Speaker 1: Welcome to How to Citizen with Baritu Day, a show
Speaker 1: where we reimagine the word citizen as a verb, reclaim
Speaker 1: it from those who weaponized it, and remind ourselves how
Speaker 1: to wield our collective power. I'm Baritune Day. Like a
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Speaker 1: been moved by which you shared from the episode so
Speaker 1: far and look forward to more into building future episodes
Speaker 1: with you and your actions. Finally, what kind of podcast
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Speaker 1: shows live in Zoom with a studio audience, cameras on
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Speaker 1: my email list for the invites and my amazing weekly emails.
Speaker 1: I'm the best emailer while I love the live audience.
Speaker 1: Don't worry. I'll catch up with just you on the
Speaker 1: other side of this conversation where I'll give you some
Speaker 1: really specific ways to Citizen for this episode. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hand of Mike to myself as I set
Speaker 1: up the conversation with our amazing guests. COVID nineteen is
Speaker 1: a truth serum, and whether we like it or not,
Speaker 1: it reveals the fragility of so many of our systems,
Speaker 1: housing policing, how many zooms one human can take a day.
Speaker 1: I think the answers for on that last one. One
Speaker 1: area of acute vulnerability that COVID has exposed is our
Speaker 1: access to food. We've got farmers burning crops and warehouses
Speaker 1: of strawberries rotting because we aren't in business as usual.
Speaker 1: We've seen the miles long images of people going to
Speaker 1: food banks, but rising to these challenges are restaurants, chefs,
Speaker 1: and communities who are figuring out new ways to involve
Speaker 1: everyone and productively feeding ourselves and our neighbors. In this episode,
Speaker 1: we look at two approaches that exist largely outside the
Speaker 1: realm of government, but well within the realm of people power.
Speaker 1: Although they differ in several ways, both are anchored by
Speaker 1: people committed to local community action as the way to
Speaker 1: address the food crisis in America. I sat down with
Speaker 1: chef Jose Andres to hear what he and his organization,
Speaker 1: World Central Kitchen have learned about tapping into the resources
Speaker 1: and needs at the local level to help communities help
Speaker 1: themselves across the US and around the world. But before
Speaker 1: we go global with Jose, I realized there was a
Speaker 1: model in my own backyard, right in Los Angeles. Back
Speaker 1: in July, a friend had texted me about something called
Speaker 1: the l a community fridge, a network of decentralized, independent
Speaker 1: refrigerators and pantries that provide food and vital supplies to
Speaker 1: communities through mutual aid. It may have started in New
Speaker 1: York City, but now these fridges are popping up all
Speaker 1: over the country. It's basically a set of public refrigerators,
Speaker 1: usually hosted by a local business like Grows to Restore, Restauranto, bodega,
Speaker 1: and it's stopped, used and maintained by people in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1: And they coordinate by every means. They've got WhatsApp groups,
Speaker 1: Slack groups, conference calls, printed paper signs, and forms. I
Speaker 1: sat down with two l A Community fridge volunteers, Caitlin
Speaker 1: and Leanna, to learn more. I'm curious for each of
Speaker 1: you how you initially got involved in the community fridge project.
Speaker 1: I think I remember in June I had some friends
Speaker 1: contact me and asked me if I wanted to be
Speaker 1: involved in this. They had seen the New York group
Speaker 1: in our Hearts their community fridge efforts and been like,
Speaker 1: you know, we should do this here. L A is
Speaker 1: so dense with people. This is something we definitely need.
Speaker 1: And I had never really heard of community fridges before,
Speaker 1: but I was like, okay, I've got time. I'm in Like,
Speaker 1: this seems like something that's relatively easy to do and
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's going to benefit so many people. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So it's very hyperlocal and community driven. UM I had
Speaker 1: mentioned that, like when I came into the community, I
Speaker 1: was already kind of looking into restaurants. But people kind
Speaker 1: of come to us at any stage. Some people come
Speaker 1: to us after they've already set up a fridge, and
Speaker 1: they've already picked a host, and they've already used all
Speaker 1: the resources um that have been built and taken it
Speaker 1: upon themselves to do all these things and get things
Speaker 1: set up. But I think that's kind of one of
Speaker 1: the main goals is to give everyone the resources they
Speaker 1: need so they can do whatever they're able to do.
Speaker 1: So if they want to hop in and they want
Speaker 1: to find a host, and that's kind of like the
Speaker 1: amount that they're willing to put in, that's totally fine.
Speaker 1: And then as far as who's stalking them, we try
Speaker 1: to encourage folks whenever they start a fridge to get
Speaker 1: like a cohort of people who kind of agree to
Speaker 1: go by the fridge at least every day to clean it,
Speaker 1: to keep an eye on it, to keep it stocked.
Speaker 1: And I feel like after the ball gets rolling with
Speaker 1: it and the community really adopts it, it kind of
Speaker 1: runs on its own. To a certain extent, of course,
Speaker 1: like things need to be cleaned and everything. But we
Speaker 1: have a slack behind the scenes where we're able to
Speaker 1: keep in touch with each other and kind of let
Speaker 1: each other know, like someone just reported that the fridge
Speaker 1: really dirty. Can someone go hop over there and take
Speaker 1: a look at it. Take me through that very elementary
Speaker 1: step of getting one of these fridges going. We do
Speaker 1: have a lot of resources on our link tree um
Speaker 1: about how to find potential hosts. I think we did
Speaker 1: make a fridge checklist, like, oh, you want to start
Speaker 1: your own fridge, to make it very easy for people,
Speaker 1: because that is ultimately the goal is like we're not
Speaker 1: trying to do everything and oversee every fridge in l A.
Speaker 1: It's like anyone can do this. It's definitely a collective effort.
Speaker 1: One of the common questions is like, well, how much
Speaker 1: is electricity costs? It costs about thirty bucks a month,
Speaker 1: and most of the hosts, I think all of our
Speaker 1: hosts are like paying that, you know, on their own.
Speaker 1: Most of them are like markets and restaurants. There are
Speaker 1: some anomalies they're the community centers and things like that.
Speaker 1: Are these all the same community? Are they distinct populations?
Speaker 1: What is the community around the community fridge look like,
Speaker 1: the goal is for it to be kind of like
Speaker 1: all things to all people, right, is for all of
Speaker 1: us to be able to use it, and especially to
Speaker 1: get even more hyper focused from the word community like
Speaker 1: neighborhood based. Um, so what does that neighborhood need? Like
Speaker 1: an unhoused person can't really use uncooked rice, but a
Speaker 1: small family might be able to use uncooked rice, And
Speaker 1: like what is the community of people that that fridge
Speaker 1: is serving? And how can we best serve those people? Yeah,
Speaker 1: the people who are in the slack, who are updating
Speaker 1: and stuff. There's like different channels for each fridge and
Speaker 1: we keep each other updated, like, oh, you know, vegetables
Speaker 1: aren't really moving at this fridge will redistribute it somewhere else,
Speaker 1: or people will put a food prep it. So it's
Speaker 1: you know, more of a grab and go kind of meal,
Speaker 1: but it's you know, it's definitely a learning herb. And
Speaker 1: I think another thing is when someone gets something done,
Speaker 1: they bring it to the group. We have a weekly
Speaker 1: meeting every Monday, and so you're kind of like, hey,
Speaker 1: I made this thing, what do you all think about it?
Speaker 1: How can you be better? What didn't I think of?
Speaker 1: It's just like what Leanna said, like you kind of
Speaker 1: just skip ahead and do the thing if you think
Speaker 1: people need it, and then be very willing and open
Speaker 1: to accept feedback um to make it the most usable
Speaker 1: for the most people. I'd love you to explain more
Speaker 1: of this term mutual aid as the model that you
Speaker 1: are using to delivered a service as opposed to operating
Speaker 1: a formal charity. What's the difference and why have you
Speaker 1: chosen to model yours on this design of mutual aid? UM. Well,
Speaker 1: one of the things I think is actually kind of
Speaker 1: connected to hierarchy. Typically with charities, you have people with
Speaker 1: more money giving money to people who don't have the money,
Speaker 1: and so they're sort of controlling what they think other
Speaker 1: people want or making decisions for what they think other
Speaker 1: people want, and so that hierarchy and power it just
Speaker 1: never quite feels right. It doesn't quite feel like you're
Speaker 1: really servicing people and helping people in the way that
Speaker 1: they need. So one thing about the mutual aid the
Speaker 1: way that that's organized is the lack of hierarchy really
Speaker 1: helps with that. It kind of um empowers you to
Speaker 1: take on the thing that you think needs to be
Speaker 1: done and to best service the folks who you're trying
Speaker 1: to help. I think another distinction too, is that we
Speaker 1: don't collect any money. And I mean this is like
Speaker 1: a fridge specific thing, but like the food is the currency,
Speaker 1: Like that is the thing that we're trying to empower
Speaker 1: folks with. So we actually try to like actively avoid
Speaker 1: anyone giving us any money because then it just becomes
Speaker 1: a different project. I think that just becomes a different
Speaker 1: type of organizations. So whenever folks want to help or
Speaker 1: like go get food and put it in a fridge,
Speaker 1: that's the best way that you can possibly help with
Speaker 1: the fridges. Or sometimes well default to not asking for
Speaker 1: many in other ways. For example, if we need some
Speaker 1: one to help with maintenance with the fridges, we don't say, like, hey,
Speaker 1: can you give us money we need to repair some fridges.
Speaker 1: We say, hey, do you know how to repair a fridge,
Speaker 1: and we get a bunch of folks in and they
Speaker 1: can help us with that. You cut out the middle
Speaker 1: party in this case money money exactly as the medium. Yeah,
Speaker 1: things done a lot more quickly. Yeah. Yeah, I knew
Speaker 1: money was the problem. I know it. I knew it
Speaker 1: the whole day. There's been some criticism of this model
Speaker 1: from people in the food justice community who see these
Speaker 1: fridges as not sustainable or as not truly meeting the
Speaker 1: needs of the people who are pulling from the fridge
Speaker 1: in the same way, and they read it still as
Speaker 1: a charitable model of those with more time or more resources,
Speaker 1: maybe more access to slack delivering unto people who don't.
Speaker 1: How do you respond to that criticism or other criticism
Speaker 1: you've received of your approach. It's not only people who
Speaker 1: are on Slack, and I do think that there is
Speaker 1: a big need and they are feeding a lot of people.
Speaker 1: There's a fridge that's set up pretty close to me,
Speaker 1: and I was talking to one of the people who
Speaker 1: lives at the place that's hosting it, and you was
Speaker 1: saying that some cleaning ladies on their way to work
Speaker 1: will like deep clean the fridge like once or twice
Speaker 1: a week with their supplies and stuff. And it's like
Speaker 1: they obviously are not slack, they're on Instagram, they're probably
Speaker 1: not like in tune, but it's like they're on the
Speaker 1: ground and they see it in front of them and
Speaker 1: they want to care and help be you know, other
Speaker 1: members of their community. So those are the people who
Speaker 1: are also leaving food, but maybe taking something that they need.
Speaker 1: You know, it's give and take, and I think it
Speaker 1: definitely benefits everyone. And I want to see a lot
Speaker 1: of these fridges around because there's so much food, so
Speaker 1: much food waste, and everyone needs to see. What has
Speaker 1: surprised each of you as you've become a part of
Speaker 1: this effort. One of the things that I found really surprising,
Speaker 1: I don't know if surprising is the right word, but exciting. Um.
Speaker 1: Whenever we had first started the East Hollywood Bridge in
Speaker 1: July was the first few days, what you saw was
Speaker 1: a lot of people taking a lot of things because
Speaker 1: they're used to living in this scarcity mentality. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you I think we all, we all sort of
Speaker 1: had this happen to us at the beginning of the pandemic,
Speaker 1: where you went to the grocery store and you're like,
Speaker 1: I guess we're never eating beans ever again. Like you're
Speaker 1: just like, I guess there's just no more beans in
Speaker 1: the world. So of course, as soon as they get beans,
Speaker 1: like you take way more than you need because you
Speaker 1: don't know when they're going to have that thing again,
Speaker 1: you know. Um. And so what was really exciting was
Speaker 1: after that first week of constantly, really adamantly refilling the fridge.
Speaker 1: It just sort of like created a flow in a
Speaker 1: system to where you didn't see as many people like
Speaker 1: rabbing so many things because they trusted that something was
Speaker 1: going to be there the next day. So I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say that was surprising, but it was like very interesting
Speaker 1: and memorable connection to make it my own head, especially
Speaker 1: at the time of COVID when we were all kind
Speaker 1: of like experiencing that in different ways. So just this
Speaker 1: understanding that, you know, people take more than they need
Speaker 1: when they don't know how long they're going to have
Speaker 1: to need it, you know. I think something that's been
Speaker 1: surprising for me is just how many nice and sweet
Speaker 1: people live all over lay, Like whether it's people who
Speaker 1: help with the fridges or people who use the fridges
Speaker 1: and you run into. It's so nice to just meet
Speaker 1: people and like have genuine conversations with people who care,
Speaker 1: especially like in this weird time where you're only seeing
Speaker 1: people's eyes everyone's wearing a mask. But yeah, I love
Speaker 1: the just the little connections that you make and not
Speaker 1: surprising me because that's not something I thought would come
Speaker 1: along with this. How have you managed conflict in operating
Speaker 1: this network of fridges, we have these common resources, these
Speaker 1: documents that are like this is our value statement, and
Speaker 1: this is how we choose a host, and we all
Speaker 1: agree upon those documents. And so you sort of set
Speaker 1: these guidelines up front and empower people to work within
Speaker 1: those guidelines. And of course if you feel like there's
Speaker 1: an issue with a certain guideline, then you bring it
Speaker 1: to the meeting um. But I think that that kind
Speaker 1: of helps move things along a little bit more quickly.
Speaker 1: So you wrote a constitution and then strive to live
Speaker 1: up to it in the same vein, how are you
Speaker 1: dealing with local authorities who may have different ideas about
Speaker 1: how to regulate these We've had a few fridges that
Speaker 1: have had some of those issues. One a few of
Speaker 1: them were cited by the city for health violations or
Speaker 1: just the city code. To me, it seems like police
Speaker 1: are just using anything to write it up. Because we
Speaker 1: had a fridge in Compton and it got shut down
Speaker 1: by authorities. They said it couldn't be out there. The
Speaker 1: violation was like leaving machinery that's broken outside and obviously
Speaker 1: it's like plugged in running there's food in it. And
Speaker 1: then like they thought it and they ended up starting
Speaker 1: the fridge back up again, but then somebody cut the
Speaker 1: cord and it's like still sitting there empty. But since
Speaker 1: it hasn't been running and sitting there empty, which actually
Speaker 1: that is breaking you know, the code, they haven't been
Speaker 1: written up at all. So it's to me it seems
Speaker 1: like police are picking and choosing, or city you know
Speaker 1: officials are picking and choosing. Um. But we have had
Speaker 1: to remove a fridge because we don't want the businesses
Speaker 1: that are hosting to get sided obviously. And then the
Speaker 1: example that Leanna gave my understanding is that several different
Speaker 1: city officials at different levels interacted with the fridge and
Speaker 1: they all like didn't really speak to each other. So
Speaker 1: it definitely seems like there's an inconsistency and kind of
Speaker 1: like what the discrepancy is there? For sure? Um, But
Speaker 1: obviously food health and safety is very critical, which is
Speaker 1: why it is so critical to have a clean fridge
Speaker 1: all the time and to take dirty stuff out of
Speaker 1: it whenever you see dirty stuff in it. Um. And
Speaker 1: I just think that that really just comes with frequency,
Speaker 1: and I think the healthiest fridge is one where the
Speaker 1: food doesn't stay in it for longer than six hours anyway,
Speaker 1: which is kind of what the East Hollywood fridge is.
Speaker 1: It's like nothing's there for if it's there today will
Speaker 1: absolutely be gone tomorrow. What lessons would you share with
Speaker 1: someone who wants to work in their neighborhood for mutual aid.
Speaker 1: I feel like the biggest lesson that I've learned that
Speaker 1: kind of does connect to this is like the more
Speaker 1: people on hand, the more people who you have to help,
Speaker 1: the more connections you make, the easier everything is. You
Speaker 1: don't want a few people over working putting so much time.
Speaker 1: Like if there's a lot of people, everything works more
Speaker 1: smoothly and there's a lot more support for maintaining the
Speaker 1: fridges and getting everything together. Yeah, I would agree with that,
Speaker 1: I think likely. And I said, we have a ton
Speaker 1: of resources that folks can use so they don't have
Speaker 1: to start from scratch. And I believe that we adopted
Speaker 1: some of those resources from New York as well. So
Speaker 1: I think we're all kind of like learning as we
Speaker 1: go and adapting as we go. But I think often
Speaker 1: when we have people come into the group, solutions to
Speaker 1: problems look like policing in a way, or like trying
Speaker 1: to control a situation. It might be like, oh, people
Speaker 1: are abusing the fridge after hours, we should lock the
Speaker 1: fridge after hours. And so I think one thing I've learned,
Speaker 1: just like as a human being is that how do
Speaker 1: you provide resources so that folks can have what they need?
Speaker 1: That's like literally what the whole fridge model is there for.
Speaker 1: So we're always kind of instead of saying, like, how
Speaker 1: do we cut this off? How do we make boundaries
Speaker 1: around this? We're always trying to make it bigger. We're
Speaker 1: always trying to help people with what they need. So
Speaker 1: we've had conversations about frid Is being more than just
Speaker 1: frid Is, about people perhaps bringing like clothes to donate
Speaker 1: and things like that. So rather than just immediately cutting
Speaker 1: it off and say okay, we don't accept close, saying like,
Speaker 1: all right, how do we make clothes work. Let's give
Speaker 1: this a shot. Let's put a clothing right there, Let's
Speaker 1: see if people tend to it. Let's see how that works. UM.
Speaker 1: So I think always defaulting what is the improv saying
Speaker 1: like always defaulting to yet yes and right, It's like yes,
Speaker 1: and it's a very like yes and community, um to
Speaker 1: sort of get people what they need and see what
Speaker 1: the right solution is because it's kind of breaking a
Speaker 1: lot of rules to start, So like, why create more
Speaker 1: rules when we could give people the things that they
Speaker 1: say that they need the story of the local cleaning
Speaker 1: ladies regularly cleaning the community fridge in their neighborhood on
Speaker 1: the way to work, that struck a chord with me.
Speaker 1: That's a sign of ownership. They see value in these
Speaker 1: fridges and they feel invested enough to contribute with their
Speaker 1: own time and skills. At the end of this episode
Speaker 1: will share ways you can support or even start your
Speaker 1: own community fridge. But right now, let's go to our
Speaker 1: conversation with Chef Jose Andres. We are hungry. Can you
Speaker 1: take me back to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. I
Speaker 1: was inside the female headquarters, in the room where was
Speaker 1: supposed to be, the room where he happens, where it
Speaker 1: was supposed to be, deciding how many people were hungry,
Speaker 1: who was going to do it? And after listening to
Speaker 1: the powers to be almost for an hour, I realized
Speaker 1: that was not planned. I realized that everybody was finger
Speaker 1: pointing at somebody else or responsibilities. I realized that everybody
Speaker 1: was trying and used to do it. Together. I realized
Speaker 1: that many of these people, they didn't even move from
Speaker 1: that big convention center. And if you are not moving
Speaker 1: away from the convention center, how do you really know
Speaker 1: what's happening across the island. And that moment I realized
Speaker 1: we began already by then doing close to ten thousand
Speaker 1: meals a day. We never said no to anybody that
Speaker 1: asked for food. So that's where we went from ten
Speaker 1: friends three days after the hurricane, a whole bunch of
Speaker 1: chefs that they responded to my what's up saying I'm here,
Speaker 1: and they I'm here meant I'm here, let's cook together.
Speaker 1: We went from ten friends to more than twenty five
Speaker 1: thousand men and women volunteers. Puto Ricans fed Puto Ricans.
Speaker 1: We went from one kitchen to and the six. We
Speaker 1: went from thousand mills the first day two hundred fifty
Speaker 1: thousand meals a day, we did almost four million mills.
Speaker 1: Even we did millions more because we were able to
Speaker 1: give ideas to others about what to do. How does
Speaker 1: World Central Kitchen operate and how different is that from
Speaker 1: some of these other organizations you mentioned, the Red Cross
Speaker 1: Female We are different because nothing is more powerful than
Speaker 1: the local community. Why because nobody knows best what the
Speaker 1: community needs. This mentality that the people coming from the
Speaker 1: side and they are telling the locals what they need,
Speaker 1: versus as shutting up and listening more to them what
Speaker 1: they really need. This is used one of the main
Speaker 1: difference that boll Centered Kitchen does. Obviously, in an emergency,
Speaker 1: people are shocked and be a whore can come the earthquake,
Speaker 1: a typhoon of fires, and yes, you need to come
Speaker 1: from the outside and trying to create certain systems to
Speaker 1: start in our case feeling, we don't plan, we don't meet,
Speaker 1: We put boots on the ground and we start feeding.
Speaker 1: In the process of feeding, what really we're doing is
Speaker 1: gathering intelligence in the process of feeding. What really we know,
Speaker 1: it's what's happening one community at the time. In the
Speaker 1: process of feeding, locals began joining us. In the process
Speaker 1: of feeding, we create an army of good. In the
Speaker 1: process of feeding, we have information that other people sitting
Speaker 1: down in the comfort of their headquarters don't have. And
Speaker 1: at the end, that's what we do. We put boots
Speaker 1: on the ground and we start providing food and water.
Speaker 1: In the process, we increase until there is no more need.
Speaker 1: In the process, we learned what other end us are doing.
Speaker 1: If these others doing, we try to partner. If they
Speaker 1: don't want a partner, that's fine. We keep seeing so
Speaker 1: we don't leave anybody behind. And what we do better
Speaker 1: than anybody is that we go to the forgotten places,
Speaker 1: to the forgotten neighborhoods where sometimes police tells you don't
Speaker 1: go there because it's too dangerous to go. And you
Speaker 1: know where, I learned that those places that they are
Speaker 1: too dangerous to go, you bring hope through food and water,
Speaker 1: and you aren't playing with the kids basketball or you
Speaker 1: end helping an elderly person moved to a more safe location.
Speaker 1: And that those places that somehow they tell us they
Speaker 1: are dangerous because it's used I don't know, a different
Speaker 1: part of town. You learned that there is no danger.
Speaker 1: That the only danger we face is not knowing people
Speaker 1: that live in our own cities and our own communities
Speaker 1: and not listening to their needs. Have you ever felt
Speaker 1: overwhelmed by the size of the help needed, and if so,
Speaker 1: how did you work through that. Does the stress of
Speaker 1: a restaurant kitchen help you work through the stress of
Speaker 1: an overwhelming public need in the face of disaster. I
Speaker 1: think the moment that for me was crazy is when
Speaker 1: I saw the images of Katrina and especially on the Superdome.
Speaker 1: And this is something like I've been playing in my head.
Speaker 1: I wish I could go back in time, be there
Speaker 1: right before Katrina heat. Not like we want to go
Speaker 1: through and try to do more good to the people
Speaker 1: that suffer in an unnecessary way by not being ready
Speaker 1: for them. What happened in the Superdome alone was never
Speaker 1: supposed to happen many Americans alone in a stadium with
Speaker 1: no food, no water, no basics, sanitation in mind. If
Speaker 1: we were there a group of cooks. You know what
Speaker 1: a stadium means. You know what an arena is? An arena?
Speaker 1: People have it wrong. It's not a music venue. It's
Speaker 1: not a sports venue. It's a gigantic restaurant that entertains
Speaker 1: with the sports and musician. I just gotta that's a
Speaker 1: very uh, chef centric view of arena. I love it.
Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, if we were
Speaker 1: able to do that, to put all the foot vendors
Speaker 1: up there, up and running the food spots, I bring
Speaker 1: few of my friend chefs. We got some of the
Speaker 1: volunteers there and we start organizing used by feeling people
Speaker 1: and bringing them water and hope, and then we bring
Speaker 1: everything else. But you see the big problems. They have
Speaker 1: very simple solution. Can you talk briefly about like what
Speaker 1: food is to you in terms of its connection to security,
Speaker 1: it's connection to community. Um, why is food special? Well,
Speaker 1: food is especial because we are highly attached to our mothers.
Speaker 1: And in a way, one of the things that creates
Speaker 1: this amazing bond beyond that she's been carrying all of
Speaker 1: us for nine months, is that within hours of being
Speaker 1: born our mother, our father, they're feeling us immediate And
Speaker 1: this is a link that for ever, it's not forgotten,
Speaker 1: even if we were highly unaware of the moment. If
Speaker 1: I could go back one second in my life, I
Speaker 1: we love to go and being a word the moment
Speaker 1: my mother fed me. This makes food being this kind
Speaker 1: of powerful way of saying. Food equals comfort, foot equals
Speaker 1: somebody that loves you. Food equals home, foot equals family,
Speaker 1: foot equals safety is beyond the physical need. So that's
Speaker 1: why it's so important. We don't think deep enough about it,
Speaker 1: but I do believe that link. I wish I could
Speaker 1: prove the theory and maybe one day we can if
Speaker 1: we can travel back to the past. And at the
Speaker 1: end of the day you think about it. Unfortunately more
Speaker 1: ways than one, boys like me, who are the ones
Speaker 1: that are always giving praise or having the best restaurants
Speaker 1: and feeding our cities and the most luxurious food. But
Speaker 1: if you think for a second and you go around
Speaker 1: the world and you stop and you go to Musambik
Speaker 1: or Haiti or Peru or you know who, you know
Speaker 1: who feeds the world. Women are who feeds the world,
Speaker 1: not only because they feed us all the mothers when
Speaker 1: we're born, but beyond that, who is really feeding the
Speaker 1: world are always woman in every corner, in every street.
Speaker 1: They're the ones feeling the people of the world. So
Speaker 1: white food is important. Byetts around the French philosopher in
Speaker 1: tell me what you eat, and I will tell you
Speaker 1: who you are. Yes, food is who we are. And
Speaker 1: he said another phrase that was even more important. He said,
Speaker 1: the destiny of the nation will depend on how they
Speaker 1: feed themselves. So food is essential for human life, but
Speaker 1: is much deeper than that. Give us hope of a
Speaker 1: better tomorrow, give us a sense of community, give a
Speaker 1: sense of peace, give a sense that things are okay.
Speaker 1: That's why we must defend the right of every child
Speaker 1: in American around the world to have access the food
Speaker 1: that empowers them to achieve every dream that a John
Speaker 1: boy or girl can have. Can you share what you're
Speaker 1: working on in terms of applying the World Central Kitchen
Speaker 1: model to our COVID situation and in particular this bill
Speaker 1: that you are working on with Senator Kamala Harris, which
Speaker 1: is an escalation even further of your work in the
Speaker 1: world beyond running restaurants. Back in the day, it's called
Speaker 1: the featat and was to put restaurants upon working especially
Speaker 1: family on a small restaurants to make sure that between
Speaker 1: the federal government and years like ours and the local
Speaker 1: governments the mayors are at the front lines, we will
Speaker 1: be able to activate the restaurants to take care of
Speaker 1: the local food needs, elderly homes, homeless, hospitals for responders
Speaker 1: and who amazing the federal government through FEMA supports the
Speaker 1: local needs one seri at the time through local businesses
Speaker 1: where the restaurants are working, they can be paying salaries
Speaker 1: to the people locals, no locals. Best they know where
Speaker 1: they need is working in alliance with the local mayors,
Speaker 1: feeding the communities in need. In the process, the money
Speaker 1: goes into the economy. Restaurants can pay rent, people can
Speaker 1: pay food for their children, and the rent at home
Speaker 1: we can buy from local farmers. At the end, one
Speaker 1: dollar is multiplied by four. This is smart and that's
Speaker 1: what we've been trying to do. We have twenty restaurants
Speaker 1: total across forty estates and at one point we were
Speaker 1: doing three hundred fifty meals a day. We are ready
Speaker 1: in the north of thirty million mills through this pandemic.
Speaker 1: And what we did was obvious at the very beginning.
Speaker 1: Many Enginos, many of them run by elderly people. They
Speaker 1: had to be home because that was the safe thing
Speaker 1: to do. So many engeos kind of shut down business
Speaker 1: at the early stages of this pandemic. Many hospitals they
Speaker 1: had function in restaurants because while they built the hospitals
Speaker 1: in the wrong way and the kitchens were in the
Speaker 1: middle of the wrong place, or people didn't come to
Speaker 1: work well because public transportation ended well because people were
Speaker 1: getting sick, so wasn't our kitchen. First thing we did
Speaker 1: was the start covering those needs. We've done hundreds of
Speaker 1: hospitals across America. We did all the hospitals in Manhattan,
Speaker 1: in Bronz, in Harlem, in Queens. We began going to
Speaker 1: the very forgotten communities, a lot of Black communities, a
Speaker 1: lot of Latino communities. We began feeding elderly care centers.
Speaker 1: That's what we began doing, use covering the black holes
Speaker 1: of the system. And I'm very proud we did it
Speaker 1: because was necessary and we were able to apply our
Speaker 1: experience to tell Congress, we're showing you what has to
Speaker 1: be done. We are showing you what we should be doing.
Speaker 1: We reached through to opeds New York Times and watching
Speaker 1: them post. We told the White House, if I was you,
Speaker 1: this is why I we'll do. With all Congress, if
Speaker 1: we were you, this is what we will do. We're
Speaker 1: testing that we're already doing it. Support us to keep
Speaker 1: doing this work beyond what we are already doing. And
Speaker 1: so far, let's hope this bill will pass, but there's
Speaker 1: many other things that have to happen to fit America
Speaker 1: can be done. It's political will. If Americans go hungry
Speaker 1: in the weeks and months to come, it's because we
Speaker 1: had a political way to stop it. We cannot stop tomorrow.
Speaker 1: The pandemic, but we can stop tomorrow hunger in America.
Speaker 1: If you were to define the words citizen, not as
Speaker 1: a legal status, but as a verb, how would you
Speaker 1: define it? You know, citizen, I would say, is used
Speaker 1: to provide for the people you don't know, the same
Speaker 1: you're trying to provide for your own. That should be
Speaker 1: the true million of citizenship. If you only think about
Speaker 1: your own, it's okay, so okay, you take care of
Speaker 1: your own, but you will never protect your children, your
Speaker 1: family if you are not hoping to work hard to
Speaker 1: provide for others the same you're aiming for your own. Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm from Spain. I know about castles. Somebody that tells
Speaker 1: you that by putting your family inside for wolves, your
Speaker 1: family is gonna be safer. I like guns, you know
Speaker 1: I should sometimes when I'm in a Spain or here,
Speaker 1: nothing wrong, I love it. But if you think like
Speaker 1: putting people in four wolves and you just gonna that's
Speaker 1: the way you're gonna be protecting your family. Look at
Speaker 1: the Spain, we had castles and we were in beaded anyway,
Speaker 1: what is really going to be providing you comfort and
Speaker 1: safety are not higher walls but actually no walls along
Speaker 1: their tables. Make sure you share the wealth of what
Speaker 1: you're trying to get on your own with others, and
Speaker 1: you'll be safer than you've ever dream of being. So
Speaker 1: that's why we describe it. One must be good for
Speaker 1: you must be good for others. It's not either person,
Speaker 1: but with the people. I want to give some space
Speaker 1: to our live audience. We have a question from Kathleen.
Speaker 1: So this is an incredibly difficult time for human beings
Speaker 1: to do what we normally do, which is to come
Speaker 1: together physically, and it's something that is missing in all
Speaker 1: of our lives. So when we talk about for those
Speaker 1: of us who may be in a vulnerable population, or
Speaker 1: taking care of children, taking care of elderly kinds of
Speaker 1: things that we can do to help the organizations that
Speaker 1: you're talking about who do provide support to the food challenge.
Speaker 1: We have a program here in Portland, Oregon called Blanchet House,
Speaker 1: so I've been getting people together to make sandwiches for them.
Speaker 1: I feel like there has to be more that we
Speaker 1: can do. So on your website, do you have a
Speaker 1: list of all of the organizations and restaurants so that
Speaker 1: we can expand our knowledge and our support even further,
Speaker 1: because sometimes the only thing that we can do is
Speaker 1: get together a coalition of people and make sandwiches and
Speaker 1: take them to Blanchet House. So even more specific things
Speaker 1: that we can do in our isolation to help other
Speaker 1: than write a check. Yeah, I mean the complication of
Speaker 1: asking everybody to do food and deliver. Obviously everybody can
Speaker 1: do that, and I think this is great, but also
Speaker 1: we need to be careful. I remember in the early
Speaker 1: days of the pandemic that allot of random people were
Speaker 1: bringing food to hospital. Actually that was not the best
Speaker 1: for the hospitals because they already were going through hardships
Speaker 1: and to have to be handling people that in good
Speaker 1: will they were trying to bring food every day was
Speaker 1: creating some mayhem in some hospitals. As you may understand.
Speaker 1: That's way for us to organize it in a systemic
Speaker 1: way that everybody knows at what hour you're delivering, to
Speaker 1: whom you're delivering, and you bring chaos out of the equation.
Speaker 1: And this is very important. But one of the things
Speaker 1: that I want to mention that I'm very proud of
Speaker 1: the early days wasn't the kitchen went to Yokohama to
Speaker 1: feed princess cruise ship six thousand Americans, many Americans, six
Speaker 1: thousand people, eighteen thousand meals a day in Yokohama. From
Speaker 1: there we moved to Auckland to feed also another princess
Speaker 1: cruise ship. That were the two big cruise ships that
Speaker 1: got copied and from Japan. We already realized even we
Speaker 1: were following what was happening in China. I was learning
Speaker 1: about how the restaurants in China were handling, how the
Speaker 1: food systems were happening. Where Chinese people in the middle
Speaker 1: of Bohan running out of food, how are the distribution.
Speaker 1: So I began pulling a lot of thinking in that.
Speaker 1: So by beginning of March, we got what we called
Speaker 1: the Food Safety for COVID nineteenth and we created a
Speaker 1: little puppet called MASKI Mask M A. S k Y,
Speaker 1: which is this guy with this big mask that he
Speaker 1: began telling all of us how to behave, how to
Speaker 1: behave in the restaurant, how to cook in the restaurant.
Speaker 1: In a moment we didn't know how bad this virus boss.
Speaker 1: To keep distance, to wear gloves, to sanitation washing hands,
Speaker 1: to wear the mask, to even wear glasses, but also
Speaker 1: how to deliver how to do take up, how to
Speaker 1: keep people wearing in line outside the restaurants six feet aboy.
Speaker 1: We did these circles in mid March that MASKI will
Speaker 1: be telling you all the things everybody need to know.
Speaker 1: And we did this across many of the places we
Speaker 1: were delivering food every day. Probably we've been delivering food
Speaker 1: I don't know in more than sixteen teams at one
Speaker 1: point twenty thousand places a day, all across America. And
Speaker 1: for me, I wanted to use that moment to keep
Speaker 1: sending the message from early March about how we had
Speaker 1: to behave to keep everybody safe. One of the things
Speaker 1: I'm very proud is that of the restaurants we've been
Speaker 1: having without we don't have to close one. We keep
Speaker 1: everybody safe, everybody doing good, everybody healthy. This to me
Speaker 1: was very important because in the early days I had
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure on men will happen if something
Speaker 1: happens to somebody, because I'm asking them to cook. Obviously,
Speaker 1: everybody we have cooking in my restaurants or through Words
Speaker 1: and Drag Kitchen. There are volunteers and they do it
Speaker 1: with the heart. So the number one responsibility what you
Speaker 1: can do is keep everybody safe. When you do this,
Speaker 1: make sure you keep doing it, that we don't bring
Speaker 1: our guard on. The pandemic is gonna go with still
Speaker 1: for a few weeks, a few months. We need to
Speaker 1: make sure that we don't bring our guard down. We
Speaker 1: need to think that wearing a mask, or wearing gloves
Speaker 1: or keeping distance shouldn't be because you are from one
Speaker 1: political party on another. Should be because you are making
Speaker 1: sure that you protect yourself but also you protect others
Speaker 1: from you. This is what is to be a good citizen.
Speaker 1: This is what is to be a good American. And
Speaker 1: every American I know they don't want any bad to
Speaker 1: happen to other people. So man, the only sacrifice we
Speaker 1: have to do is work masks and word gloves and
Speaker 1: keep distance versus soldiers men and women that they've gone
Speaker 1: overseas and put their lives at risks, flying for freedom
Speaker 1: of others and democracy and protecting America. Wow, this is
Speaker 1: the all sacrifice I have to do to keep moving forward.
Speaker 1: So this is important. This is one thing beyond feeling
Speaker 1: that we all should be doing. To say, wearing a
Speaker 1: mask shouldn't be political, keeping distance shouldn't be politics. Being
Speaker 1: respectful to others should be what's a citizen means and
Speaker 1: being an American means that we the people, we are
Speaker 1: gonna look after each other. If on top of that,
Speaker 1: you're able to be doing feedling, that's that's where I
Speaker 1: go to Ward Central Kitchen. You'll see what we do.
Speaker 1: But we are not the only organization. The banks of America,
Speaker 1: the food banks through Feeding America, they've done a great job,
Speaker 1: but they need to be funded by government. Right to
Speaker 1: your Senator, right to your Congressman, and tell them why
Speaker 1: are you not supporting with all the needs of every
Speaker 1: single food bank across America. The school lunches, they should
Speaker 1: be increased, not only to feed children, but also to
Speaker 1: feed the family of the children's in need. Make sure
Speaker 1: that every school becomes the heart, the Troy and horse
Speaker 1: for good of the community. Right to your Senator and
Speaker 1: to your congressmen and tell them support the school lunches initiatives.
Speaker 1: Make sure that every etherly home is spaid in the
Speaker 1: right way, protecting the people so we keep them in
Speaker 1: safe heavens and we don't lose anymore elderly because the
Speaker 1: curless leadership in the early days of this pandemic and
Speaker 1: we let them alone is many ways we can keep helping.
Speaker 1: One of them is keeping everybody safe and telling others
Speaker 1: to keep everybody safe by doing the same you do.
Speaker 1: And more important, keep righting to your senators and your
Speaker 1: congressmen and tell them to feed an American in need.
Speaker 1: Is not a Republican or a Democratic issue. It's an
Speaker 1: American citizen issue. Fit everybody through this pandemic, and maybe
Speaker 1: we'll move away from this pandemic. Is stronger, no weaker. Jose,
Speaker 1: I cannot thank you enough for sharing of your extraordinarily
Speaker 1: in demand time with us here and how the citizen
Speaker 1: with Barraton Day you have modeled so well what it
Speaker 1: means to citizens proving and living out which you've asked
Speaker 1: us all to do that what's good for you, it's
Speaker 1: good for us all. And thank you for living by
Speaker 1: the words that you've just shared. Peace, love, Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, Hello you, my friend. I've got
Speaker 1: to cut in here just for you listener and let
Speaker 1: you know what's about to happen. So we were in
Speaker 1: the zoom, Jose was saying thank you and I love you,
Speaker 1: and Tranquilo and the live audience is very excited to
Speaker 1: have spent some time and got to ask some questions,
Speaker 1: and I'm about to wrap this thing up. I'm about
Speaker 1: to bring it home. And then Jose cuts back in.
Speaker 1: I thought he was gone. I thought he was gone.
Speaker 1: And he cuts back in and he starts kind of
Speaker 1: pounding his fist on his chest. Uh in a in
Speaker 1: a loving gesture. He's pounding his fist on his chest,
Speaker 1: and he prepares to add one more thought to our
Speaker 1: interview about what we can do in the age of coronavirus.
Speaker 1: By any way, this is the way we should be saying. Hi, elbows,
Speaker 1: no more elbows. Everybody cough in the elbow, and then
Speaker 1: we're go giving elbows? Are we pricy? Are we pricy?
Speaker 1: If this is a spreading? Are we spreading? And throw
Speaker 1: our elbows? Never an elbow? Anymore elbows for coughing. You
Speaker 1: do these and that's all the people need now, man
Speaker 1: or or or what kind of forever in honor of
Speaker 1: our already gone friends. But no more elbowing. And we
Speaker 1: are getting America injured again. Everybody is having an elbow issue?
Speaker 1: Are we pricing? And if you love a person a lot,
Speaker 1: you do three, but never elbows again? Are we stupid?
Speaker 1: We get too close with the elbow. Every time I elbow,
Speaker 1: somebody's if this kissing me? No, Hans is fourther away. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I had to man, no more elbows, are we not.
Speaker 1: There's a there's a lot of things. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of things I did not expect in and that just
Speaker 1: became the number one thing I did not expect Jose
Speaker 1: Andrews ranting against the elbow for amazing reasons. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: do not apologize. That is only that. Okay, that's it, alright, armano, alright,
Speaker 1: wakonda forever Yo. That was Jose Andre's chef, entrepreneur, humanitarian,
Speaker 1: big citizen and defender of the realm of hygiene and
Speaker 1: safety when it comes to interpersonal greetings. So wonderful. I
Speaker 1: heard a lot there, and I just want to reflect
Speaker 1: intuitively about it. We thought we knew why we wanted
Speaker 1: jose to be a part of this show because he
Speaker 1: has worked in a way that unlocks the capacity within
Speaker 1: the communities that he's attempting to help and not just
Speaker 1: distribute top down aid upon them. And that came through
Speaker 1: glaringly to me just now that this is a well
Speaker 1: thought out, compassionate and highly integrated system that's not just
Speaker 1: either person but one that is run by, for and
Speaker 1: with we the people. He said, nothing is more powerful
Speaker 1: then local community. And the only real danger in those
Speaker 1: dangerous communities is not knowing what they really need because
Speaker 1: we're not listening, we're not asking those questions. Food waste
Speaker 1: is a problem, but wasting people is a much bigger one.
Speaker 1: And we have an opportunity to tap people to do
Speaker 1: more to help each other out in this moment that
Speaker 1: we're in. This idea that the meaning of citizen, to
Speaker 1: Jose is that we essentially do for others as we
Speaker 1: want done to ourselves, but that we give to there's
Speaker 1: that which we demand for ourselves, and that we cannot
Speaker 1: secure ourselves alone, just like we cannot citizen alone. What's
Speaker 1: the point of being in a society? To build walls
Speaker 1: and bear arms alone is not going to bring us safety.
Speaker 1: Lower those walls and extend the table so that we
Speaker 1: all might be nourished, so that we all might eat,
Speaker 1: so that we all might feed on all the beauty
Speaker 1: that food provides us, which isn't just the nutrition, it's
Speaker 1: the love, it's the connection, it's the community, and that
Speaker 1: will allow us to show up stronger literally in all
Speaker 1: these other areas that we need strength for especially now,
Speaker 1: hey you, it's me again and it's just us. And
Speaker 1: whether it's Leanna and Caitlin from the l A Community
Speaker 1: Fridges or Jose Andrace with the World Central Kitchen, we
Speaker 1: know that the are other ways for us to feed
Speaker 1: ourselves and take care of each other. If you see
Speaker 1: examples in your own community or been a part of them,
Speaker 1: please send an email two comments at how to citizen
Speaker 1: dot com and just let us know what you think
Speaker 1: in general about this episode. And now it's your turn
Speaker 1: to do some actions. In each episode, we love sharing
Speaker 1: things you can do internally and externally to strengthen your
Speaker 1: citizen practice. I don't want you to get all tripped
Speaker 1: up on memorizing what I'm saying here. One you can
Speaker 1: always rewind, but we make this available visually at how
Speaker 1: to citizen dot com or even closer wherever you're listening
Speaker 1: to this podcast right now in the show notes of
Speaker 1: that app. For this episode feeding Ourselves our Way, Here
Speaker 1: are three things you can do now. The first is internal.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a journaling exercise. You can think it
Speaker 1: out loud to yourself. You can send yourself an email
Speaker 1: or voice memo. Or right, longhand, but we want you
Speaker 1: to explore your relationship with different types of assistance, mutual
Speaker 1: aid versus charitable aid. And I want you to think
Speaker 1: about how comfortable you are in asking for help when
Speaker 1: you're in need. Think about a time when someone tried
Speaker 1: to help you with really good intentions, but they missed
Speaker 1: the mark because they didn't listen. Think about these and
Speaker 1: many other questions we have with more detail again in
Speaker 1: the show notes or how to citizen dot com. But
Speaker 1: I want you to get personal about your relationship with help,
Speaker 1: both giving it and receiving it, and whether you notice
Speaker 1: the difference when that help is mutual versus top down.
Speaker 1: All right, so that's number one. Number two external action,
Speaker 1: I want you to look into whether your community could
Speaker 1: benefit from a community fridge or some other mutual aid project,
Speaker 1: depending on what the actual needs are. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: say everybody needs a fridge, because maybe everybody doesn't, but
Speaker 1: every commune to t needs something. So we've posted some
Speaker 1: guides in the show notes and on how the citizen
Speaker 1: dot com. But see if this is something that you
Speaker 1: can start up or even better join, join, even typing
Speaker 1: in to your favorite search engine. Mutual aid and insert
Speaker 1: the name of your city or neighborhood. You may find
Speaker 1: something you can be a part of. So that's number two,
Speaker 1: number three, And finally, lend your voice to ensuring that
Speaker 1: the Feed Act becomes law in the United States. This
Speaker 1: is the piece of legislation in Jose Andres has been
Speaker 1: advocating for and spoke about with US. It allows FEMA
Speaker 1: to use already allocated disaster relief funds to feed people.
Speaker 1: It allows for local, state, and tribal governments to form
Speaker 1: contracts with local restaurants and nonprofits and small businesses to
Speaker 1: make and distribute healthy meals. And it's bipartism. And how
Speaker 1: often can we say that? In these times? There's a
Speaker 1: House version and a Senate version and they're stalled. They
Speaker 1: were part of a larger package. That package has been
Speaker 1: held up for too many reasons for me to get into.
Speaker 1: What I want you to do is call and have
Speaker 1: this thing happen. There's a phone number two O two
Speaker 1: two to four, three one to one. That's the general switchboard.
Speaker 1: If you already know your REPS number, good for you.
Speaker 1: If you don't check the show notes, we have resources
Speaker 1: to help you make your first call to Congress, say
Speaker 1: your name, be polite, be direct, be respectful, and let's
Speaker 1: feed this country with the money and the food flowing
Speaker 1: through local businesses and local restaurants who are actually on
Speaker 1: the ground. If you take any of these actions reflecting
Speaker 1: on mutual aid, creating or joining a mutual aid effort
Speaker 1: in your community, calling Congress to demand passage of the
Speaker 1: Feed Act, let us know about that. Send an email
Speaker 1: to action. How does citizen dot com include feeding ourselves
Speaker 1: in the subject line? And if you're feeling real excited,
Speaker 1: you can share some of this on social media to
Speaker 1: just use the hashtag how to citizen and we will
Speaker 1: lift up as many of those as we can through
Speaker 1: my accounts. If you liked what you've heard here and
Speaker 1: what you've been hearing in this series so far, please
Speaker 1: leave a review in your podcast app of choice, give
Speaker 1: us the good rating if you're feeling that good about
Speaker 1: the show, and stay connected by signing up for my newsletter.
Speaker 1: At barrattune Day dot com, I announced the upcoming shows.
Speaker 1: I provide links to get you into those live tapings
Speaker 1: so you can ask questions and share your thoughts too.
Speaker 1: How does Citizen with Bartune Day as a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio podcast executive produced by Miles Gray, Nick Stump,
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Stewart, and Barrattune Day Thurston, Produced by Joel Smith
Speaker 1: and edited by Justine Smith. Powered by you s