FRONT LINE RECIPES cooking for health heroes
I woke up one morning and everything had changed. I had seven restaurants and then there were none. All closed from one day to the next; New York, Montecito, Lanai, Cabo, Miami, Malibu, Lido. all our doors were shut, and no reopen date was in sigth. Japan was set to open on March 26, but COVID-19 had other plans.
In Malibu and Lido we tried to roll with the punches and the daily changes, the fear, the conflicting news, the heartbreak of the outbreak. We tried food “to go” and we sold curbside items but found ourselves reduced to basically hawking toilet paper on pacific coast highway and I lost hope.
I visited my friend Larry our local farmer and realized he needed help, and so I sent manager Mitch off the pier, and out to temporary “pasture” aka becoming a farm hand…..and perhaps he would finally stop smoking, breath some fresh air and learn about farming. Manager Sunshine Susy also helped at the farm stand. Four days per week would be farm days, we were back on the farm and it felt good. Larry Thorne Family farm
Then we partnered with a charity Offtheirplate.org and began cooking for hospital front line workers around the Los Angeles area. We set a brand goal to provide 10,000 meals before this pandemic is over, whatever “over” really means. We sent our meals to Children’s hospital LA, UCLA, Kaiser, Centinalla and Cedars.
Week one we made 500 meals, six feet apart, mask, gloves, hand washing chart, sanitized counters, coolers, delivery van, and time that had stood still finally began to move slowly forward again, one hospital meal of hope at a time. Week two 650 meals, but end of week 5 we will have cooked 3,605 meals.
Join our journey, as we share our recipes here.
Stay home, stay safe, stay hopeful, start cooking.
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