From 23 years as a sous chef at five star restaurants and country clubs to feeding over 100 homeless women and children a day, Chef Scott rises at 5 am daily and joins a crew of volunteers to feed some of Sacramento’s most vulnerable and marginalized population; the clients of Saint John’s Program for Real Change. Operating with food donations, a crew of volunteers and a limited budget, Chef manages to transform canned goods into warm and delicious meals with fresh ingredients.
“It’s about trying to do the best with what you have” says Chef. You have to be creative and figure out how to coax flavor out of food through techniques like roasting or baking. ”During our conversation he was making a mushroom sauce from mushrooms and broiled turkey.
For some people, creativity comes and goes. When asked how he stays creative with his recipes, Chef responded: “It’s about learning what works for the ladies and finding a balance. We get food from all over.”
I interviewed Chef with the initial plan to get a recipe and write about it. To my dismay, Chef had no recipes. “I work with what I have”, he explained. It’s all up to individual interpretation. I never know when something is going to happen. I’ll come in and I’ll get a call from Dos Coyotes or Subway with extra food! On Saturday we didn’t have a lunch or dinner provider, so I was going to do pizza for lunch and breaded chicken patties for dinner. I had a fruit but no other vegetable. In the back of my mind I was thinking of what I was going to do. At 4 am it came to me: baked beans! I had to add more love to the beans, so I opened the cans and drained all the sauce off. I added Dijon mustard, BBQ sauce, onions, and all the stuff your mom or dad did to make the food taste good. The only secret to my cooking is that I want it to taste good.”
Chef enjoys the daily interaction he has with the ladies as well as working with the volunteers. He raves about one volunteer in particular: Vesta. “Vesta is a machine!” he explains. I like working with the volunteers! I get to show them things they haven’t seen before. One of the cool challenges is that I have to assess their ability to do things in a short amount of time. It quickly becomes clear who can do what.”
The women here at Saint John’s Program for Real Change are striving towards financial independence and are on their unique paths towards economic stability. When asked about his favorite part of the job, he smiled and said, “My favorite part of the job is seeing women come in and blossom in the program. I see all of the drama on a daily basis. I just shut up and observe and I see them go through the steps. It is like you have all these people at the bottom of the hill and they are pushing a rock towards one path, and whatever path they choose is up to them. To see them get better and gain confidence, sobriety and personality is truly rewarding.”
Written by Senam Bansah, Inktake and Development Coordinator, Americorp Vista Volunteer
Responses