Cover Story
A Second Helping
Recipe for Success helping fight the cause of hunger
by Paul McAvoy, Photography by Jeff Dachowski
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Parable Voices Recipe for Success Hear the sounds of the Recipe for Success’ bustling kitchen and insights from the people who make the program happen and from the students. 
CLICK HERE to listen to Parable Voices: Recipe for Success |
It’s 7:30 in the morning and outside a gray, concrete, nearly windowless building in downtown Manchester the first few people begin to filter in. Some park their cars and navigate the crumbling brick sidewalks to the entrance. Others are dropped off in the parking lot by friends or family before heading to the steel security door and going inside. They are a mix of ages and backgrounds — young and middle aged, men and women — but they all bring the same uniform: a white cotton shirt, dark pants, and a black hat.
Twenty minutes later, inside a state-of-the-art industrial kitchen, a professional culinary class gathers around a shimmering stainless steel table and watches Chef Jayson McCarter demonstrate how to properly julienne a carrot. His knife moves on the board like a locomotive drive, slicing forward and down in a controlled motion, as he explains how this cutting technique reduces stress on the hand tendons. Around him is a scene as colorful as the outside was bleak — red, green, and yellow peppers piled on tables; a tray of chicken waiting to be seasoned; potatoes, onions, celery, and parsley sitting in boxes — but all eyes are on Chef Jayson and the lesson at hand. Welcome to Recipe for Success.
Recipe for Success is the New Hampshire Food Bank’s newest approach to fighting hunger at the root causes. This four-part program combines culinary training (for employment in commercial food service), nutrition education, fresh rescue (the recovery and freezing of meats from super markets that are near the sell-by-date), and a community garden to help serve people at risk of hunger. The program’s multifaceted approach is just another way that the Food Bank, a program of New Hampshire Catholic Charities, is changing lives across the state.
An hour has gone by, and all of the culinary students have practiced the new technique. One by one, Chef Jayson rotates to each station to make minor adjustments and offer encouragement. “Alright,” he says, “let’s clean up and take a break. When we get back we’ll move on to making today’s meal. Good job, guys.”
He motions as the class finishes cleaning up and students head to the coffee room for a mid-morning snack or outside for a cigarette. “This is a good group,” he says.
Recipe for Success started with a simple question — what can the New Hampshire Food Bank do to make sure more people don’t have to rely on food pantries? Through conversations with New Hampshire Catholic Charities and looking at other programs, they began to get to the root of the problem. Nutrition education and a living wage emerged as key factors in eliminating chronic hunger.
Food banks have always functioned as part of the emergency food system. However, people who are unemployed and underemployed have a difficult time meeting their basic needs and can become reliant on food pantries. Recipe for Success is an approach to break this cycle by teaching employable job skills, providing Operation Frontline nutrition education for families through workshops and small classes, and opening up access to fresh vegetables and healthy meats.
It’s a new turn on the familiar adage: Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach him to fish, he eats for a lifetime.
The genius of this program is the way it is carried out. The culinary training course is held several times a year. It is a serious commitment, requiring eight weeks of full time training. These participants are not receiving a handout — they are working hard and giving something back. As the students pick up valuable job skills, they cook hearty dishes that are donated to a local after-school program. As they learn to cook, they learn the basics of nutrition and what is healthy for their families.
Each meal Chef Jayson teaches makes dozens of servings — cooking 50 or 60 portions of chicken, meatballs, and other favorites is good practice for getting students used to a commercial kitchen. These large dishes are packaged as single meals and donated every day to the Boys and Girls Club of Manchester, or frozen for delivery at the Keene Community Kitchen.
Culinary students know their lessons are feeding hungry children. For some kids, this might be the only hot meal outside of school lunch programs. It’s easy to underestimate the impact of this, but when chefs know that hungry kids are looking forward to their meal, it gives them that boost to do their best. By getting the participants involved in giving to their community, Recipe for Success is redefining charity.
“Not only are the students being trained in the kitchen and learning to better themselves,” says Helen Costello, program manager of Recipe for Success, “but they’re giving back to the community by making meals for the Boys and Girls club.” She breaks into a grin. “They get really excited about being able to give back.”
“When you watch what this means for the kids [at the Boys and Girls club],” Chef Jayson explains, “It’s really something. You see that kid in line who is a little shy, but he comes up for a second helping and he shakes your hand and says ‘thank you.’ You know you’ve made a difference.”
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The classes cover everything from knife basics to advanced prep and cooking techniques, all inside the New Hampshire Food Bank’s new commercial kitchen (built with the generosity of donors). Behind a brightly colored yellow wall, classes go on five days a week. On the other side of that wall, the warehouse-world of the Food Bank hums along, providing surplus and wholesale food to over 374 soup kitchens, food pantries, and agencies throughout the state.
For many of these students, this class represents a second, or third, chance at a good life. Some have held other careers for years, and some have had a hard time holding a job at all. Tough stories are common — a lack of direction and poor choices have closed doors for a few of the students. For others, this eight-week course is the first real opportunity for career training they’ve had.
Student funding for the course is paid for through scholarships made up from donations, but every student must show dedication, purpose, and a will to learn. They have to be able to attend daily classes from early in the morning until mid-afternoon, provide for their own transportation, and if necessary, their own child care. All applicants sit down for a preliminary interview before being accepted into the class.
Not everyone who starts the program finishes. But for those graduates who do, Recipe for Success provides each of them with the ServSafe Manager’s Certification — a gold standard in the restaurant industry that is achieved by passing a difficult 90-question test. ServSafe certification says to a head chef at a restaurant that these students know how to work in a commercial kitchen.
“It’s an intense test,” says Michael Campbell, a recent graduate who first heard about Recipe for Success through a Craigslist posting. “But with it you can go to a restaurant and they know that you know how to store food, cook it, present it at the right temperatures, and handle raw foods safely.” Maybe that’s why the job placement rates have been so good for the culinary classes. From the first few classes, over 80% are now employed in the hospitality industry and making a better wage then they did before.
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“My favorite part [of teaching] is providing motivation,” Chef Jayson says. “I like taking people who might be intimidated or feel they can’t accomplish something, and showing them that they can do it.”
Intimidation is one thing that Jayson won’t allow, but his resume does command respect. A career in the Navy brought him to the White House to serve as a chef for 2 1/2 years in the early nineties, and a photo on the kitchen wall shows him in the Oval Office with President Clinton. After cooking for dignitaries, heads of state, and the first family on a regular basis, Jayson continued on his culinary career. He’s worked in nearly every aspect of the field, from owning his own restaurant to being a food service director at a nursing home. The students draw on his experience daily.
“I enjoy working with Jayson,” says Marc Caron, a recent student. “He’s got a lot of talent and skill, and he’s someone I can stand next to and really learn from.”
The students, Chef Jayson says, are the best part of the job. Watching them gain confidence in the kitchen is what makes his work so rewarding.
“If you give someone the chance to try things without worrying about failing, that’s what helps,” Jayson explains. “That’s an awkward step to make, but that’s how you teach. One student has a job at a restaurant and he’s doing awesome. He’s much more comfortable in the kitchen than when he first came here, and much more confident. He’s walking tall, and that’s great.”
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The smell of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and homemade stuffing fills the Food Bank kitchen. The students are lined up, dishing each meal onto a tray, and then packing it into special Cambro units that will help keep the food hot during transport. They’re laughing and joking as they wind down the day and get ready to drive the food over to the Boys and Girls club. Ask each one of them and they will say that this is one of their favorite parts of the day — the delivery gives them a chance to be heroes and role models for the inner city children they serve.
As this class nears graduation, they have come a long way and they are feeling good about their achievements. The students know they may have a tough road ahead of them, but you can already see how Recipe for Success has changed their lives. Now, they have the confidence that comes with knowing they can do a job well. They have the self-esteem that builds from investing themselves in their work and a worthy cause. They have made good friendships, given countless hours to charity, met local chefs and owners of restaurants, diced and carved a variety of fresh foods, learned to flambé, and served a five-star meal. Along the way they have realized a valuable lesson, namely, that the fastest way to help oneself just might be to reach out and help those in need.