Jos Andrs: We Have a Food Crisis Unfolding Out of Sight.

[elleng]

'America has fed millions through disasters before. Mobilize restaurant workers now. by José Andrés
Mr. Andres is a chef, restaurant owner and founder of the nonprofit World Central Kitchen.

Writing in the middle of two devastating cholera pandemics in the early 1800s, the great French culinary thinker Brillat-Savarin articulated a truth we urgently need to grasp today: “The destiny of nations depends on how they feed themselves.”

The coronavirus pandemic threatens to create both a public health and economic catastrophe. But we cannot afford to ignore the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding out of sight.

Our fate as a nation depends on how we feed our most vulnerable citizens through this crisis. If our leaders step up now with federal aid, food can be the solution — supporting millions of jobs while also feeding millions of people in desperate need.

There is historical precedent for spending federal dollars to preserve jobs and serve the public: the Works Progress Administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Over eight years, the W.P.A. put more than eight million Americans to work, building schools, hospitals and vital infrastructure. Today we need a W.P.A. to feed America. In honor of one of its food programs, I suggest calling this new emergency relief America Eats Now.

We know this model works because we have proved the concept by feeding our fellow citizens through several recent disasters.

When my nonprofit World Central Kitchen arrived in Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane Maria, we faced the twin challenges of feeding an island when its economy had flatlined. . .

Isolation may be the best option for avoiding the pandemic, but our parents and grandparents still need to eat to be healthy in body and soul. The plight of Italy’s elderly is an unspeakable tragedy that we should avoid at all costs.

Now is the time to stand up the private sector — our neighborhood restaurants — to sustain the lives of our elderly neighbors.

Congress is currently contemplating a $54 billion request to support our airlines. I respectfully request that at least a similar amount be dedicated to America Eats Now, so that our restaurants and delivery partners can feed our elderly citizens and deliver meals to their doorsteps.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/opinion/restaurants-coronavirus-food-aid.html?

[dweller]

1. fatnixon

hates Chef Andres, so i doubt he'll want to do anything to help AEN

✌🏼

[babylonsister]

2. "The destiny of nations depends on how they feed themselves."

I believe that.

[Aquaria]

5. They're already cracking down at HEB, our local grocery chain

You can only get one pack of toilet paper. One pack of bottled water. 1 bag of sugar or flour. X number of each kind of canned goods (don't remember the number right now). And so on.

Can't speak for all of the stores, but where my husband works, they're letting in only 20 people at a time to shop, as well. You can't even get a cart unless you go through an employee--who has sterilized it for you before you touch it. All of the other carts and baskets are LOCKED UP.

From things they're doing with hours, pay and assorted supply moves, I'm guessing that the Soviet-style empty shelves will last until Easter. I know I won't be shopping in person until I can go back to a store that looks like it did the last time I shopped, before the hoarding locusts descended like the plague to ravage the supply chain.

[Aquaria]

4. I'd rather that money not go to the airlines at all

And instead go to people like Jose Andres to feed hungry Americans.

It will do far more good than any airline bailout. Let those assholes live off their stock buybacks, and go fuck themselves otherwise.