July 17–24, 1997

food|CP Food Summer '97

A Chef's Tale

First day.

Arrived sometime between 7 and 7:15 a.m. Lynn [Lynn Jamison, who owned Jamison's on Pine Street], one of the chefs, greets me at front door. Lynn has been a chef at MANNA for just under two years.

The first task to get out of the way before the volunteers arrive is to cook off 120 pounds of ground turkey. We are making turkey chili for over 400 clients. She told me nine dietary modifications that we would have to keep in mind when packing up the meals.

The volunteers started arriving around 8:15, for a three-hour shift. There were about 10 of them, and an electricity that I had never seen. Everybody wanted to be there. Around 10, Lynn rounded up a group to work the line, meaning they would be working as a team serving the meals in containers that would be sealed, crated and sent downstairs to the distribution folks. The rest of the volunteers were in the other room, peeling and chopping vegetables.

Thursday, 15 April.

BBQ Beef, Cornbread, Collard Greens. Count: 420.

Lynn told me the count was now at 420 clients, that a new client was a single mom with six kids between the ages of 2 and 8. That about broke my heart. I would make BBQ beef forever, I decided. Watched Beth teach knife skills to a few volunteers, on how to chop an onion, one of the first things they teach you in cooking school.

Friday, 16 April.

Navy Bean Soup, Roast Turkey, Gravy, Stuffing, Glazed Carrots. Count: 401.

Made roux for gravy.

Beth told volunteers that some of the reasons for the recent surge in client count include: people are living longer, with the success of medication; people are getting poorer with changes in the welfare laws. There were plans to accommodate Jewish clients for Passover. More faces: two hetero men in their 70s who have been friends for about 50 years.

Friday, 9 May.

Day of Artists' Preview Party for MANNA's Annual Auction, held at Institute of Contemporary Art.

Defining moment for me: I was manning the food table with a few other volunteers, making sure food was replenished, looking beautiful, etc. A young guy comes to the table to get something to eat and he looks familiar. He's wearing a pin on his lapel that's familiar, too. It's a South African Xhosa love letter. When I lived in South Africa as a reporter in 1992, I purchased a few of my own. I asked him about his pin and a project that was raising money for AIDS in South Africa, through the sales of the pins in the United States.

He knew about the project and knew the same guy in Washington, DC, who was selling them. We say goodbye.

About 20 minutes later, he comes back to the table. He IS the guy I met in Washington last year while I was working at the bakery, and he remembered me, too! He had just moved to Philadelphia and was a new client of MANNA. So a year ago, I made him a cappuccino, and now I was making him lunch. We hugged for a long time and I knew, more than ever, that this was one of the richest personal experiences I could remember and that, yes, it was all about the food.

— Kim O'Donnel