Food That Connects Us All - Our Future
Over the last few months, we have been working hard to figure out what is next for us. How do we build and sustain a food business, amidst a pandemic and global uprising, that is grounded in principles of solidarity and cooperation, where we put people and our planet first.
The pandemic exacerbated the inequities faced by individuals in not only Baltimore, but our state, the nation, and the world. But no matter where people live, they should have access to the same high-quality and dignified food.
That’s why on March 13th, we announced our Community Meal commitment. On March 14th, we received requests from community leaders. And by March 16th, when stay-at-home orders were in place, we were up and running. As of August 6th, we have cooked and served over 60,000 delicious, balanced, and healthy meals funded through Mera Kitchen Collective’s GoFundMe, Jose Andres’s World Central Kitchen, grants and individual donations.
Our initiative is simple, yet powerful:
We cook the food we love for Baltimore residents and address the ongoing and now heightened issues of food insecurity in our city;
We provide consistent work and training to those in our kitchens that do not have access to benefits while creating and sustaining democratic employment with paths to ownership;
We re-imagine our relationship to food systems within the hospitality industry with a priority given to the health of each individual and our planet via well-balanced and delicious food.
But access to fresh, healthy meals in Baltimore is not a temporary problem, and it needs more than a temporary solution.
Over the past four months, we’ve been able to carry out the Community Meal commitment by teaming up with over 35 groups and organizations who have helped us to distribute our meals to the folks who need it throughout Baltimore City. This includes the Asylee Women's Enterprises, the Greater Baybrook Alliance, BMore Community Food, the Corner Team and BYKE Collective, the Baltimore City Department of Aging, the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Children and Family Success - African American Male Engagement. We have also delivered to families at ACCE School, Dickey Heights School and Callaway Elementary School in Armistead Gardens.
As these partners recognize through their support, when we talk about the access and lack of access to healthy food, we must recognize that many Black, Indigenous, People of Color in Baltimore have been held back by centuries of institutional racism, xenophobia, and oppressive identity policies. Baltimore started redlining, which intentionally segregated Black and Brown communities, resulting in inequitable access to basic services like healthcare, education, and food.
Without access to grocery stores and affordable healthy foods, we see the development of food options that often favor foods high in fat, salt, and sugar. These foods become addictive and place residents at greater risk of developing chronic diseases.
Our cooks create meals highlighting the foods they love, with seductive and delicious flavors. Over the last four and half months, we have seen how our well-balanced meals can make a positive impact in the communities receiving our meals, by helping revert the preferences for processed and unhealthy foods.
Kitchen Team:
Our kitchens are led by our talented and skilled cooks and chefs who work cohesively to build a strong team, while sharing their cuisines from around the world. Our team brings unique talent, incredible flavors, and diverse menus. Our kitchens will continue to be fully participatory in menu creation, leadership, initiative, ordering, budgeting, etc.
Building and maintaining a democratic, inclusive, and participatory work environment is essential to how we operate. Everyone on our team has a voice in how we structure and organize our work, and takes turns leading in the kitchen. Our goal is to foster empowerment through this cooperative model. Since we began our partnership in March, we have watched our team take ownership of the Community Meal commitment, building confidence to lead and engaging more deeply in menu creation, food presentation, and costing.
The food industry is an entry point into the economy, providing opportunities for workers of all skill levels. However, it is a volatile industry; concerns range from wage and job stability, healthcare, and career advancement. While the full impact of COVID-19 on small businesses has yet to be seen, it has exposed how elements of the food system are undervalued, leaving restaurants and workers to exist on the margins.
According to the Heal Food Alliance, 86% of wages in the food industry are below poverty levels. This disproportionately impacts workers of color, who make up 48% of the industry nationwide. COVID-19 made it clear that the food industry, and the food system was and is not sustainable.
Our immediate response prioritized both the needs of our community and our workers. We have moved forward to create nourishing and delicious meals, which are part of a sustainable system for everyone, from the farmers and growers, to the cooks, and the individuals enjoying our dishes.
We will continue to provide a consistent living wage across the board, with weekly programs for growth and professional development for everyone. We have created an employee assistance fund to cover any health needs that may arise, and ensure paid medical leave, especially in light of the pandemic. We also have plans to offer childcare on site, as this is a major barrier to entry for women, especially single women.
Our Food:
All ingredients are fresh and obtained from farms, purveyors, and donations. The menus are created based on each week’s availability from these sources and are executed with flavor in mind as a way to seduce everyone’s palates. We wish to redirect the farm’s excess production to these communities instead of having them wasted and thrown away.
From years of a strong commitment to sustainability, we are naturally inclined to produce well-balanced healthy meals. Our kitchen will have a menu that complies with a diet that cares for the planet, through the right combination of animal protein, grains, fruit, and vegetables.
This does not go without challenges. Acceptance of a change in eating habits is not easy. However, the schools and organizations we work with are open to inspiring, informing, and educating toward that end.
Creating bridges in Baltimore City:
As food professionals, we dream to see a closer “co-existence” within the urban communities through food. We have recently started inviting Baltimore chefs into our kitchen to create a meal once a week. Restaurants and chefs have the opportunity to share their take on food with the community so that everyone gets to experience our city in culinary terms, creating a dialogue and building bridges through food. We want you and everyone else to be a part of this project.
Our mission is to strengthen and maintain reciprocal, meaningful, personal relationships with the people who eat our food and those at every level of our supply chain, from farmers and growers on up. This is to create a spirit of mutual support and solidarity. We are building a foundation centered on doing what maximizes the benefit for the most amount of people.
In order to make the Community Meal commitment sustainable, we are seeking additional financial support to ensure that this initiative is not just a temporary bandage on a chronic issue. Our goal is to combine federal and city funds, along with private donations, allowing us to budget each meal at $10. Thanks to the support we have received from World Central Kitchen, we have seen how this price point is both sustainable and adequately values all people involved in the process of creating our food.
Existing programs that donate food to schools, senior facilities, etc., only have a budget of around $2 to $6 per meal. These budgets make it impossible to make good, quality, balanced meals while also paying the staff a living wage and benefits. A price of $10 per meal allows us to do so, without cutting corners on the quality of meals and supporting our teams.
Our Community Meal commitment is economically sustainable because at $10 a meal we can create and deliver meals with a domino of positive effects. It is socially sustainable because not only does the community on the receiving end benefit, but it allows us to support our employees, growers, and all of the essential actors in the food system. It is environmentally sustainable because we encourage local production and a diet that is overall better for our planet.
We want our future space to be Baltimore’s kitchen, a place to link people, enhance cultural exchanges, health, dialogue, deliciousness, chefs, academics, public health, food policies, schools, farms, kids, and families.
We want to take the movement beyond just providing healthy meals, and actually work to educate residents on what it means to fuel your body with delicious and well-balanced food. We believe Baltimore is the perfect city to start, and it can be an example initiative for the world.
Our Future:
In bridging communities through food, we expect to not only offer meals to our neighbors for free (through grants and individual donations), we want to ensure we have a space for people to come purchase our food, so all of Baltimore City is enjoying the same delicious meal. We are also seeking larger institutional contracts and subcontracts so we can offset grant costs. This will have a significant impact on our sustainability.
In a time of tremendous uncertainty, it is hard to plan for the future, but we must be able to respond to the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors.
Get Involved!
The MK Foundation:
With the MK Foundation we can continue to sustain this commitment beyond the pandemic. If you would like to get involved or feel like our project aligns with your personal interest or your organization's mission, we are seeking donations and financial funding in order to build a long-term, realistic and positive direction for our new initiative. We thank you for reading, and please do not hesitate to reach out.
The MK Foundation is fiscally sponsored by the Maryland Philanthropy Network. You can donate online or send a check to to the following address:
Maryland Philanthropy Network
Note “MK Foundation” in the memo line.
1600 W 41st Street, Suite 700
Baltimore, MD 21211
Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law.