“Our waiters who at this time last year were at black tie galas, are now delivering food to a very different slice of New York”
“We have this really beautiful rich, diverse country where we can produce and we can create so much wealth for all of us, and it’s now about zooming in and resourcing these gaps that we know exist”
“There are some similarities [to 9/11] in terms of displaced workers, in terms of need for help, but those workers actually got help after 9/11. And in this situation, I think we’re teetering on the brink of a real great depression very similar, if not worse to, what we saw in the 30’s in terms of people outside looking for food.”
“There’s no shortage of food. That has never been the case in America- we have so much food. We can throw most of it – almost all of it- away, and still have enough food to feed everybody. It’s just a distribution issue.”
“Nothing beats going out to a restaurant, I really look forward to the day that we’re all able to eat together again in some of our favorite places”
“How do we treat each other when things are going well, and then how do we treat each other when things are really hard?”
“If part of what comes from this is that we realize all the people who are handling the food from the beginning on the farm to the end of the chain are really vital. We need to treat them better, pay them better, give them benefits.”
“The biggest goal will be to keep the distancing possible. So, how do we move customers through quickly and safely, and change what markets have been, which is a place to congregate and socialize?”
“It’s kind of like going through a grieving process, I would imagine. Because our restaurants are our second homes.”
“When chefs are able to see that they can be creative with school food and they can help change the palates of our youngest generation – I think it brings more culinary talent into this field,” says Fleishman.
“Government policies and laws are very important – and have enabled an inefficient system – and that has to change.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has hurt everyone in the food system, from farmers to restaurant servers to hungry students. Here is a running list of organizations you can support with donations of money, food, and your volunteer time.
“I do think food is kind of the social issue of our time, when we’re not worried about being wiped out by novel flu virus”
“Our own industry- they are the folks. There are twenty, thirty thousand people who worked at food companies, who now don’t have access to food,” warns Chevalier.
Today on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg,” Dani interviews Kimbal and Christiana Musk. They discuss the importance of providing nutritious meals for students who are food insecure and rely on school lunches for sustenance.
Dani Nierenberg talks with Dr. David L. Katz, founding director of Yale University’s Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, about eating healthy by staying away from diet fads. He also touches on COVID-19, and gives us some reassuring perspective.
Dani Nierenberg chats with Tim McCollum, founder and CEO of Beyond Good, an organic chocolate company that exclusively sources cacao from local farmers in Madagascar and Uganda.
Since the 1980s, West Harlem has been experiencing rapid gentrification. Columbia University may be contributing to the community’s changes, especially to its food landscape.
Tender Greens co-founder and CEO Erik Oberholtzer wants chefs to feel guided by regenerative farmers—and source locally and regionally unique ingredients for their kitchens.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a budget that proposes US$80 million for school food programs serving more than 3.5 million children in the state.
