“I’m sometimes almost struggling to find things for our volunteers to do. “Our garden has never been more immaculate and weed-free,” Leger says. Many of the volunteers formerly worked in restaurants.
“EBT can be really oppressive with what people have access to, so I wanted to make sure there were more options.” She’s even collaborated with Tart Vinegar, using crimson clovers harvested at the garden, with the bottles raising funds for Phoenix.Ī representative for Phoenix, Mark Leger, tells Eater that he was energized by the fact that the garden has gained more volunteers than ever during COVID. “People in the community were asking for bread,” she says. “EBT can be really oppressive with what people have access to, so I wanted to make sure there were more options.”Īfter volunteering multiple times a week at Phoenix, she started getting involved with helping curate their Saturday market stand with the goal of bringing higher-quality items that tapped into her culinary world connections, such as L’Imprimerie baked goods. All of the projects have been put on hold due to the pandemic. Thomas previously had several hospitality projects in the works, including helping to open a cafe inside a new boutique hostel from retail-slash-coffee shop Sincerely, Tommy owner Kai Avent-Deleon a new bar project with clothing store The Break in Greenpoint and a “solar-powered cafe project” called Premium Blend in Clinton Hill. Along the way, chefs are especially now finding that the cooperative, non-hierarchical model of community gardens are a welcome respite from the way the city’s restaurant kitchens have historically been run.Ĭhef Tara Thomas started volunteering at Phoenix Community Garden in Ocean Hill-Brownsville at the beginning of the pandemic, an area particularly plagued by unequal access to grocery options. Some are raising funds for the greenspaces with cooking pop-ups, incorporating produce from community gardens onto their menus, conducting mutual-aid meal drop-offs, or volunteering their time to harvest the grounds. And though many have prioritized community-oriented work long before the pandemic, now with added time on their hands, the gardens provide a way for chefs to embed more deeply in their neighborhoods and learn even more about what kind of food support is actually needed. Many New York City hospitality workers - thousands of whom remain out of work or are struggling financially, and a growing number of whom are food insecure themselves - are nevertheless finding ways to support their local community gardens, lifelines for many neighborhoods, using skills honed in kitchens.
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