Cooking up community and creativity
Cooking Crew member Fenelys (front) plates sticky chicken under the supervision of Chef Bean (rear)
Running a restaurant isn’t easy. AS220 has offered a variety of food options since the ‘90s, from a cafe counter to a sit-down eatery. In alignment with the values of our youth program, our kitchen also offered entry-level jobs and training to young people. Even in the best of times, it was hard to make the numbers work – but the pandemic and changes to downtown office occupancy and foot traffic were the last straws. After a period of dormancy, we’re now remixing and rethinking what our kitchen can be.
The kitchen at AS220 has been cooking at full throttle since July, not as a commercial business, but as an educational space. The Cooking Crew, a group of young people taking part in AS220’s Summer Jobs program, are being introduced to the culinary arts under the watchful eye of Chef Adena "Bean" Marcelino, who has years of professional experience with running restaurants and catering operations.
Bean's goal is to teach her students hands-on skills in the kitchen that will serve them for the rest of their lives.
"When they go into adulthood, they’ll have a base of knowledge of how to cook affordably, easily, and in a way that they'll actually enjoy the food that they eat."
When I stopped by to see what was being whipped up, it was a whirlwind of activity: puff pastries, whipped cream, and sweet potato filling, all made from scratch, for sweet potato hand pies. I had already missed a busy morning session.
“They made a sticky chicken sauce from scratch, they learned how to fry chicken wings, how to glaze a sticky chicken sauce, and how to bake chicken to make sticky chicken wings. They also made fried rice using that sauce.”
Cooking Crew member Sa’qure enjoys the fruits of her labor
If that sounds like a high-pressure production schedule, Cooking Crew member Fenelys says it’s anything but.
“I enjoy how creative we can get. Everybody can be themselves in the kitchen, and if somebody messes up, that’s OK. You can just redo it. It’s a work in progress.”
Food made with love and care nourishes the soul as well as the body, as AS220 Artistic Director Anjel Newmann explains.
“We wanted young people to experience the kitchen as more than a place to prepare meals. We wanted it to become a space where they could express creativity, learn practical skills, collaborate with one another, and care for their community.”
Cooking Crew member Fenelys adds the finishing touches to a sweet potato hand pie
While downtown offices and workers may not be at pre-COVID numbers, our neighborhood has become home to numerous schools and after-school programs and the hundreds of students who attend them. Despite this, the landscape is not designed to accommodate these young people once the bell rings.
Newmann hopes to change that.
“My hope is that AS220’s kitchen becomes the foundation for a youth-centered café that is designed for and operated by young people, and rooted in creativity, hospitality, and community. A place where students can stop after school to grab an affordable meal or drink, charge their phones, work on homework, read a book, meet friends, or simply spend time in a space where they feel welcomed and valued. This summer’s Cooking Crew is the first step toward that larger vision.”
Cooking Crew member Nariah is pleased with her homemade sweet potato hand pie