Buyer's Remorse

I wish that food was not political but frankly decisions about who gets to eat and who doesn't are very often determined in business and political offices around the world. Here in Illinois as we sit post election where Republican Governor Bruce Rauner ceased the office looking at such changes in funding, budgets, and allocations that are threatening to close our community colleges and leaving our public school without funding. Without a signed budget, state officials cannot draft a payment to anyone in excess of $600. For the second time this year, the Illinois Lottery officials are once again issuing IOU's instead of payouts.

All sorts of ripples can be felt within out city due to a shift change in political offices. Chicago Public School feels the squeeze and the Chicago teachers has already given the strike authorization to the union. If the union strikes, and it is looking very likely that they will, this will effect all sorts of things including, the need for alternative daytime supervision for the students, eliminate student access to the school feeding programs that lots of families rely heavily upon to meet their daily needs during the day, and need to get syllabus changes done to accelerate leaning in order to catch up on missed lessons.  These turns of events are costly in many ways but are a direct result of voting habits.

Illinois is a conservative state who mostly vote Republican, but the largest population resides in Cook County, which includes Chicago and some of the outlying suburbs, who traditionally vote Democratic and have a much more progressive outlook. Low turnout for our local elections have resulting in the election of another Republican Governor, but this time the office is held by a millionaire business person who has little experience in politics, some are so bold to say that Rauner paid for the office by out spending his rival for the office. So here we are, at a fork in the road, with the bigger picture of the states future and direction in jeopardy, as the Governor sees the state operation like a business issuing reductions here, there, and there, to save the state money instead of reviewing social, economic,  and educational efforts as a investment in the growth and sustainability of the state.

Now that all that I had feared about the last elections have come true, many voices, individuals and organizations, are now very vocal about the results. This is too little to late. Where were you guys for early voting, along the campaign trail, and on election day?? Some voters feel buyer's remorse because the believe that they were tricked into voting for a guy and now he is working against what the voter thought was going to happen during his reign.

I get upset by the rhetoric and posturing of those in office and the lack-luster eligible voters that helped to put us in this state. Food and shelter should not be dependent on politics or interrupted by politics. The who, what, when and how citizens gain access to required nutrition cannot be successful when left up to politics. Food procurement and access, cannot, should not, must not, be controlled by the few and doled out to the masses. This makes food a weapon or a tool of power instead of a human right. We as a society, have seen what happens when politics gets involved, just think about a homeless man sleeping on the street. Got a picture in your head? Good. What lead this person, a human being, into this situation? How did he lose access to shelter and regular meals? Why is it that he suffers from a lack of safety and care? When was the last time he could go a doctor? How much longer will he suffer in this situation which, without any doubt, will shorten his life span dramatically.

Voter action helps to protect the weakest member of our society, move incentives and actions in the direction that they agree upon, give the ability of fund initiatives the voters see as needed, and assist to educate our students which will foster the next generations of thinker, leaders, and voters. We are all effected by politics and I hate that, but it is a fact. The few take more than their share leaving the masses scrambling for the crumbs.

No matter where you are on the political food chain and no matter how you define your political philosophy, active participation is required. You can't stand back and expect others to vote the way you would like them to in your stead as you sit at home. You must participate. It's like all the lookie loos jamming up traffic trying to get a glimpse of the road side accident, knowing full well that they have no intent to help.  

So today we are still seeing the results of Britain's political actions and more importantly inaction. After the count was taken, the citizenry of one of the largest former empires on the planet, discovered that the vote went against what the majority, or so it is said, wanted the Parliament to do in the face of the issue to divest from the EU. Lots of political action now after the dye were cast. This is a prime example of how a democracy fails instead of triumphs.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36420148

Let's take the example to heart when the polls open again here on your own territory. We still suffer hate speech, low down dealings, discrimination, lawlessness, bigotry, xenophobia, and all sorts of explorations of women, young girls, immigrants, unlawful imprisonment by our own officials, abuses of power, and hatred that results in unequal pay, lack of access to resources such a food and shelter. and the list continues. How can we unravel the tapestry that we have weaved through our shared history if we don't make our vote count?

Entrepreneurship Isn't for Everyone: Part #1

I was born into two families, as we all are, my elders had long work records that highlighted a dedication to a blue collar workforce and style of life. Therefore, I was taught the ladder to success was in working for a company or the government for 40 plus years, put your kids in school, get the gold watch, and retire in peacefully.

Entrepreneurship wasn't what they understood or felt that it also could lead to success. Elders with that type of mindset cannot teach a child that starting their own business is a good thing. Most think it is too risky to attempt. They see that a stead job with benefits is the way up the ladder and business ownership is a ladder with missing rungs.

It takes a different mind to attempt such risk and you have to be somewhat fearless do to it. Business is always risky, no matter where you stand with the company, owner or employee.  The same company that pays you from payroll is taking a risk that the company will survive and taking you with them. It is just as easy to get laid off or fired from a company than it is to own a business and make it successful. So why don't you take a hold of the course your ship is headed?

With high risk comes high rewards, taking no risk leaves you with very little rewards and tied to other's fates. While you are working hard for another person or company, you are making them rich and taking a small percentage of the benefits. As an employee your labor belongs to another. Lots of people have used the innovation that employee #37 created while working for a company. Work in that mode is the "work product" of the company. If you invent the next big time comic book character, for example, while working for Marvel or D.C. the company owns it, not the one who created it. You have traded your rights to the innovation you created for a paycheck and nothing more than that. No royalties, no copyrights, nothing but a small check.

When you are working for yourself, it isn't easy, you must be knowledgeable, skilled, and dedicated to the company. But isn't that the same expectation that your boss has for you everyday? Owning a company means that it's your reputation on the line. You have to rely on your staff, manage your budgets, inventory, and everything else.

It takes much more than the efforts of one person to run a successful food business, it can take a whole village. Good chefs know their weaknesses and hire experts to lend a hand at those things they are not adapt with handling. Tons of people, every year, decide to try their hand at running a food outlet. They take their savings or take out a loan and jump into the deep end of food operations with little experience and training. The failure rate of independent food operations is very high, and opening can be very risky even when you have the skill and training needed. http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/03/infographic-failed-small-businesses.html

Business is much like the food chain, the big fish can swallow the little fish whole. Who is your big fish? Are you at the top of the food chain, swimming, and making decisions, or are you following the school of fish that you help to create? Have you researched the demographics of the area? Do you know what your customers want or are you selling what you like? Can you differentiate your business from all the others? Have you acquired the needed capitol, equipment, staff, and décor that drives customers to you or away from you?

There are so much to discuss on this topic that I am splitting it up over a few posts for ease of reading....

Exhaustion

Singing.... "I'm tired. So tired."

Those of you who have been following this blog will notice that my schedule of a post a day, has been disrupted. I have been pleasantly very very busy of late assisting our population of students competing for scholarships in two different programs. Needless to say, I have been running around helping make the experience for the students as well done and enjoyable as possible.

The end result were phenomenal, and that is all the really matters. Watching the students walk in their fate and upcoming careers, taking on their adulthood, is very important to them and us as well. I tend to look upon them as a parent should, knowing their childhood is nearly over and the adults that emerge in their place, can be a very different person altogether.

C-Cap awarded over $400k worth of scholarship assistance this year and NAACP ACT-SO is preparing for our trip to the National Convention in Cincinnati Ohio, were they will compete for National medals and scholarships. Spring is blossoming in new life and academic success.      

Irish Food Traditions

It may come as a surprise to you that St. Patrick's day is not well celebrated in Ireland. This celebration and traditions are almost all American. The same can be said about many of the items on a Chinese restaurant's menu. You see, once the wave of immigrants disembarked upon our shores, those that were separated from their origin birthplace wanted a way to remember their traditions and honor their past.

Here in Chicago, the celebrations are very large, as we have a sizable population that have some Irish ancestors, and many more who don't but enjoy the ribaldry of the day. We have at least three very large parades to mark the event and tons of corned beef and cabbage with Irish soda bread consumed the whole week long. Tomorrow is the actual St. Pats day, but since it is in the middle of the week, last weekend was the parade day. The North-side, South-side, and Downtown  parades kicked off filled with floats, dancers, beauty queens, bag pipes, kilts, and lots of green beer. We dye the Chicago River green each year, pouring the dye from the backside of a Chicago Police boat.

Many of the early immigrants from Ireland found their way to Chicago and many of the men took up city jobs such as into service in the police and fire departments. In fact, the larger police units that are used to transport detainees were called 'Patty Wagons' due to have such large numbers of Irish policemen, "patty" being a derogatory slang for Irish men.

I have always liked the way this city celebrates this holiday, and having Irish ancestors doesn't hurt my love affair with the day. Most of the city dwellers that go out and celebrate the day with drunken bar crawls, lots of food, and corny green attire, are not in fact Irish at all, but Chicago always shows up to a party ready to go.

A good part of this holiday celebration is the fact that it happens in early Spring, often the parade is a cold and wet affair, so the drinking is often a tad too much. But when we have a bright sunny day, as it is today, the city is itching to get outdoors for any reason, and having a day where excessive drinking is expected makes it all the better.

Slán go fóill!

Angry Mama Bear

Yesterday, I hear upsetting news about one of my high school students who was grievously attacked during the school day on campus. She will be missing a few days of school because of this. I will spare you the details other than she suffered a broken cheek bone.

At first, the story spurred me to be inquisitive but after hearing the details from a member of our security staff, I got upset as if the same injury had happened to my own birthed children. I can't even find the words that are adequate enough to express myself.

This population of kids already has a lot to deal with from the neighborhood, the schools, the politics of our city, the rampant stupidity and injustice that is pervasive in their lives. This incident is have a bit overwhelmed as she is a likable sort who really doesn't bother anyone. To have her face hurt like this is such a piss-off.

I am going to leave this here before I upset again.....  

International Home and Housewares Show

Hey everybody.  This weekend was very busy and rewarding, and I hope that the days that I didn't post will be forgiven.  In conjunction with Harold Import Company (HIC), a major supporter of our Careers though Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), we have been working very hard. The convention opened Saturday and runs until Tuesday. 

C-CAP staff, students, and alumni manned the HIC booth and provided food to all the visitors conducting business with HIC. The mornings, offered omelets, sweet treats, and coffee. In the afternoon, our stations offered up made-to-order stir-fry.

Friday night there was a great event of drinks and dinner at Bin 36 wine bar. Sunday night was the C-CAP fundraiser where we broke our previous record collecting nearly $42,000! The proceeds go to support our culinary student scholarship program. Super exciting.

I attempted to conduct two live broadcasts on my blogtalk radio channel but apparently doing it from my phone and maintaining a signal did not work out.   Both times I tried it sounded like we were good to go but it ended abruptly without me hearing it stop. Oh well, I deleted the messed up broadcasts.

The show was jammed packed with all the china, glass, knives, cutting boards, small appliances, laundry aids, baking and decorating products available. I love this show. I also try and get out each year to the National Restaurant Association show to see and sample all the newest innovations.

Working a convention is some of the hardest work I have done, and I have worked many. It's full of tons of moving parts, long hours, guest needs, being the most bright and shinny you can be, all the while standing on the concrete floors.  Phew. This show had me sporting my newest item from the Forrest Gump collection of knee braces. I was super styling and preventing some of the damage that the long hours on my feet could create.

Yesterday we wrapped up the event and packed everything away. Many of the vendors at the show often donate their goods to our staff and students along with other organizations within the city. We are always grateful for the shinny new tools. 

http://www.hickitchen.com/

http://www.ccapinc.org/

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/search?q=giant+fork+spoon
http://www.housewares.org/show/

Oh goody goody...

This weekend Chicago hosts one of my favorite conventions, the International Home and Housewares Show at McCormick Place! This convention is the place to be to view all the new innovations in kitchen wares, laundry aids, pots, pans, measuring tools, shopping carts, storage solutions, packaging, cooking demonstrations, baking ideas, decorating tools, gardening new products, and just about anything that you would need to use around the house.

This annual show runs from 3/5/16 to 3/8/16 it hosts over 2,000 exhibitors with everything from Contact Paper to kitchen knives and cutting boards. I will be broadcasting from the show floor on Saturday and Sunday afternoon on our podcast: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/giantforkandspoon so tune in and hear from our C-CAP team members and students. If you can, come on down and meet us in person. Here's the ticket information: https://www.housewares.org/show/register-plan.

This event helps to support our educational culinary program, Careers through Culinary Arts Program, http://www.ccapinc.org/, we will be working the booth, along with their fabulous team at Harold Import Company, http://www.hickitchen.com/. The support that comes from Harold Import Company make our teaching efforts possible so we invite some of our students to work the show and help to feed the clients that stop-by the booth.

Also, there will be a fundraiser event on 3/6/16 where our students from several of the CPS high school's culinary programs will be serving up their unique food fare for our guests. https://www.ccapinc.org/locations/chicagobenefit2016/.

These efforts help to endow our students with the skills and knowledge that will take them into their professional chef careers. C-CAP conducts an annual student cooking competition and awards the winners with scholarship money to attend culinary school.

I can't wait to share all of this from the floor of McCormick Place. Hopefully, I won't have any signal issues and will be able to go live on the air, if not, I will tape and broadcast a bit later on. It's going to be a long week but the excitement of all that is shinny, new, and inciting to chef's everywhere will be at my fingertips to explore.

Oh boy!

Where are the Minority Chefs?

I have worked as a chef in Chicago for over 20 years and I have always worked with Hispanic, Black and Caucasian chefs, more Hispanic than Caucasian, and always mostly men. There is no shortage of Hispanics working in kitchens all over the city, cooking a wide range of food stuffs including Sushi.

Food television is not as full with minority chefs as the kitchens happen to be, there is a sprinkling of Black chefs, and not much more in way for Hispanic. Why is this?  We are doing the heavy lifting and earning the skills to make things pop, fry, and sizzle, so I know having the skill isn't the problem. Yet in still, the Italian chef, the White Southern chef, the French chef, are all the standard image of what a chef is, and most of the time they are male as well.

While we may not be able to lift as much weight as the fellow, we do hold up our share of the work in a production kitchen and I would like to see more representation of our efforts. There is no shortage of food outlets that are black run and often black owned in a city like Chicago. I have served dignitaries that were surprised at the amount of minority representation at the venue, and expressed as much.

While the average black population in this country is about 13% of the overall population, we do make up a much higher number of working chefs in this city and our Hispanic compadres may actually make up a bigger percentage of the kitchen staff. It would be nice to see more of us in the media as chefs. Whenever there is a cooking show, television series, or movie about chefs, there is a whitewashing of the kitchen, unless they are in the kitchen of an Asian restaurant, then the whole staff is Asian and does not speak English.

Am I asking too much? I don't think so. And while waiting for the media to catch up to our reality, I won't be holding my breath. And I am not the only one asking the question.... http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/black-chefs/

In this article, they mention not only that there is a rise in minority enrollment into culinary schools but that there is a lack of managing or executive minority chefs. So in outlets where a multitude of different people work together, few of them are in lead positions.

Are we Jim Crow kitchens? Are we continuing prejudices in our industry? Or am I expecting to much? Isn't it accurate to expect to see a shift in the kitchen management and media representation reflect the populous? We are graduating and training up fantastic chefs of all races and genders so how long, or when, will we see a superstar minority female chef? I am not saying that their isn't any to use as inspiration, Carla Hall comes to mind, but I ask who else?

Movable Merriment

Each year Chicago undergoes two distinct seasons, Winter's bitter days, and Summer's sultry nights. Each of them have their pro's and con's, issues and errors, but for a great many of us natives we look forward to the fairs, carnivals, concerts in the park, parades, festivals. Any chance we get to enjoy the wonderful scenery and feel warm air on your skin, Chicago takes the horse by the reigns and runs with it. We burst at the seems with music, mayhem, mysteries, rides, fireworks, and of course everyone who attends wants something in their bellies while the fun is being had.

Most customers either want the familiar or to be introduced to something new and exciting. Fairs are great for offering up some new treat like the fried Oreos, or a alligator on a stick. Other's can be street fairs highlighting the cuisine of the neighborhood. Greek fest, the Taste of Chicago, Fiesta Del Sol, or anytime people are in a celebratory mood, Chicagoan's do it up in style and eating is always a part of such merriment. Sights, sounds, and circuses are soon to be had once again in my beloved city.

The Mayor's Office of Special Events has the large task of permitting, scheduling, and overseeing all of the events in this large place. The weather will brake for good soon and our residents and tourist will once again turn thoughts to being outside as much as possible, shed off the layers of winter clothes, and run bare feet into sand and grass.
http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/festival_events_dates.html

Most don't give a second thought as to how all of these things work, take place, get permitted, ordered, and produced for their pleasure. The machinery involved just to get any type of food to these events is complicated and everyone involved must be extra careful in their efforts. Controlling food temperature in a remote location is not an easy tasks. Hot boxes and ice chests are needed if the location has limited electrical access but even if there is electrical you have to plan for refrigeration and lights, gas hook ups, and potable water.

Foodborne illnesses can multiply quickly, especially out doors on a hot Summer's Day. You also need to be careful of insects that can contaminate foods, then there is garbage removal, and hand washing. Lots of moving parts to make an event special. All food sales at these type of events are highly regulated and monitored. Food service handler licenses, food service business licences, and up to date health inspections must be earned in order to sell food on a food truck, carnival booth, or in a food cart.

There are so many things to account for before venturing out of doors to sell food. How much food should we be prepared to sell? What items should we sell? Do we need to be restocked once a day, three times a day, or all at once? What kind of staffing will this require and how many? Even if you are not selling food, such as at a church function or family reunion, these concerns are just the same.

Don't believe me? Just volunteer at your next opportunity to help cook at a BBQ at a park, and you will quickly see how complicated it can be just for your friends and family, let alone to be selling to the public. It's a good thing that there are people to handle all the logistics at a city celebration.

I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to going down to the lakefront again, walking outside without a coat or the 20 layers of clothes that Winter demands. Check out the list of upcoming events all over this city soon.

Food Delivery Services

In our modernized age, everything from clothes to tech can all be had online, so is the way with groceries. Peapod, Instacart, Door to Door organics, Home Chef, Amazon, Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, and many more all have the ability to get food to your door from your online requests.

Here in Chicago, the most commonly seen delivery truck in these parts is the big lime green trucks of Peapod. I have had them deliver to me for about 3 years now, on and off, and I have always had a good experience.

Peapod was established in 1989 in Evanston Illinois, making it the oldest company of its kind. Since then, their reach has expanded to other cities such as Boston, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. The service is available by zip code and they have a very large pool of available items including their own product label of goods. They sell, in addition to food, flowers, alcohol, cleaning products and paper goods.

Customers can place orders online or via their app. Then their order is hand picked and packaged for delivery. Delivery options can be chosen by the customer by time and date, and as early as the next morning they can have things at their door to restock their kitchen. My favorite part of ordering from Peapod is that they had pick fresh produce that is perfectly fresh and high quality. Our family is in love with their seasonal fruit packs, these boxes of assorted fruit come carefully packed, and I have never had a bad apple in the bunch. There are two sizes of these items and my kids always get excited when it comes like it a wrapped box under the Christmas tree.

The big green delivery truck is refrigerated and the frozen items are kept with the aid of ice packs. You can set your customer options to include text messaging to notify you that you are the next delivery on the route. The very friendly delivery staff unloads and brings in your order to your kitchen or wherever it is needed. If there is ever a problem with an item, invoice, or delivery, the customer service department is top notch at handling the issue quickly.

While there have been other companies to enter this type of service arena, I have not used them. There are now services that I consider more like a chef services, where customers can order a meal set-up. These come to your door as a meal. The food and the recipe information are ordered so that the customer can create a gourmet meal at home. I like this concept as it teaches the customer new culinary skills, allow them to get all the items required, even the harder to locate items, perfect for a nice dinner at home without take-out pizza or the delivery fee and limitations.

If you have a chance, you may want to check out these options in your near future.

Whole Foods, good?

Here in Chicago, we have about 20 Whole Foods outlets. They have expanded their reach and audience rather rapidly over the last few years and are currently building a new one in the infamous Englewood neighborhood. So the question comes to mind, is this a good thing?

The Englewood neighborhood has been historically black and under-served for generations. The area is infamous for having some of the poorest residents of Chicago and a legacy of violence. These recent years, the city has been dedicated to improving the infrastructure in this area. There was a extremely dilapidated shopping district at the heart of the area which has been demolished and is being replaced. Abandoned properties have been knocked down after sitting idle for years and the available public housing has been revamped and repurposed. Kennedy King College, a long standing city college, has built a new campus in the neighborhood which was well over due.

Right near one of the busiest intersections of this area, Whole Foods is rapidly building a shopping center and their store is slatted to be the anchor. This outlet is across the street from the new college campus. Many residents are curious to find out if this will a profitable venture. I would agree that the area needs a grocery store of better quality than the other available offerings nearby, made up of mostly liquor stores with some groceries and a few low cost store chains. But is this the right move for the area?

Englewood is one of a few food deserts present in Chicago, and it has been that way for a while now. Residents have had to go outside of the neighborhood to buy groceries of quality for as least as I have been a resident, I am 45 and lived here all my life. The difficulty of living in a food dessert is two fold, the residents that can travel outside the neighborhood quickly, mostly by car, are spending their economic power in another neighborhood which keeps the other area vital and their area continues to degrade. Secondly, the residents that can't travel by car regularly to do their shopping are left with little option that to buy substandard food offerings which will degrade their health and leaves little economic improvement in their own area.

It is wonderful that there is an effort to make a course correction in this matter. However, Whole Foods has been among the priciest offerings available in this city, and the organic and other high priced food offerings are not familiar to the population of the area. I support the revamping efforts to bring that location back to being a vital and strong location. What no one knows yet, is if this will be successful. Many people are questioning if this is a signal that the city is not just improving the area that has been in such need or are we seeing the first signs of gentrification? Will the current residents embrace and be able to afford to support the store? Or is the store building there ahead of a change in the racial and economic shift in the residents? In Chicago, when a neighborhood makes changes like these, it usually means that the minority residents who have lived in that section for generations, will be pushed out and replaced with non-minority residents with much higher incomes.

The stroller crowd has been rapidly moving into a area of Chicago that is known as Boy's Town, it was a heaven of activity and housing for our LGBT people. With that shift in population, the area is being forced to close some long standing business and the lots of its residents can no longer afford the increasing property values since the area became popular and desirable.

Will the same shift happen in Englewood? Or will Whole Foods fail to improve the health and options of the residents? If the neighborhood is gentrified, where will poorest of the residents be push into next? If Whole Foods fails, will any other chain store be willing to build in the area and keep from having yet another closed store sit idle? I think, everyone wants the area to be improved, but how do you do this successfully??

Food Education and the Minority Chef

Everyone should learn to cook. I say this not because I am a chef, but because every life spent on this rock has the need to eat often and most of us will have a part of their lives in which they may not live with others.

Lots of food educations began in the kitchen with a parental unit. Stir the pot, roll the dough, bang the pots and pans, it all starts in a home kitchen. Many of us get to advance as we age, and some go on to cook for others. Culinary colleges have, in recent years, sprung up all over the place. Back in the Stone Age, when I went to culinary school, there were just a few American schools in which you could gain formal training in the arts. In fact, my alma matter, Lexington College, shuttered its doors.

Washburn Culinary College was a long standing institutional trade school of differing skills in the Chicago area. It has a rich history and the culinary college training program grew to be the best of its program offerings. In order to uphold that excellence, the culinary program is now apart of the City Colleges network residing in the Kennedy King College in Englewood neighborhood. It's original location was on the West side of Chicago and during the years after 1940, the West side changed its racial identity when Chicago's African American population began to take up residence in the area. Therefore, the student entering the trade school began to shift with the neighborhood residents.
http://forgottenchicago.com/articles/the-last-days-of-washburne/

During the years before the racial unrest of the civil rights movement, white flight, a trend of white people selling their homes once black faces became their neighbors, further changed the racial complexion of the area, and greater numbers of blacks began training at Washburn. Some of Chicago's best trained chefs were graduates of the Wasburn Culinary program. Since then a great number of colleges either added a culinary program or opened doors as only a culinary program.

It has been my experience that there is no shortage of minority representation in professional kitchens around Chicago, but the question is, how many of the top chefs, executive chefs, are from a minority background? We have always been in the fight for excellent food offerings in this city, and in many cities around the globe, Blacks and Hispanic workers are often more numerous than the non-minority workers. Hard working people with excellent food skills and dedication to the art are not limited to one group exclusively. But does the leadership of these fine outlets reflect the racial identity of the whole body of workers in the industry?

Add to this discussion, the lack of professional organizations such as fraternities, networking groups, and social societies for chefs, let alone minority culinarians. I am not saying that there aren't any but their aren't many, that's for sure. But why? Why is the default image of a chef the cartoon pizza chef with the chubby cheeks? I recently did a search online for clip art and logos of chefs, and very few were female and even fewer were minority females. I had to create my own version for my logo as none that I had found were in no way suitable.Why is it not uncommon to have a white male executive chef in charge of large numbers of chefs who do not look like them? Is the only female chef images limited to the Aunt Jemima pancake icon?

The recent boom in culinary schools opening, and now beginning to close, infused a large number of new graduates hungry for a position in a professional kitchen, and as those numbers of trained personnel grew, one must ask the question, where did all the black chefs go? Did the number of minority students increase with the advent of all the new outlets available to gain training? I am sure it did, even if just slightly. http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/black-chefs/

I live in one of the most segregated cities in the world, Chicago. We still have homogeneous neighborhoods all over this city. However, this city does have a wide wide range of differing ethic groups from around the globe. So, I ask, where is the great executive level chefs who's parents hail from India, Micronesia, South America, Mexico, and who are descended from our American Native groups or from the descendants of African slaves?

During the colonial years of this nation, a very large percentage of the meals cooked for the slave owners, and the Yankees too, were made by dark hands in servant quarters all over this nation. The traditional servitude positions were most often filled by dark or mixed members of society and this was one of the most readily available work for minorities after slavery, during the reconstruction, all throughout the civil rights movement, and many of us remain in these type of service oriented positions. I am not ashamed of what I do, but a large number of the upwardly mobile young professionals are quick to be dismissive once they ask you the $1,000,000 question "and what do you do for a living".

Here's the thing that most misunderstand about the civil rights movement and the feminist movement, in my opinion, the original goal of both of these movements was to expand the opportunities for women and minorities. The version of this in practice, done by a majority of people today, look down upon our profession as if we are just hired help with little dignity or professionalism. This is no different than a ERA movement member shaming her adult daughter's choice to have kids and a traditional marriage instead of becoming a CEO of a fortune 500 company. When attempting to gain equality, balance, just social order, stop thinking of us as less than for choosing a different path than yours. We chefs are highly skilled, and keep on gaining knowledge to keep up to the ever changing demands of our customers, diverse group of exacting professionals willing and able to make your events special and memorable.

Beep, beep, sell

When you say food truck nowadays, most folks think of the wave of gourmet mobile feasts available these days near offices and at fairs. But in reality, this category has had a long history and includes the childhood favorite, the ice cream truck. The push-carts filled with Hispanic Popsicles, elotes, fried treats at the carnivals, and the Thunderbird lunch trucks at construction sites all are in the same category. The difference today is that the humble carts have upgraded and refigured themselves to include fresh made and/or made in truck to order foods of an endless array. The common fast foods are still available on carts and trucks, but the new iteration has included all types of cuisines, specialties, and gourmet items, ethnic menus are particularly popular on trucks as customers are seeking new experiences from the everyday lunch brake.

Lunch carts, carts of produce, and snacks are not a new concept. The blue-collar workforce has been utilizing the "roach coaches"over many generations now in America. These outlets are typically smaller trucks than this new edition, and they offer mostly prepackaged and precooked items in hot holding and refrigerated compartments on board. The larger and more diverse offerings revamped the idea of movable foods as the "roach coaches" popularity was in decline, and the desire for something new to eat was increasing. Chefs with established businesses and new upcoming chefs, saw an opportunity to expand their audiences. The city of Chicago was a bit later to the scene as the legislation that governed the food service industry was too constrictive to permit the new style of trucks. This wave crashed into another new concept that also was not permitted in Cook County, the concept of the shared kitchen.

The shared kitchen concept is simple enough, a kitchen approved and inspected, would allow more than one licensed company to use its facility. This ruffled more than one feature at city hall and it took a legal battle to lessen the laws about this concept and the food trucks to get my city to realize the world was changing and we needed to be apart of the new wave instead of getting drowned by it. New York and Los Angeles both had jumped ahead of Chicago with this concept and other cities like St. Louis and Memphis were sit to join the wave.

Now that the legal battle is done, and food trucks are popping up all over like the pop-up restaurant phenomenon, Chicago is firmly set in the newest craze. A large part of the legal battle for Chicago was about the place of food preparation. Chicago did not want to give licenses to truck operations that would be cooking on the truck itself. The traditional lunch truck was stocked with items prepackaged and prepped foods from a licensed outlet, therefore, the truck was only serving food that was held at proper temperature. Culinarians in this city asked the question "if the preparing person is licensed to legally prepare food for sale, and the truck has the proper equipment, then why can't food be prepared on board?" Licenses were given to the cruise ships at Navy Pier to prepare food on-board so why can't a truck be licensed? Chicago was practically the last metropolis to approve of food truck operation, in fact we had the distinction of being the only city in the U.S. that did not allow food trucks to cook on board.

Food trucks are now having their own fests in small towns, suburban areas, special events, and even weddings, movie shoots, corporate picnics, and expos. The diversity of offerings and the locations that they can service is wide open now leading to a greater opportunity for increasing or building a dedicated audience for a chef. There is one bit yet that limits where a food truck can operate, they must park their trucks no closer than 200 feet away from any restaurant, which almost completely eliminates their ability to park in downtown Chicago.

The same safety and sanitation legislation that applies to brick and mortar food establishments apply to trucks, and most truck outlets either are an extension of a traditional restaurant or have a dedicated kitchen to produce or prep their food offerings.  Permits, additional licenses, health inspections, sanitation inspections, may all be required depending upon location of operation. All of this insures that the consumer is protected from negative impacts to their health from purchasing the food offerings.

No matter if the truck is an extension of your favorite restaurant, or something very new to you, they can offer a new dinning experience that may change your idea of what you are craving. Gourmet donuts, Philippine tacos, Spanish tapas, to Indian curries can be had by way of a short walk to your vendor's truck.