As scores of migrants are bused into New York City week after week, the “City That Never Sleeps” has found itself in the middle of a new food dilemma. While some migrants have expressed concern over receiving partially frozen or spoiled fare with little nutritional value, Rethink Food is stepping up to the plate with warm, nutrient-packed meals repurposed from some of New York City’s best eateries.
Rethink Food, which helped struggling restaurants feed New Yorkers in need during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, has inked a city contract to partner with restaurants to serve fresh meals to migrants.
“It’s cost-effective in a lot of ways because you’re not paying for shipping. You’re not buying things outside the city of New York,” Matt Jozwiak, Rethink’s founder, told News 4. “Really, if your tax dollars stay within New York City, that’s what’s going to make New York better.”
Since last spring, nearly 100,000 migrants have landed in New York City. Many arrive from Mexico after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Emergency relief centers throughout New York City are slammed. Most of the migrants are unable to work due to legal restrictions and are in desperate need of food and shelter. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has requested federal assistance in expediting work permits as the city navigates a problem that’s spiraling out of control.
However, the news cameras can only depict so much of the tragic situation. NPR correspondent Jasmine Garsd told PBS the shelter system is overwhelmed. “When I was at the Roosevelt Hotel, there were people who were sleeping outside for four, five, or six days during a heat wave and they were just waiting for intake,” she said. “I have spent quite a bit of time with homeless encampments of migrants and asylum seekers, many of whom told me they do not want to be inside of those shelters. The food is sometimes in bad condition and gets people sick.” Garsd further mentioned that she heard accounts of 80 to 90 people sharing one or two bathrooms.
Many migrants have resorted to sleeping on the streets. The weary people wrap around the block of the storied Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan — which has become a temporary home to the masses. The level of desperation isn’t lost on Rethink Food. The nonprofit says its commissary kitchen can fire up about 8,000 meals per day. Plenty of hands slice, chop, pack, and lift. Rethink counts among its network 140 restaurant partners, the majority of the eateries and businesses — a substantial 80% — are owned or led by women and/or minorities.
Since its inception in 2017, Rethink Food has recovered and used over 2 million pounds of excess or donated sustenance. It’s an idea that came organically to Jozwiak, who was working as a chef and saw firsthand how much perfectly good chow goes to waste in restaurants while people struggle with hunger.
Rethink Rolls Up Its Sleeves in The Bronx
While Manhattan has been overwhelmed with a need to aid food-insecure migrants, a few subway stops away in the South Bronx, Rethink Food is collaborating with Beatstro, the dining experience that pays tribute to the place where hip-hop was born. With a menu created by chefs Leonardo Marino and R.L. King, Beatstro fuses traditional Puerto Rican cuisine with Southern comfort foods for a culinary adventure consisting of mofonguitos — crispy plantain cups topped with mojo chicken and pickled onions — churrasco, shrimp and grits, yuca fries, and more. The eclectic fare is dished up inside a graffiti-splattered interior reminiscent of a ’70s or ’80s record shop.
Beatstro’s van has been delivering fresh food to shelters, plating 2,800 meals daily to migrants in need.
“Everyone deserves a good meal, no matter what situation you are in,” Beatstro’s head chef, Luis Martinez, told The New York Times. Once Beatstro’s team learned of Rethink Food’s community efforts to feed those most in need, they partnered with the organization in February to not only provide for migrants, but also to expand operations since the restaurant receives a flat rate in exchange for food delivered to shelter sites.
Jasmine Garcia, director of operations for Beatstro’s parent company, says the project is close to her heart, especially since she’s from an immigrant family. She noted that Beatstro has been serving wholesome repasts like rice and beans and chicken dishes that would remind migrants of their homelands. “Thousands of people a day are eating a good meal that I know is cooked with integrity,” she added.
Offering More for the Food Insecure
Beatstro isn’t the only way Rethink Food is giving back to the most vulnerable populations. Approximately 20,000 meals weekly are being handed out via nine participating restaurants, thanks to Rethink Food.
Brain Food in Brooklyn has prepared 150,000 meals with Rethink Food. The health-conscious cafe offers organic greens and grains, wild salmon, and other vegan, halal, Paleo, and keto dishes. It recently dished out fresh fish for “Fish Friday,” and owner Ali Ahmed said the eatery adds plenty of spice because he feels a delicious meal should be available for all.
“Everybody wants flavored food. Nobody wants bland, frozen meals,” Ahmed told NBC 4 New York.
Ahmed has been a New Yorker for 27 years and is now paying it forward by working with Rethink Food, which he credits with saving his business after the pandemic sent his booming enterprise to a screeching halt.
“Rethink Food legitimately saved my business,” Ahmed said on rethinkfood.org. “I would have probably had to have closed down within two to three weeks had it not been for them.”
In addition, Ahmed says Rethink Food supplied his restaurant with essential ingredients such as tofu and Beyond Meat.
As New York’s migrant situation shows no signs of slowing, Rethink Food is preparing to continue its efforts to feed those experiencing food insecurity throughout New York. Roughly one in 10 New Yorkers — or about 800,000 New York households — have experienced food insecurity since 2021. With 40% of the national food supply going in the trash, Rethink Food is working around the clock to reimagine ways to save it and put it in the bellies of those not being properly nourished.
“The community spirit is beyond what I could have imagined,” Jozwiak says. “Across all our work, we’ve continued building connections that take excess food directly to alleviate food insecurity.”
