Under Construction

The Commissary kitchen and the old FSTA classroom are abuzz with construction.  Pasted on the long wall of the classroom is the architect's plan. It shows the projected transformation -- about 40% more kitchen space, including new ovens, sinks and and worktables. Tucked into the new kitchen area are glass enclosed staff offices. Students in the kitchen, beware! Even from their desks, the chefs have an unobstructed view of the action.
 
At the end of May, workers began covering kitchen surfaces with plastic sheeting. Since then, they have removed office walls, extended the wareroom (where pots, pans and utensils are washed), and built a staircase to the new second floor teaching area. Now they are installing new lights, new flooring and new room dividers.
 
Temporarily, the chefs have set up shop, along with the office administrator, Rosemarie Murray, in the middle of the cafeteria. Their make-shift desks overflow with order forms, cookbooks, teaching materials, and reports of job openings. Some paper files are not accessible, and only one regular phone line is working. 
 
On the floor above the kitchen is the new classroom. Actually, it's three rooms, divided by sliding doors: one for lectures, a second for computers, and a third for group meetings and other activities. An office for the FSTA social worker, Darryl Parraway, will be at the entrance to the formal classroom area.
 
Expansion is costly. Where did the money come from, people are asking?  Who was the generous donor? About a year ago, in a multimillion dollar settlement against an unnamed food corporation using products containing MSG, America's Second Harvest (the Foodbank Network now known as Feeding America) was the lucky beneficiary. Monies flowed to foodbanks in New Jersey and more than 20 other states. The Community FoodBank of NJ received $1.4 million, of which $200,000 was allotted to expanding the commissary kitchen (including new classroom space) and another $100,000 to new kitchen equipment.
 
On every construction site, the upside of disorder is promise. For the FSTA, the buzz words are new and clean, bigger and better. There is a virginal wareroom, starring "the Cadillac of dishwashers," a MEIKO, costing $28,000 which is completely automatic. It's the best, Executive Chef Paul Kapner says, as he runs his hand appreciatively over the gleaming metal surfaces. 
 
The Executive Chef, who prides himself on making do, is enamored of high quality, labor-saving gadgets.  While he's concerned about good workspace, good storage, good light and good vibes, he enthuses about ovens and grills, slicers and mixers. Fortunately, in this season of expansion, Chef Paul has come into another unexpected windfall. Just as the construction project was getting underway, the Conoco Phillips Corporation closed a dining facility and offered the FoodBank its equipment. This is a great haul, Chef Paul says. In a corner of the warehouse, where the items are stored, he points to two refrigerators, a 15' stainless steel table, a stand-alone convection oven, an ice machine and a flattop griddle.  Then he picks up a fancy, free standing tomato slicer. This thing sells for $250, he says, and what a difference it makes in the presentation of salads. He's happy to inherit a spigot-style "water fountain", the kind that busboys in big restaurants use to fill glasses of water. Perhaps the fountain will allow the FoodBank to cut down on plastic, non-bio-degradable water bottles. Perhaps this gift will advance "green thinking" at the school. (But that's a story for another time.)
 
At this moment, what counts is the project under construction. In America, and in most parts of the world, we believe that bigger is better. New, enlarged spaces lift our spirits. They encourage us to dream. When the next FSTA class arrives for Orientation on Monday, 22 June, the renovations will be close to complete. Chef Paul and his staff will invoke the new kitchen and classrooms like a mantra of well being. It's a sign, he'll tell 70 new students, some eager for the training and others uncertain, of the FoodBank's commitment to the FSTA and its students. It's a sign, he'll say, that we're improving the program. Look around you, others on the staff will chime in: this “state of the art” kitchen is for you.
 
 
 
 
Doris Friedensohn
15 June 2009

(Doris Friedensohn is Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies at New Jersey City University. She writes about eating, education, feminism, and social change. A chapter in her food memoir, Eating as I Go: Scenes from America and Abroad, published in 2006 by the University Press of Kentucky, deals with the Food Service Training Academy.)