The other night at the Wiltern Theater (one of my favourites in LA) was the launch of Chef Roy Choi’s new show Broken Bread. People, this is a show for us all to watch. Not just because I have a chef crush on Roy (love is cooking, love his outlook), not just because it’s a show looking and some great food in LA but because it is a show that makes you think.
This show address important things like food equity and recognition for people who are fighting to make as difference in their community. It made me think about a lot things.
For the premier, chef Roy Choi came out to speak about why this project had been so appealing to him. How it was a perfect tie in for his own activism and food love, and when you heard him speak on the night and in the show, that was abundantly clear. It’s strange, but I had this amazing sense of pride for him, despite not actually knowing him, because it was clear how much had been put into this show and what it meant to him.
The premier also featured a panel of people from the show, talking about their experience and answering questions from the host. During the discussion panel a statement was made that really resonated with me:
We pay good money because we value the chef, or because we value the produce or concept they are using. Why then, do we not pay the same value for people who are contributing to their community?
Or, it was something like that. But what a powerful question, why are we placing the same value or even higher for people doing these things? If you are in the LA area, Broken Bread will introduce you to business that are doing just that for you to support. I’m off to Dough Girl this weekend, not only did those pizzas look damn good, Mar Diego is out there working her ass off to make a difference for people.
If you have any suggestions for other places for me to add to my list, it’s something I am going to start consciously doing: looking for businesses with social purpose. Now if you aren’t in the LA area, there will be people in your city doing the same thing. Seek them out, support them.
During the panel they asked the question “what is needed to make this scale-able”, a question that should be playing on all of our minds when we watch. Olympia Auset (founder of Suprmarkt) replied with something important (yes I am paraphrasing again) :
We need you to support our businesses. Yes we need capital, and we need people to visit our establishments but we also need your skills and your connections. We don’t all have access to the type of people in your network or have the experience in doing some of the things our businesses need.
These are all things we can do, that will make a difference.
Broken Bread airs on KCET on the 15th May and is also showing on Tastemade [ The series will also air on May 21 on Link TV, DirecTV, and Dish Network, and episodes will also be available on brokenbread.tv and on the free PBS app. ] do what you need to do to watch this show, it’s one we all need to see.
Jilltopia 