Heat of the Kitchen

It is always busy this time of year, everyone is digging deep to finish off school with accomplishment.  It is hard to stay intentional as opportunities fly around and distractions tempt all of us- all of the time, time, time.

But way back in January, we were meeting with Sheryl Davis, Director of the Human Rights Commission, who mentioned that Dr. Cornel West was going to be in town giving a lecture in April and that there might a be a pre-reception needing help.

We don’t cater. Cooking and eating and serving together is what we do, because of the lasting connection and  self-value it builds. We want the full arc of experience for all of our students. But this was a different kind of opportunity.

And we are so glad we did it!  The students made hundreds and hundreds of empanadas, prepped vegetables and sauces and the group of students who could come with us were happy to serve. And – bonus alert- we got to attend Dr. West’s lecture afterwards.  It is rare to witness a speaker who is able to call out layers of injustice  in a real way and still leave the audience invigorated and inspired. There is so much work to do and we need to do it.

In our rush, we again were hardly able to take pictures, but here is one of Chef Mariah with Dr. West. Thank you Dr. West, Director Davis & The Human Rights Commission for giving us this opportunity.  We would cater for this one again!

Thursday lunch time mid-March.  Scattered showers mirrored our morning sensibilities as we worked on something new: bringing our high school students into one of San Francisco’s best restaurants to serve lunch to 40 unfamiliar guests.  Some might call this a culminating collaboration between education and industry. We were wondering as culinary teachers if maybe we had bitten off more than we could chew, so to speak. It is always that way before an event, isn’t it?

Our culinary class models itself on the best in a back of house restaurant situation most days, as we cook, eat and serve together in an 8-9 week time frame. This event brought it all to a new level in a wonderfully real way- with hospitality. True hospitality.

Laurence Jossel, one of the owners of NOPA often mentions the job requirements to work in his kitchen:  you have to be nice, smart and hardworking – and out of those three? Nice is first and foremost. As a guest walking into NOPA, it is almost as if you’ve entered your friend’s (very nice) dining room.  There is a clear sense of care and human-ness and value that is calming. And the people of NOPA have been there ready to help us whether it has been volunteering in our garden and classroom to supporting our students in our kitchen or theirs. So yes, the people at NOPA understand this true hospitality, in the front of house, the back of house and in the community.

Maybe this goes without saying, but it seems easier these days for people to just look at the service surface of hospitality without understanding the strength underneath.  When you look up this word hospitality, the root is ghosti , one and the same for both guest and host.  We are in it together.

There is a sense of ownership that happens when you serve the food you’ve made that you know is good, and we find ourselves, even our shyest selves, moving from not just “owning” the food we make to then wanting to share it with others. We hear students new to working an event say “I didn’t know it felt this good to serve people food” and  “I loved it when they appreciated us.” Only hospitality can create that experience, this giving value to one another. Thank you NOPA for teaching and reaching our students with your care and hospitality.