Speaker 1: Welcome back to Hungary for History. We have a special
Speaker 1: episode today because I think, as many of you know,
Speaker 1: Mike and I both live here in Los Angeles, so
Speaker 1: we have been moving around, evacuated back in our home, volunteering.
Speaker 1: It's kind of been a crazy way to start a
Speaker 1: new year, twenty twenty five totally, and so we have
Speaker 1: a special episode. We wanted to talk once again about
Speaker 1: Food for Good. We have a really great guest coming on,
Speaker 1: but I just want to check in with you first.
Speaker 1: Might they have what's what's been happening? How have you
Speaker 1: been surviving this moment here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2: I feel extremely grateful that we're okay, but there's a
Speaker 2: lot of grief mixed with the gratitude. So it's definitely
Speaker 2: something that I've never quite experienced so intensely. So, you know,
Speaker 2: and it's like, Okay, what can we do?
Speaker 3: What can I do? What can I do? What can
Speaker 3: I do?
Speaker 2: You know, I don't have a lot to donate, you know,
Speaker 2: but at a certain point it's like, Okay, I want
Speaker 2: to donate my time.
Speaker 3: I want to be boots on the ground.
Speaker 2: So when I saw you volunteering, I was like, Eve,
Speaker 2: I tell me where where do I go. It's like,
Speaker 2: you know, just to help, yeah, for the long for
Speaker 2: the long game.
Speaker 1: I mean I felt the same way, so grateful that
Speaker 1: you know, my house didn't burn down, that my family
Speaker 1: was safe, that you know, the fires were east of
Speaker 1: US and west of US and north of us, like
Speaker 1: we were surrounded, but like it never jumped over the freeway,
Speaker 1: never came this way, and so super grateful, And then
Speaker 1: a little survivor's guilt of like, okay, okay, okay, since
Speaker 1: I'm one of the Lucuans, what can I do? And
Speaker 1: you know, I donated money, I donated my time. I
Speaker 1: donated you know, a pot of chili to my fire station.
Speaker 1: Because I was just like you're in that moment of like, oh,
Speaker 1: I cleaned up my closet, I cleaned out my fridge.
Speaker 1: I cleaned up my fridge, I cleaned out my closet.
Speaker 1: I was like, here's coats, here's I mean, it was
Speaker 1: anything I could do. And then finally when we got
Speaker 1: to volunteer at the Pasadena Job Center and physically cleaning
Speaker 1: up the street, getting out, getting the debris out of
Speaker 1: a dangerous position so that you know, the more fires
Speaker 1: aren't started, and like you know, sweeping and cutting down
Speaker 1: trees and filling up trash bags of leaves, Like it
Speaker 1: felt so good to like you said, I don't know
Speaker 1: what to do. I have two hands. I can cook
Speaker 1: a meal, I can pick up some trash. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: do you want this jacket off my back? Like I
Speaker 1: just felt that like helpless for a moment, and then
Speaker 1: you just kick into action.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you were amazing, Eva, because you always step up,
Speaker 2: you always bring it, You're always out there and you're
Speaker 2: you have this huge platform and you are really truly
Speaker 2: honestly helping.
Speaker 3: So I think I think it's very commendable.
Speaker 2: I'm proud to be friends with you and that you're
Speaker 2: doing because it.
Speaker 1: Really look look, I am that person. I'm that person
Speaker 1: in everybody's life where if something's happening, I'm like, how
Speaker 1: do we fix it? What do we do?
Speaker 4: We do?
Speaker 1: What are we doing? Let's are we are we packing
Speaker 1: a bag? Are we moving?
Speaker 4: Do you know?
Speaker 1: Do you need me to pick you up? Like that's
Speaker 1: just my nature. So when something this this big and
Speaker 1: traumatic happens, it requires a bigger response. And so I think,
Speaker 1: you know, you and I always talk about food history
Speaker 1: on this show, but We've talked about issues that but
Speaker 1: bump against food, and so I'm so excited to talk
Speaker 1: about food for good, like you know, making sure, no
Speaker 1: matter what is happening in the world, people have a
Speaker 1: hot meal. And so I'm really excited to talk with
Speaker 1: our guest today. Yes, me too, So.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk to Antonio Es. He's a good
Speaker 2: friend of mine. He's an Emmy Award winning and James
Speaker 2: Beard Award nominated filmmaker. He's a founder of Life and
Speaker 2: Time publication that.
Speaker 1: Highlights life and life and time or time.
Speaker 2: It gets us time, and so they highlight food, culture
Speaker 2: and social issues.
Speaker 3: They're you know, amazing.
Speaker 2: I've used to write for them, you know, for for
Speaker 2: many many years I would write for Life and.
Speaker 1: Time, Fine Time, Time.
Speaker 2: And so he's also directed and produced a PBS documentary
Speaker 2: shows such as Rebel Kitchens of Southern California, or he
Speaker 2: focuses on really young chefs doing super cutting edge, unique things,
Speaker 2: The Migrant Kitchen, which is with amazing chefs talking about
Speaker 2: immigration through food. And also he did a series called
Speaker 2: Broken Bread with Roy Choi. He's Mexican roots are for Mexico,
Speaker 2: but he says that his true identity reflects the city
Speaker 2: of La where he was born and raised. So super
Speaker 2: excited to welcome Antonio.
Speaker 1: My name is Evil Longoria and I am Myra, and
Speaker 1: welcome to Hungry for History, a podcast that explores our
Speaker 1: past and present through food.
Speaker 2: On every episode, we'll talk about the history of some
Speaker 2: of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages from our culture.
Speaker 1: So make yourself at home. When Nice to Meet.
Speaker 4: You on Nice to Meet You, I have such a pleasure.
Speaker 1: You guys know each other.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, we've known each other for a long time,
Speaker 2: through life and time.
Speaker 3: I feel like a decade.
Speaker 2: Probably it's been a while, it's been a minute. Antonio
Speaker 2: is one of my favorite people, one of my favorite
Speaker 2: people in La, one of my people in the world.
Speaker 2: He's amazing, and so I'm so happy to connect the
Speaker 2: two of you because you both of you are such
Speaker 2: community builders and connectors, and I've met so many amazing
Speaker 2: people through both of you, and you do such good
Speaker 2: in the world.
Speaker 3: So just seeing you both your little faces on this
Speaker 3: little screen.
Speaker 1: Makes me so happy.
Speaker 4: Might they put up the bat signal and I was like,
Speaker 4: I'm there. I canceled everything. I will do anything. I know.
Speaker 1: She's pretty awesome. I know, I'm so happy to finally
Speaker 1: meet you and and know learn more about the work
Speaker 1: you've been doing. You know, as we know we've all
Speaker 1: been through the fires here in Los Angeles, and you
Speaker 1: know I have followed you a bit. You kind of
Speaker 1: have always been at the forefront of food journalism, and
Speaker 1: as Mike and I've been doing this podcast, we've felt
Speaker 1: that so many issues bump up against food. You know,
Speaker 1: if we're talking about, oh, let's do a fun episode
Speaker 1: about street food, you can't help but talk about undocumented workers.
Speaker 1: We were like, oh, let's talk about coffee, and we're like, oh, wait,
Speaker 1: there's so much slavery in the world today that still
Speaker 1: you know, uh, farm this coffee. We're like, so it's
Speaker 1: like we always feel I feel, you know, Mike and
Speaker 1: I have really branched out and when you talk about
Speaker 1: the history of food, you just it touches so many
Speaker 1: other issues, and we wanted to talk to you. We
Speaker 1: know you've been on the ground after these fires and
Speaker 1: you've been doing some incredible work. Tell me about it.
Speaker 4: Tell me about how.
Speaker 1: Like when this happened, what was your first thought about?
Speaker 1: This is what I can do, This is how I
Speaker 1: can help.
Speaker 4: My circle of friends are mostly people that work in
Speaker 4: and around the food industry, chefs, cooks, or creatives that
Speaker 4: are creating content for food. So my little ecosystem. As
Speaker 4: soon as I see anything happening online, I see their perspective.
Speaker 4: And with nearly every single crisis that happens the food industry,
Speaker 4: the restaurant community and chefs are always the first ones
Speaker 4: to be there on the ground feeding people. You know,
Speaker 4: we've seen that with Jose and this is World Central Kitchen,
Speaker 4: but we're seeing it with all sorts of different independent
Speaker 4: restaurants too. I've been running Life in Time for twelve years.
Speaker 4: We built many relationships with the industry, so I could
Speaker 4: start just texting, texting friends, texting chefs like hey, what
Speaker 4: can we do? What can we do to help? And
Speaker 4: we saw the need to get food to fire stations
Speaker 4: and to shelters, and chefs and restaurants were willing to
Speaker 4: support and donate as much food as they possibly can,
Speaker 4: but there needed to be like a messenger, someone that
Speaker 4: could connect them their meals. Because they're producing fifty to
Speaker 4: hundreds of meals, they need someone to help them get
Speaker 4: those meals to the right people. That's where you know,
Speaker 4: I kind of mobilize and I hit up the Independent
Speaker 4: Hospitality Coalition. So they're an incredible, incredible organization here in
Speaker 4: Los Angeles that they help restaurants with food policy, with
Speaker 4: issues with the city. They're advocating for change for restaurants
Speaker 4: for the better, and they also mobilize the immediately feeding
Speaker 4: people on the ground. So I connected with them and
Speaker 4: I told them like, listen, I have a network of
Speaker 4: restaurants that are willing to support you have access to
Speaker 4: shelters and fire stations. Let's work to together. And in
Speaker 4: a span of a week and a half, we delivered
Speaker 4: over fifteen hundred meals. I was running basically a Postmates
Speaker 4: for a week and a half and still am.
Speaker 3: You know, I have your drivers.
Speaker 4: Every single day. Yeah, Invite was one of my drivers.
Speaker 4: Every single day we were delivering. We're making like anywhere
Speaker 4: between three to five food drops all around Los Angeles,
Speaker 4: trying to support these shelters and fire stations.
Speaker 1: Right, what was that like?
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, it was it was really powerful.
Speaker 2: I went Antonia was like, hey, can you pick up
Speaker 2: at three o'clock? Like yes, and then it's like, oh
Speaker 2: three fifteen, I'm running late, Like always so I went
Speaker 2: to the window and I said, I'm picking up for
Speaker 2: stations twenty nine and thirty five, and they were like,
Speaker 2: hold on, they give me these bags of warm burgers,
Speaker 2: and then I just got in my car. I've never
Speaker 2: been in a fire station before, and I was really nervous.
Speaker 2: I was nervous that the burgers were going to get
Speaker 2: cold because it was a really cold day. And they
Speaker 2: opened the door and I've since delivered, you know, to
Speaker 2: various fire it's always three firefighters that come out, and
Speaker 2: they were just in awe. They were shocked and so
Speaker 2: incredibly appreciative, and I I just couldn't believe it, Like
Speaker 2: it's such a small gesture, right, but it's everything. It's
Speaker 2: they're exhausted, they're stressed, they're they're just beyond right, and
Speaker 2: then all of a sudden, they get some warm food.
Speaker 1: Restaurants in general are like little families, but the restaurant
Speaker 1: industry is close knit, like you know, Antonio, as you
Speaker 1: were saying, like you've been part of this community for
Speaker 1: so long. They're usually the first to react in humanitarian crisis.
Speaker 4: You know, it's ingrained in who they are as a
Speaker 4: chef to feed people, like it's part of their DNA
Speaker 4: that they have to feed people in times of celebration
Speaker 4: or in times of crisis. And it's like, I love
Speaker 4: this city so much because the restaurant community bands together.
Speaker 4: And he gave me so much hope and inspiration for
Speaker 4: the future of LA. Yeah, to see this community come
Speaker 4: together and support each other, not just the chefs and
Speaker 4: the restaurants, but even like Mida or so many of
Speaker 4: my friends that were reaching out and asking, Okay, I
Speaker 4: will deliver whatever meals you need. So there it became
Speaker 4: like a network of organizers working with shelters. I'm over
Speaker 4: here running my postmate's spreadsheet, and then I had like
Speaker 4: an army of drivers delivering these meals across LA And
Speaker 4: then we had the restaurants in the chef So it
Speaker 4: was this beautiful village just coming together just to feed
Speaker 4: and support one another. While these restaurants are also facing
Speaker 4: a financial crisis in staying afloat staying open. It's ridiculously
Speaker 4: expensive to run a restaurant nowadays here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4: Yet they're donating and giving away so much, so much
Speaker 4: product and their labor. They're trying to keep the doors open.
Speaker 4: Yet they're still helping and they're still feeding people.
Speaker 2: They've already been impacted by the pandemic. Just starting to
Speaker 2: come out of that.
Speaker 1: And then and then this happened, not only you know,
Speaker 1: in La specifically that obviously the pandemic really hurt the
Speaker 1: restaurant industry. Then we were on a strike. We had
Speaker 1: a huge writer strike which shut down the industry. And
Speaker 1: we don't realize how many restaurant workers, food workers are
Speaker 1: impacted by Hollywood, all the caterers, all the restaurants, all
Speaker 1: the ordering in, all the eating out, all the you know,
Speaker 1: you know when you when you shoot a movie or
Speaker 1: a show, I forget the financial impact, but it's those
Speaker 1: small business owners. And so the strike happened.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: And then we're coming out of COVID and the strikes
Speaker 1: and the industry is trying to bounce back and no
Speaker 1: more runaway productions outside of La and then this happened.
Speaker 4: Right there's I think there's a perception of La outside
Speaker 4: of La that La is is a very rich It's
Speaker 4: like we're everyone is rich. There are all celebrities, nothing
Speaker 4: to worry about the there's money growing on trees. It's
Speaker 4: such a fragile city and it's becoming much more expensive
Speaker 4: to live in it. You walk outside, it's already one
Speaker 4: hundred bucks just to breathe the air. It's it's so
Speaker 4: it's so expensive for anyone who's a working class citizen here,
Speaker 4: and especially for restaurants, Like you said, they're interconnected with Hollywood,
Speaker 4: the entertainment business. So if the entertainment business is suffering,
Speaker 4: it kind of trickles down to all sorts of other
Speaker 4: industries that get affected. And this city has not. We
Speaker 4: haven't had a good break for the for the restaurant community. Yeah, COVID, Yes,
Speaker 4: you know it was. It was a huge blow. The
Speaker 4: strikes and now the fires.
Speaker 1: No, and now now now risk of deportations. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: Like that's another obstacle that's about to come and hit us,
Speaker 1: is that the restaurant industry, like construction, like landscaping, like housekeeping,
Speaker 1: like nannies, like you know, so many industry lark farm
Speaker 1: workers are completely dependent on undocumented labor. And so I
Speaker 1: feel like, once we're going to get out of these fires,
Speaker 1: it's going to be another hurdle of like what are
Speaker 1: these undocumented workers going to face? You know, an additional
Speaker 1: burden of fear and uncertainty, and these are your dishwashers,
Speaker 1: your waiters, your cooks, your bussers, you know your you
Speaker 1: know drivers. What what do you think is to come
Speaker 1: and how does this new threat really affect what you're doing.
Speaker 4: I mean, the best that we could at least we
Speaker 4: could do Life and Time is to shed light on
Speaker 4: these important stories and issues. You know, when it comes
Speaker 4: to the restaurant community and the food industry, it operates
Speaker 4: in the shadow industry. So many people don't realize the
Speaker 4: economics that are at play in this industry. They operate
Speaker 4: completely different than other industries. Like you said, many of
Speaker 4: the people that work in it are undocumented, their immigrants.
Speaker 4: They're either picking our fruit and vegetables from the fields,
Speaker 4: or they're washing or dishes or cooking or food. The
Speaker 4: pay wage is so much lower, yet the price of
Speaker 4: what we're paying for food is not enough, Like we're
Speaker 4: just not paying enough for our food. So there's so
Speaker 4: many factors at play. So the best that we could
Speaker 4: do is take a journalistic approach and shed light on
Speaker 4: these issues, these important issues, and that's what that's been
Speaker 4: the mission for Life and Time for the past twelve years.
Speaker 4: Use the beauty of food as a trojan horse to
Speaker 4: really dive into important topics about humanity, about social issues.
Speaker 4: Nearly every issue that plagues humanity one way or another
Speaker 4: that has a connection back to food. Whether it's the
Speaker 4: climate crisis, immigration, whatever it is, there is a connection
Speaker 4: back to food. And that is what we're trying to
Speaker 4: do with our work, at least through telling stories, doing documentaries,
Speaker 4: hosting events in person, getting the community to get together
Speaker 4: to at least inform people about the value of the
Speaker 4: people that are making our food.
Speaker 2: The undocumented workers are such a backbone of the city,
Speaker 2: right and also during pandemic, there were organizations like Know
Speaker 2: Us Without You. I learned about them through You Antonio,
Speaker 2: through life and time, and they were feeding undocumented workers
Speaker 2: that all of a sudden we're out of a job.
Speaker 2: And it just makes me worried, and I wonder, like,
Speaker 2: how how you see the role of a restaurant in
Speaker 2: a community.
Speaker 4: They're pivotal, you know, they're pivotal in a community, and
Speaker 4: they're the places where we go to celebrate. They're the
Speaker 4: place where we get to converse and where all forms
Speaker 4: of people could you know, kind of mingle and come together.
Speaker 4: All people of all classes are clashing together into this
Speaker 4: this one space, and I think we sometimes take that
Speaker 4: for granted, We take we take it for granted for
Speaker 4: the fact that we're not necessarily thinking about these people
Speaker 4: and the lives that they that they have and how
Speaker 4: fragile this industry really is. So I think the you know,
Speaker 4: the role of a restaurant in in a place like La.
Speaker 4: You're seeing it, uh, you're seeing it come to life
Speaker 4: in the time of crisis. You're seeing it through these
Speaker 4: fires where they're coming and feeding people and doing whatever
Speaker 4: it takes. But I also think that this is also
Speaker 4: the the the restaurant industry here in La. It really
Speaker 4: represents the cuisine of this of this state. You know,
Speaker 4: we have so many beautiful uh produce and and and
Speaker 4: uh ingredients that are coming from the fields and and
Speaker 4: it's primarily Asian and Latino produce and ingredients, and it's
Speaker 4: contributing to the you know, to the cuisine of the
Speaker 4: city and in the cuisine of this of the states.
Speaker 4: So I think, you know, it's it's to me like
Speaker 4: a restaurant and in this communities everything, it really represents
Speaker 4: all of our cultures.
Speaker 1: Right, it represents something bigger than just bigger than.
Speaker 5: Us, right, Yeah, food.
Speaker 1: And security in general has been around for ever and
Speaker 1: obviously disproportionately affects Hispanic and Black communities. But I will
Speaker 1: say food and cooking, Like when all this happened, I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm gonna make a big pot of chili
Speaker 1: and take it to the fire state. Like I feel
Speaker 1: like when you know how to cook, it's the I
Speaker 1: want to use my hands, you know, it's like all
Speaker 1: hands on deck. And I do think food is a
Speaker 1: specifically for Hispanic communities. Everybody is like I'll make my rosco,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make my tamales. I'm gonna take it down,
Speaker 1: you know, And that's that to me is probably one
Speaker 1: of the most things about our community.
Speaker 4: You're so right. Yesterday we made we did a food
Speaker 4: drop of ninety meals to the firefighting maintenance crew. They're
Speaker 4: the ones that are fixing all the engines and all
Speaker 4: the equipment that's getting damaged by the firefighters. And this
Speaker 4: is like the from the hierarchy. They're the ones that
Speaker 4: just like they're at the bottom just fixing things. And
Speaker 4: we've we sent ninety meals from Dunsmore, one of the
Speaker 4: best restaurants here in Los Angeles. Yeah, so it made
Speaker 4: me what I love about the work that we've been
Speaker 4: doing with these restaurants. These are the best restaurants in
Speaker 4: Los Angeles feeding people. They're not like, you know, we're
Speaker 4: not getting meals from from fast food. We had a
Speaker 4: delivery drop from Cato, who is this is like one
Speaker 4: they have a Mission Star. They're one of the best
Speaker 4: restaurants in Los Angeles and we work with them to
Speaker 4: deliver one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty meals.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 4: And these chefs are creating like the most delicious, nourishing
Speaker 4: meals that you would find in a Michelin star restaurant,
Speaker 4: but they're being made a mass scale to feed the
Speaker 4: people because they also deserve a quality meal that tastes incredible.
Speaker 4: And I just found it so beautiful that some of
Speaker 4: the best chefs are making these meals for people.
Speaker 3: That's wonderful.
Speaker 2: You also talk about sponsoring a restaurant. How does that work?
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I was going to ask that my day.
Speaker 1: It's just also like what's next, because like you said,
Speaker 1: this is like this problem, We're going to be playing
Speaker 1: whack a mole for a long time of like you know,
Speaker 1: what's what crisis is next? So like, how can people
Speaker 1: get involve, how do they continue to support and help?
Speaker 4: You know, this amazing and I think, you know it
Speaker 4: is like our current crisis. But I think this is
Speaker 4: gonna be when it comes to these wildfires, this is
Speaker 4: such a long term problem. These people might not see
Speaker 4: a house or a home for a very long time.
Speaker 4: So I think we're only at the very beginning of
Speaker 4: helping these people. And there's gonna be people are gonna
Speaker 4: forget about the wildfires sooner or later, and they're gonna
Speaker 4: move on to the next thing that's happening in the news.
Speaker 4: So I think it's very important to continue to help
Speaker 4: these shelters and these places to feed people or at least,
Speaker 4: you know, support to people in need. So one major
Speaker 4: thing that we realized is that having restaurants and chefs
Speaker 4: donate food is completely unsustainable. It works for a little bit,
Speaker 4: and it works for some of the best restaurants that
Speaker 4: are fine. They could maybe do it one or two,
Speaker 4: maybe three drops out of their own pocket, but after
Speaker 4: that they just cannot support it. I mean a restaurant,
Speaker 4: even the best ones there were like one bad week
Speaker 4: from going out of business, Like that's how difficult it
Speaker 4: is to run a restaurant. So the other thing that's
Speaker 4: happening right now is people not going out to eat.
Speaker 4: We almost we're almost like going back to COVID times,
Speaker 4: Like people are just not going out and that's a
Speaker 4: huge problem for a restaurant. So I encourage people to
Speaker 4: go out. You shouldn't feel guilty to go out and
Speaker 4: support these restaurants and have a meal. So that's number one,
Speaker 4: Like you should really just support your local restaurants and
Speaker 4: just make it an effort to at least go out
Speaker 4: every once in a while to support these restaurants and
Speaker 4: eat or order take out from these independent restaurants. If
Speaker 4: you're willing and you have the means, you can also
Speaker 4: sponsor a restaurant. So we've been working. We've been working
Speaker 4: with a few different donors, incredible donors that are just
Speaker 4: sending money that go straight to the restaurant to help
Speaker 4: them feed people at scale. And that's one way that
Speaker 4: you could support these restaurants for them to just continue
Speaker 4: to pump out meals. And there's different organizations you could
Speaker 4: you could donate to, or you could even just you know,
Speaker 4: donate to to Life and Time and we directly support
Speaker 4: the restaurants. We've been doing that for a few different restaurants,
Speaker 4: especially now that they're not able to donate so many
Speaker 4: meals at this point. So there are ways to support
Speaker 4: these restaurants in order to continue this type of work.
Speaker 1: So we will put Life in Time linked below. That way,
Speaker 1: if anybody needs more information, they know where to go.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much to Antonio for you know, chatting
Speaker 1: with us, and thanks to you guys for listening.
Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us, and see you all next week.
Speaker 1: Hungary for History is a Hyphenit media production in partnership
Speaker 1: with Iheart'smikopura podcast network.
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