The collaborative network Farm, Food, Familias (Rancho, Comida, Familias) works with various chefs to provide food to the African American and Latino communities most in need, taking into consideration their culinary cultures
It is Article, originally published in English by Borderless Magazine, is available in Spanish thanks to the “Translating Chicago News” project of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN).
Por Chelsea Verstegen
Last Wednesday around 5 in the morning Karla Morales got up early to cook a Mexican zucchini (or Italian squash) stew with her mother, Daisy. The two have been cooking together since Morales was little. The recipe they prepared that morning was new to them.
Working side by side, mother and daughter minced grilled red cabbage, zucchini, carrots, onions, and guajillo peppers, combining all the ingredients in a large pot and then adding the homemade beans and beans. chochoyotes (corn dough balls). Then they mixed all the seasonings and left the pot simmering.
For more than four years, Morales has managed his food business Love And Sofrito from his own kitchen, where he prepares vegan food with a Latin twist for home delivery and retail. But this time the stew wouldn’t be for his customers. At dinner time, the dishes would reach families in need on Chicago’s South Side through the collaborative network. Farm, Food, Familias.
“When the pandemic happened, I was trying to feed the community,” said the Mexican-Puerto Rican chef. “But feeding so many people by myself was too much for me, and I had to stop.” Then he found another way to help when Farm, Food, Familias asked him for help last May. “It was a blessing,” he said.
Farm, Food, Familias is one of several groups in Chicago fighting food insecurity in the most vulnerable communities, which has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 crisis. Every Wednesday, volunteers and staff members prepare and distribute ready meals to families in Chicago’s Englewood, Little Village and South Side neighborhoods.
Prepared by experienced chefs, these dishes represent diverse culinary cultures such as Mexican and Caribbean. More than just meals, these dishes often contain nutritious foods that provide residents, many of them immigrants, with flavors that evoke a feeling of comfort and even homey.
Since March, Little Village and Englewood have logged more than 19,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. These Hispanic and African American communities have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, facing higher death rates and greater financial hardship compared to white residents.
Food insecurity, already a recurring problem, has worsened. According to the organization Feeding America (Feeding America), it is estimated that food insecurity in Cook County increased by 51 percent between 2018 and 2020, a figure representing an additional 270,000 people who are unable to get enough food to live an active and healthy life. .
Today, the County has the third largest population of people facing food insecurity in the United States – nearly 800,000 people, or roughly 15 percent of the population, are affected. Also, the Greater Chicago Food Depository (Greater Chicago Food Warehouse) distributed more than 77.5 million meals in fiscal 2020, the most in its 42-year history.
“The communities we are distributing to were already suffering and being oppressed and needed care and help before the pandemic,” said Taryn Randle, founder of the organization. Getting Grown Collective (We are Growing Cooperative), which advocates for popular sovereignty of food and land. “[La pandemia] put this ‘shit’ in perspective. It affirmed our passion and the purpose we already had. “
Last May, Randle co-founded Farm, Food, Families with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) to address the urgent need to feed families. The idea came from a conversation between Randle and a representative from LVEJO after they attended a four-week virtual cooking class hosted by chef Roberto Pérez. Pérez organizes these workshops through Urban Pylon, an educational culinary initiative that he co-founded to honor and preserve the culinary traditions of Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Latin America using natural and healthy ingredients.
Getting Grown Collective and LVEJO invited Pérez and another chef, Fresh Roberson, founder of the food and agriculture project Fresher Together (Juntos Más Fresco), to cook meals each week using products harvested by a group of ranches or farms and gardens.
The organizations chose Pérez and Roberson because they wanted to bring the specific cultural flavors of chefs’ kitchens to families who might find them comforting or familiar. (Roberson was born and raised in North Carolina and prides himself on Southern culinary traditions, often preparing comfort foods such as collard greens. [hojas de repollo verdes o col crespa] and meatballs [pastel de carne o meatloaf en inglés]). A week later, Farm, Food, Families was launched with the initial goal of preparing 50 meals a week.
The Getting Grown Collective had received a grant for a project that is now on hold due to the pandemic, and reallocated the funds to support Farm, Food, Families. Initially, only eight people were in charge of harvesting, cooking, packing and delivering the meals. Now, supported by donations from the community and additional grants, the team consists of 15 employees, including five chefs and around 10 volunteers. Each week, they serve 350 meals to more than 100 families. Farm, Food, Familias also recruits team members who weekly make sure families’ needs are met.
Last Wednesday, Esmeralda Arroyo was one of the residents of La Villita who received meals from Farm, Food, Familias. Born in Mexico, she moved to California in 2005, then moved to Chicago two years later. She is a parent coordinator at Madero High School, where she organizes classes for guardians, but her job was suspended due to the pandemic. She and her husband, who works on roofing, have struggled to support themselves and their two children.
“You feel that they see you, that you are not abandoned and that there are people who are thinking of us,” he commented on the help of Farm, Food, Families. “The people who donated money so that we could eat one or two or three meals have helped us a lot.” Arroyo added that she and her husband love that the group provides foods from different cultures that they might not otherwise taste. So far his favorite food has been the sweet potato fajitas made by Chef Pérez.
In addition to weekly food deliveries, Farm, Food, Familias plans to expand its reach by providing free product boxes, medicinal herbs and teas, cooking classes and a recipe book with meals from participating chefs. It has also begun distributing unused products and additional meals to local refrigerators –– known in English as love fridges The love coolers––Which are supplied by the community, inviting neighbors to take what they need and leave what they can.
For Morales, the support network allows her to spend more time with her four children at home while cooking and helping her community. She has suspended Amor Y Sofrito activities to focus on the collaborative group, being a mom, and taking care of herself. She is grateful to be able to offer her skills to feed her neighbors and is excited about what the post-pandemic future holds for her and Farm, Food, Families.
“It is a beautiful feeling to be able to be such an important part of the community in these times,” he said. “I do not know if [Farm, Food, Familias] he realizes that they have also helped me a lot. I feel like I am just one of those families that they are helping by allowing me to make a difference. “
To learn more about Farm, Food, Families and support their mission, press here.
Translated by Marcela Cartagena
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