemption
story but there’s also the opportunity
to prevent that and that’s what central
kitchen has really moved on to and
that’s what this video is about here I
never thought in my wildest dreams that
I’d be doing what I’m doing right now
transformation from destroying lives to
help relax
in 2007 I was on streets selling drugs
two of my friends had just got killed I
escaped death so I wanted another chance
at life I seeked help with our DC
central kitchen
I graduated from the calling of our
program here now and I’m in school blah
blah suggested Academy I’m the sous chef
making beautiful meals for kids but this
this is something I always wanted to do
work with kids the auction this year and
has roughly 450 registered growers and
on the buyers side we’re probably up in
the 800s DC central kitchen is very
important to the auction here because
they’re one of our largest purchasers
I believe in what we do because it’s
just providing a good product it’s
healthful and fresh that’s not harvested
too far ahead of time we feel very
grateful that DC central kitchen wants
to be a part of the produce auction and
buy this fresh local produce from us if
we can change somebody’s life in the
city we’re pleased to be a part of that
look what we do with
every day 35 punch with DC public school
kids
some of these kids man when they go home
they’re not getting meals least they
know when they when they come to school
they’re gonna receive a good meal the
fool here is always healthy and is
always good always have a silent
I always have something like calcium
protein how do you feel about camera
because every time we get a food every
meal
I like to have a good meal before I go
to class so I can be more taste and I
could be ready
how do you like the vegetables in the
fruit the colors
DC central kitchen has changed my life
and in the process I am changing these
kids life
my name is Howard Thomas and I’m a
graduate of DC central kitchen
my name is Dennis Showalter and
the manager here couch
but only a small part of the picture
is the bomb it is though Andy’s physique
isn’t of the mom in restaurants and food
preparation is it’s an honorable pursuit
it’s a pursuit it’s a human pursuit not
only this food described to a great
extent the biology of our existence here
but through food we are able to write
the biography of our existence here as
individuals in this community it’s an
honor to serve you in restaurants it’s
an honor to create community through
restaurants and especially it’s been an
honor to share an evening with you here
tonight
so thank you all very much appreciate it
you
our world is quite firmly holding a fork
now we eat largely describes how this
world was used food nourishes a lot more
than just our bodies
it creates community it brings us
together and it certainly nourishes our
soul and brings us health not only this
food described to a great extent the
biology of our existence here but
through food we’re able to write the
biography of our existence so the first
thing we want to start off with is just
basic stories the sort of restaurant
madness now restaurants are a difficult
business each and every single one of us
in this industry have experienced our
fair share of ridiculousness you know
what sort of stories would you like to
share with us well actually I when I
first opened Hanks oyster bar in Dupont
you know I wanted to open us a
restaurant that was small enough where I
could do pretty much everything myself
in our first couple of weeks of being
open we were very busy and my manager
quit and two of my shuckers didn’t show
up for work on Saturday night I have to
cook the line I have to expedite I’m
gonna have to see people and I’m gonna
have to shock and I’m thinking what was
I thinking
so fortunately a guy named Tony walked
in the door looking for a job not only
was he looking for a job he could start
that night
and he was a shucker so it was like a
dream come true so you know from one
extreme to the next and that’s how the
restaurant business is for me yeah I
think what Jamie is saying is in the in
that business and I think you have to be
those of you out there that are in it
know that you have to be a little crazy
to get in in the first place
right and and you work really hard to be
lucky like like Jamie felt she was that
night but she had worked really hard but
I think that’s something we all share
when I had I had worked for a dozen
years to get to a point where I was
going to open up my own restaurant and I
thought this was the culmination of my
career and this was it was going to be
easy from here on out right I refer to
my four plus years now owning and
operating my own restaurant as my first
experience in the nonprofit sector
I got a kitchen but the thing that that
the recurring thought I had every day
when I woke up was whose job am I going
to do today am I gonna be waiting tables
am I gonna be tending bar am I gonna be
cooking but the beauty of it was it was
all about that creating that community
in that service and so whatever job you
were doing had meaning and importance
and it it brought something else to
other people and I think that’s a common
theme that we’ll probably talk about a
lot tonight but certainly we used
through food in the power of community
to that that it creates
I remember that V Smiths one year
busiest busiest weekend of the year is a
Mother’s Day weekend with Mother’s Day
on Sunday of course and all the
graduations my pastry chef
you know her daughter her children work
there her husband was the food runner
her daughter-in-law was it was like
seven of them that ran that were in my
kitchen out of 27 people so that’s a
significant amount Saturday morning
busiest weekend of my life that that
year they weren’t there I found out that
it was because their visas that expired
and what we did
I spent a quite a bit of money and time
in Costco that morning and that weekend
and I got to tell you they got some
great chocolate cake
I’m telling you I was a southern
restaurant and so rose corn bread huge
for us and I you know people didn’t miss
a beat I mean all of people they had no
idea we got compliments and we kept
Costco until we replace the sous-chef
but I mean you know we did and I’d be
honest with you Costco doesn’t we’ll
talk about preservatives and GMO they do
an excellent corn every day they do
great golfer I don’t know what’s in
sorry I know that doesn’t fit in with
your whole shtick but we’re already off
the rails right that really proves
something to me and my cooks that worked
the people that really hung in there
with me it was you know I slept there
that night and I opened up the next
Maury
nights I slept in my office my wife was
not happy but I did it and I was proud
of myself I’m still I love this I love
it because I know I can do it and if you
know another pastry chef decides she
wants to you know her visa expires I can
do it again yeah when I had one time you
know when I was running hook we’re
really known for serving a huge
diversity of seafood we had a lot of
different fishermen that we just dealt
with and if you catch it we’ll buy it
you know that’s great and we had more
Autobahn guides in my kitchen than we
had cookbooks because every day I had to
figure out just what the hell it was I
was serving and you know one day we had
600 reservations on the books Thursday
night I mean we were busy I was already
stressed out fish you can come so I
finally you know finally the box shows
up and I called my fish perfect it’s
like my cool what exactly did you send
me in my language was of course
perfectly gentlemanly proper and prim
and he said well you know we had a bad
day fishing but you know I didn’t want
to leave you in a lurch so uh well we
just sent you all the leftover bait I
hope you can do something with it
oh my god
Oh pulled out all my cooks off the line
and hey you know flying fish why not we
can we can work with this you know the
in filleting fish is already in art form
why not throw a wing bone structure onto
it no problem you know what I told my
servers I told him the absolute truth I
took that floating fish mola you know
flayed it up a little bit of tarragon
lemon zest olive oil
I rolled it up like Rollmops rosemary
skewered it to little things smoldered
it over an orchard would fire 250 smoky
sexy seductive degrees put it over a
Vidalia Onion and juniper broth into
which was braised Dukey knee and summer
squash sit there with a little bit of
herb salad on top of it I hope you all
have that dinner already
haha we sold that a flying fish that
night by seven o’clock and to this day I
still have people asked me like hey when
you get more flying fish in fact I can’t
even get fishermen to send it to us but
the next topic that I sort of want to
get on because we are in the midst of
celebrity here is the rise of the
celebrity food culture and this is
radically altered really the shape and
nature of our industry and I want to
point out first off that you know rock
has really been one early adopters of
this we’ve really been able to take
advantage of it but also then to talk
about how this has changed our industry
what is done is given us a larger voice
so we have heroes that can work at
Harvard I mean that’s pretty freakin
cool and talk about food and you know
how it impacts the globe and how we can
sort of take this thing back and really
have some huge impact and 15 years ago
you tell someone that you made someone
cilantro they were amazed now it’s just
like listen you know I got it I got a I
got a merchant circulator in my basement
buddy you know when you come when you
come out to the table you better talk to
me about some real food you know people
are more educated they’re there they’re
informed they’re empowered so that’s the
one thing I appreciate I’m extremely
grateful for about the television aspect
is that it’s given us a voice now what
we do with that voice once we get on the
stage is totally up to us what’s
fascinating for us at the kitchen is I
think it’s very fair to say that the
kitchen was really built
on the back of hospitality industry
restaurants in particular in chefs
that’s really how the whole thing
started and if it wasn’t for the
incredible support of that community in
the belief and what we were trying to
create at that time we would not be
where we are now in what’s been
incredibly rewarding for us is to see
these chefs that as their celebrity has
grown so too has their commitment to the
community to really create good to
create change in the community in a way
that I think benefits us all my
interview process we you know I would
ask potential cooks to to cook something
right I mean that’s pretty reasonable
expectation I was getting kids cooking
deconstructed beef stew with sous-vide
beef with carrot foam and celery jelly
and a you know onions a specter of onion
we had real food it’s like what wait do
you know how to construct beef stew not
that there’s not value in that food but
it’s sort of it’s all based on
foundation and yeah I found that that
could be a detriment and then sort of
that willingness to step over some of
the such fundamental processes of
building beef stew before you learn how
to deconstruct us along those same lines
you know chefs in the limelight really
had the opportunity to create incredible
influence and I think the ultimate food
hero the Alice Waters forty years ago
Alice Waters began to ask a simple
question what is the food that we’re
eating and what is it doing to us what
is it doing to our community and I think
that’s a question that is certainly
influenced each and every person on this
stage and I’d love to ask each of you to
speak to how she has influenced us and
how you in your own way have sort of
carried on that work so what I what I do
is I I work very closely with my oyster
farmers we sell you know we go through
thousands and thousands of oysters a
week and I offer six different kinds of
oysters every night we change them every
night so I have a lot of different ways
to farmers that a lot of local fun
murrs small farmers that farm just
specifically for me so for me she’s
influenced me in that way where I’m
really looking at the local product and
trying to maintain a sustainable product
and you know the fish we try to always
use local fish as much as we can abide
by the Monterey Bay seafood aquarium
guidelines for sustainable fish which i
think is very important at one point my
career you know it was just like listen
people want steak they want steak it
won’t be they want chicken
I don’t care where it’s coming from I
don’t want to hear that then I’m like
whoa Monsanto is nuts I’m not serving
any of that you know and and I’ve done a
lot of stuff with the you know on you
know with the Pew Charitable Trusts
you know antibiotic free and organic and
so I heard and now right now where I am
now I was speaking about you know buying
organic I was in greatest Southeast
Hospital and speaking to people that you
know food stamps are being cut and we’re
talking about healthy cut was promoting
my book and talking about healthy
cooking for kids they bought a bunch of
my books and I’m like and I went to
because I was out of butternut squash I
went to the the yes organic or one of
those organic all righty Pennsylvania
Avenue east of the river and butternut
squash was like eight dollars for four
ounces and I went back to this demo and
I’m just like you know what you know
okay we got a relax for a moment here
local local local it’s great awesome but
we can have strawberries California
strawberries because of advances in
transportation and refrigeration and
things of that nature and it’s not a
horrible thing I know it you know I’m
gonna carbon footprint I get all that
jets but we have made you know probably
scientists are like hey what do you know
we changed the world so I’m sort of we
have to do it responsibly I don’t know
I’m you know you probably like bars over
there like I’m gonna beat this guy
but I think that I’m saying you know I
feel like we got to feed a bunch of
people and Americans or people in
general need to eat like to eat at the
kitchen run it you know being the
director of kitchen operations for a
little bit am I gonna say you know no
thank you to 5,000 pounds of ground beef
from a you know from beef grower in
Texas that had an overrun no because we
got 5,000 people to feed I wish I could
serve organic beef and chicken all the
time but you all want paying $42 for
chicken sandwich at my restaurant so so
I think Rock is right that it’s all
about balance we started a couple years
ago a program where we’re putting local
are not local but fresh fruits and
vegetables whole vegetables value-added
cut products into corner stores in the
city’s food deserts we’re servicing 64
corner stores now mostly in Ward 7 and 8
east of the river
and sales are increasing every month in
these stores where people thought that
would not happen you know people would
say you know those people won’t buy
fresh fruits and vegetables well if
they’re not on the shelves
they’ll be right a hundred percent of
the time no no no one will buy that
what’s known about what’s not there and
I was so excited to tell Alice about
this when I saw her last January I just
thought she would be thrilled that this
was happening and without missing a beat
she turns around and says and now we
have to make it all organic you’re
killing me it’s that that is it’s an
admirable goal to be to go towards but a
lot of what we’re buying locally is an
organic and and we we certainly want to
create opportunities not only here in
the urban community but extend that to
the rural communities that we’re
supporting through this local purchasing
program so I think again it’s balance
and really figuring out your impact in
the community when I was just starting
off I was a you know passionate young
man I loved food I was traveling all
over the world and you know just loved
food and it was fun and then I was
presented the opportunity to check out
to go run cafe annex over on 14th Street
so I got on the phone I said send me
striped-ass send me bluefish I want
oysters I want blue
ooh this is gonna be fabulous and the
guy on the other and the line said kid
what are you talking about we ate all
those what else do you want
and I realized right then and there the
guiding hand of natural selection in our
world is quite firmly holding a fork and
the way that we eat largely describes
how this world was used and so I set off
in my career to really think about how I
as a chef as an individual buying one
case of organic chicken buying one fish
that was new and different and
interesting that flying fish whatever it
was how we could have an impact on our
community how I could have an impact
directly on the oceans but also just in
terms of revitalization of neighborhoods
we’re not just talking about the
environments that sustain us but also
the neighborhoods in which we live the
neighborhoods that sustain us you know
this really is almost the redemption of
neighborhoods and sure there’s issues
with gentrification and and other
political issues as well but there’s
really a huge opportunity here and
that’s what I want to close on when I
was first chef at Cafe Saint acts a man
named Robert dagger walked into my
restaurant introduced himself and he
said hey we’re neighbors but I want to
meet you he was the founder of DC
central kitchen and the course of 20
minutes he convinced me that a chef is
more than just the sum of the
ingredients that he or she puts on the
table the chef can be more the chef can
be part of a community a chef can be
uplifting revitalizing and can bring
opportunity to those people everywhere
around this not just those we serve and
that’s what got me introduced to DC
central kitchen helped me as far as
taking everything from my family I’ve
helped people up at gunpoint
but you know you know I had decided in
my life that I didn’t want to live like
that anymore and I was just tired I’m 44
years old I have been doing drugs for 32
years I smoked crack for 23 I’ve had two
heart attacks I just decided that you
know I enough was enough in other words
this is like a second chance for me to
get my life back and I will do so
first day of every class you look out at
the men and women who are coming in and
they can look hard as nails you know but
it’s just a mask they’re terrified of
what’s ahead hey welcome everybody this
is going to be the 21st anniversary of
the kitchen this week so much of what we
do in America in charity is about the
redemption of the giver not the
liberation of the receiver we wanted to
turn it around so that everybody got
liberated and that’s what the kitchen is
about every day everybody who comes in
here gets served everybody
my life I’ve actually came up do
something with myself I haven’t changed
the person and this bit of time my
family
they love it
but they welcome me now and all
places things for me
and so with that I’d like to Michael to
talk about what DC central kitchen is
and some of the opportunities it
presents sure well thank you Barney
again for allowing the kitchen to be
part of this I think we are so
incredibly blessed again to be part of
this community we’re serving close to
12,000 meals a day in this city but we
could be serving 30 40 50 60 70 thousand
meals a day and people will still be
hungry tomorrow what the kitchen is
about and what we’re using food as a
catalyst for is to create opportunity to
put people in a place to break this
incredibly destructive and generational
cycle of violence addiction
incarceration hunger homelessness and
ultimately poverty and we just started
our 98th culinary job training class
since the recession hit in 2008 we’ve
graduated over 600 men and women
formerly unemployed and homeless who are
now employed in the city’s restaurants
hotels catering operations institutional
food systems you go to a museum downtown
you’re gonna see one of our graduates
that we have graduates working at at NIH
in law firms around town in schools now
they are part of this community in a
very powerful an economic way many of
these men and women that you saw in that
video cost this city millions and
millions of dollars in incarceration
costs halfway houses stays shelter stays
and what we’re trying to show is that
with just a small investment not charity
investment in this community using food
as that tool we can create economic
opportunity and economic growth and
inclusion inclusion for a vast majority
of the men and women that want to be
part of this community it costs forty
four thousand dollars a year
incarcerated someone in DC it costs
$12,000 to train them once at which
point they become contributing members
of a tax base they take themselves out
of the welfare net of the city and
actually begin to contribute to it for
$12,000 investment you get all of that
in return and that’s the redemption
story but there’s also the opportunity
to prevent that and that’s what central
kitchen has really moved on to and
that’s what this video is about here I
never thought in my wildest dreams that
I’d be doing what I’m doing right now
transformation from destroying lives to
help relax
in 2007 I was on streets selling drugs
two of my friends had just got killed I
escaped death so I wanted another chance
at life I seeked help with our DC
central kitchen
I graduated from the calling of our
program here now and I’m in school blah
blah suggested Academy I’m the sous chef
making beautiful meals for kids but this
this is something I always wanted to do
work with kids the auction this year and
has roughly 450 registered growers and
on the buyers side we’re probably up in
the 800s DC central kitchen is very
important to the auction here because
they’re one of our largest purchasers
I believe in what we do because it’s
just providing a good product it’s
healthful and fresh that’s not harvested
too far ahead of time we feel very
grateful that DC central kitchen wants
to be a part of the produce auction and
buy this fresh local produce from us if
we can change somebody’s life in the
city we’re pleased to be a part of that
look what we do with
every day 35 punch with DC public school
kids
some of these kids man when they go home
they’re not getting meals least they
know when they when they come to school
they’re gonna receive a good meal the
fool here is always healthy and is
always good always have a silent
I always have something like calcium
protein how do you feel about camera
because every time we get a food every
meal
I like to have a good meal before I go
to class so I can be more taste and I
could be ready
how do you like the vegetables in the
fruit the colors
DC central kitchen has changed my life
and in the process I am changing these
kids life
my name is Howard Thomas and I’m a
graduate of DC central kitchen
my name is Dennis Showalter and
the manager here couch
but only a small part of the picture
is the bomb it is though Andy’s physique
isn’t of the mom in restaurants and food
preparation is it’s an honorable pursuit
it’s a pursuit it’s a human pursuit not
only this food described to a great
extent the biology of our existence here
but through food we are able to write
the biography of our existence here as
individuals in this community it’s an
honor to serve you in restaurants it’s
an honor to create community through
restaurants and especially it’s been an
honor to share an evening with you here
tonight
so thank you all very much appreciate it
you
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