HOMETOWN HELPERS: Migrant Kitchen shifts to halal to provide food to Muslim households during Ramadan
Title : HOMETOWN HELPERS: Migrant Kitchen shifts to halal to provide food to Muslim households during Ramadan
Link : HOMETOWN HELPERS: Migrant Kitchen shifts to halal to provide food to Muslim households during Ramadan
Workers at the Migrant Kitchen prepare halal meals to provide to food insecure families during the season of Ramadan. The Migrant Kitchen, a social conscious caterer, provides over 6,500 halal meals a day to different shelters, pantries, and mosques around the city.(Wes Parnell/New York Daily News)
The mix of music is almost as eclectic as the mix of cuisine inside the Migrant Kitchen.
Mariachi, Shakira, ACDC and Queen blare through speakers as workers from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East grill halal chicken, prepare chimichurri and sprinkle za’atar on a variety of dishes.
But the Migrant Kitchen, a socially conscious Manhattan caterer staffed almost entirely by immigrants and refugees, shifted its focus during New York’s coronavirus outbreak after the city essentially shut down. It switched to a non-profit model and started receiving donations to produce 6,500 halal meals a day for food insecure families during Ramadan, the Muslim holiday that ends May 23.
Workers at the Migrant Kitchen prepare halal meals to provide to food insecure families during the season of Ramadan. (Wes Parnell/New York Daily News)
"When the shutdown happened, having lived in Palestine in shutdowns, I knew there would be food shortages especially in food insecure places like the Bronx and some parts of Queens,” said Migrant Kitchen co-founder Nasser Jaber.
The kitchen also donated meals to hospitals around the city including Lenox Hill in Manhattan, Elmhurst in Queens and King’s County in Brooklyn. Workers helped out on a volunteer basis until a GoFundMe page was set up that raised over $100,000.
The Migrant Kitchen, a social conscious caterer, provides over 6,500 halal meals a day to different shelters, pantries, and mosques around the city. (Wes Parnell/New York Daily News)
After partnering with World Central Kitchen, Migrant Kitchen expanded to five locations, reinstated wages for cooks at $20 to $25 an hour and set up partnerships with distributors.
When Jabar heard from local organizations that there was a need to get high-quality halal meals to as many families as possible over Ramadan, the company decided to concentrate on providing halal meals to shelters, pantries and mosques around the city.
“We have received a lot of requests from the Muslim community and there aren’t a lot of ways to provide halal food at the shelters, and a lot of people are culturally ashamed to stand in line to get meals," Jabar said. “So we teamed up with mosques and local organizations to distribute (the food).”
Inside Migrant Kitchen’s Midtown location recently, six cooks chopped, ladled, and seasoned while wearing masks and working 6 feet apart. Chef Ryan Graham, 36, coordinated the operation from in front of a flaming grill.
A worker packs halal meals for families during Ramadan. (Wes Parnell/New York Daily News)
“The wavelength is like we need to feed these people and do whatever we can to make them happy,” Graham said. “We are cooking all halal, we are really focusing on Ramadan specifically because people are fasting and we want them to have food to eat to feel energetic and healthy.”
Juan Mendoza, 49, diced fennel his first day on the job after the restaurant he worked for shut down for the pandemic. Whatever he earned was to keep his family afloat.
“I came to work here because I need it,” Mendoza said. “Anything right now, at this time, helps.”
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HOMETOWN HELPERS: Migrant Kitchen shifts to halal to provide food to Muslim households during Ramadan
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