Mexican family cooks for the poor of NY in pandemic

NEW YORK (AP) – The scent of barbecued pork chops, jalapeños and cacti fills the kitchen at this South Bronx restaurant. Behind the door, a red sign reads: “no deportations.”

The Oaxacan dishes that are prepared here are not only for the local customers, but also for the hundreds of hungry people in this neighborhood and other poor areas of New York. The small restaurant, called La Morada, became a soup kitchen during the pandemic and currently produces about 650 meals a day that are distributed to the unemployed, New Yorkers who live without gas and cannot cook, the elderly or the disabled.

The restaurant’s Mexican owners, who are also pro-migrant activists who, like them, lack documents in the United States, describe the work of feeding poor Americans and migrants as rewarding. It is a job they do together with other groups and organizations that donate food and funds and distribute the food.

“We always say that activism is like our secret seasoning, so I think it was very natural for us to serve our community with what we have,” said Yajaira Saavedra, 32, who co-owns the restaurant with her parents. “It is also something that brings us back to our indigenous roots, when we all participated in meals, contributing a few ingredients, and cooking a large pot together.”

The Bronx, a county with a majority Hispanic and African-American population, is one of the areas where COVID-19 hit the United States the most. The county is in the 15th congressional district, the poorest in the nation, with an average annual household salary of $ 31,061 in 2019, according to census data.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the entire Saavedra family presented symptoms of COVID-19 and La Morada closed for a month.

They applied for federal loans like the Economic Injury Disaster Loan but were all turned down because of their immigration status, Saavedra said. A spokesman for the Federal Small Business Development Agency (SBA) told The Associated Press that loan applicants must be US citizens or “qualified” foreign nationals, including permanent residents, among others. categories.

Saavedra benefits from a program known as DACA that grants temporary immigration relief to immigrants, who were brought to the United States without authorization by their parents as children.

His parents, Natalia Méndez and Antonio Saavedra, crossed the Sonoran desert in Texas and arrived in New York in 1992. Saavedra and his brother Marco did the same a year later with relatives. Marco, now 30, applied for asylum in 2019 and is awaiting a decision.

Without federal help, a friend started a website to raise money, which allowed the family to reopen the restaurant in April. La Morada also opened as a community food program because the Saavedras had accumulated food that they did not want to throw away and there were too many hungry in the South Bronx. The news spread fast: People started lining up on the street and about 200 soups disappeared in less than an hour, the family said.

“We realized that the need was enormous. The next day, without thinking, we cook twice as much, ”said Méndez, who is 50 years old and constantly manages with the available ingredients.

One day they can be “enfrijoladas”, that is, tortillas covered with black bean sauce; another day it will be beef soups and another day it will be salad with chicken. Local markets, neighbors and friends donate too: anyone can show up at the restaurant with a bag of rice or potatoes.

“I want to say ‘thank you’ because a pound of rice when I cook it turns into maybe 20 dishes, with vegetables and meats that are available,” said Méndez.

During the pandemic, La Morada, which opened in 2009 and has received several prestigious Michelin Bib Gourmand awards, partnered with ReThink Group, a non-profit organization that promotes access to food, to run the soup kitchen. The restaurant also joined other groups and churches.

Food is distributed to poor neighborhoods and community refrigerators, a new project that consists of filling refrigerators that are plugged into the electricity of a business and left in the middle of the street to feed those who need it.

One recent afternoon, Antonia Morales picked up two bags of La Morada food in a community garden where they were distributed by volunteers. “It helped us a lot. In the pandemic this was very important, ”said the Mexican immigrant, who has four children and lost her job cleaning houses.

Inside La Morada, volunteers come and go constantly throughout the day, collecting small boxes of food to pass out. The restaurant has even been able to hire people to help with the soup kitchen thanks to local grants.

“It is about the community contributing and friends and allies saying ‘we are going to do this, we are going to fight together and survive,'” Saavedra said.

Before the pandemic, La Morada was also a small book exchange center. Images of protests and immigrants with posters, calling for the deportations of their family members to stop, decorate the walls of the premises, which are painted purple.

The United States has exceeded 10 million cases of COVID-19, making it the nation with the highest number of infections. New York, which months ago became the epicenter of the pandemic, is now experiencing rising infections again. According to a report by the city comptroller, the pandemic could result in the permanent closure of almost 12,000 bars and restaurants in New York and, therefore, the loss of some 159,000 jobs in a period of six months to a year.

La Morada’s community meal runs Tuesday through Friday. On Mondays, Méndez and his helpers prepare and clean the garlic, onion, tomatoes, lettuce and other ingredients to have them ready to cook.

“It is very pleasant for me, it fills me with peace, emotion, energy,” said Méndez, referring to cooking for people in need. “I am very happy because I am cooking for people who really need it, who cannot afford a meal. ”.

–