Food as Connection. Food as Political

June 5, 2020

At the beginning of COVID-19 crisis, several East Boston based community building and social movement organizations began collaborating under the umbrella of Mutual Aid Eastie. The idea was that neighbors with abundance could share with or support neighbors in need. It was our commitment from the beginning that not a single child and not a single adult in Eastie should go hungry. We honestly had no idea what we were getting ourselves into but we were going to figure it out because that’s what organizers and activists do.

Early on, I learned from one of our Muslim neighbors that they were unable to take advantage of the Boston Public Schools’ (BPS) meals because they are not halal. In Boston, as in other places around the country, the school meal programs alleviate the food insecurity suffered by a significant number of young people, particularly in communities of color and immigrant communities. But, it turns out, the meals offered by BPS have never been halal. So the system they set up to make sure that none of the school children go hungry still wasn’t serving our Muslim families. I made a note of this systemic inequity to deal with later and set about looking for someone who could provide halal meals at least for this one family for this one weekend.

Said El-mennaouy, owner of Tamaris Cuisine, had signed up on our online form to make meals for families in need. And it turned out, all of his cooking is halal. He was happy to make a meal for this one family but what he really wanted to do is make meals for the entire community. The kitchen he was using for his catering business was shut down. But if we could find a kitchen for him to prep and cook in, he could do it.

So I called up our local YMCA and they agreed to allow Said to use the community teaching kitchen for this. Agreements were written and signed. And thus began my adventures in organizing halal meals to be delivered to or picked up by families in and around East Boston.

This is the first time I’ve felt a part of the community

To find families, I called the Parent Partners program at the East Boston Social Centers. This group of mothers assists families with young children to get connected to resources and to each other. About half of the group are immigrants from Morocco or Algeria. Assia Bouaou identified the first set of families in East Boston who we could serve. I put out a call to the neighbors who volunteered to do grocery deliveries. On the first day, we delivered 50 meals to 15 families. It was a simple meal of chicken, rice, and salad. It was halal. And, according to the families who received a meal, it was delicious.

Within a week, we doubled the number of families being served and tripled the number of meals. Delivery drivers recruited more delivery drivers. The Muslim community recruited delivery drivers. The schools recruited delivery drivers. People across the community donated money. One neighbor, Amanda Stegmann, who also happens to be a licensed dietician/ nutritionist, stepped up to be my on-site coordinator in addition to delivery driver. We made sure to respect the wishes of families during Ramadan while also ensuring children were fed. So many people stepped up. So many mistakes were made. And people gave each other grace and mercy.

We’re currently providing over 200 halal meals twice a week for families in East Boston, Chelsea, Winthrop, and Revere. Most of the families we serve are immigrants from Morocco, Algeria, and Somalia. In their experience, the public schools never took seriously the commitment to halal. I learned that some of the Muslim children would simply not eat during the school day. These families have never had anyone outside their own community ask them what they need or invited them into community efforts like this. One parent told us, “This is the first time I’ve felt a part of the community.”

Building connection. Building Power.

Tamaris Cuisine’s twice a week midday meal service will end on June 19. This is not because of lack of funding. With the assistance of the East Boston YMCA and a grant from Mutual Aid Eastie, we’ve been able to cover most of the expenses. But the YMCA’s kitchen will be needed for their summer programs. And Said’s first child will be born at the end of June. His attention will, rightly, be needed elsewhere. Tawakal Café, a Somali halal restaurant in East Boston, will provide halal meals for pick up at the meal sites across the neighborhood. After June 19, I can finally hang up my meal delivery logistics apron.

In reflecting on this experience as a socio-political scholar, I’m reminded of the important role food plays in our lives beyond keeping us alive. Food is connection to culture. It’s frequently a component of ritual. Sharing food can also be a bridge across difference, as we are seeing here in Eastie. Residents who we’ve brought together in this effort are planning virtual community gatherings where Latinx, White, and North and East African neighbors can get to know each other. We are connecting across and through our differences.

I also know that denying access to food or the ability to grow food has been used across history to control or destroy entire groups of people. What food is made available and to whom by those in power is one of the clearest indications of who matters. The scale of food insecurity and other inequities we are living with in East Boston requires the government to get its act together to meet the needs of everyone in our community. And in this way, food is political.

What this experience has shown me is that mutual aid, for East Boston at least, is not just a feel-good endeavor to help those in need. And it isn’t just crisis management in the face of government failure. Feeding our neighbors is a political act that says: we reject systems that leave any of our neighbors behind. If, by the end of 10 weeks of late nights and early mornings and a whole lot of stress, we have a community better able to work together to address the many structural inequities that predate and have been exacerbated by the pandemic, it will have been worth it.

Neenah Estrella-Luna is a scholar-practitioner and advocate focusing on issues related to social justice, social relations, and democratic governance. ... As an educator, she teaches courses related to race and social relations, Whiteness, law and society, and social inequality.

For our statement, please see our Food for Thought “Silence isn’t an option”