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The world’s richest nation grows more food than its citizens can consume, but now struggles to get all that food through the vital supply lines leading to their tables.  

Instead, the unprocessed food is being dumped, smashed, depopulated or “humanely euthanized” in quantities not seen since the Great Depression. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has sent the country spiraling down to a new normal. Many states are under stay-at-home orders and most businesses are on lockdown. The resulting mass unemployment and growing food insecurity, highlight the dependence on a fragile, if efficient, food supply system. 

This supply chain was designed largely using the precise just-in-time management system, which focuses on moving supplies only as needed, with minimal storage and reduced costs as its benefits. 

But the pandemic has exposed flaws in this system. It is no longer working smoothly.

“The food supply chain is breaking,” Tyson Foods chairman, John Tyson, said in a recent blog post regarding the operational challenges large food providers were having. 

Staff shortages from sickened workers have compounded the initial problem of the sudden drop in commercial demand for fresh vegetables, meat and dairy from large farms. 

Restaurants, hotels and schools were some of their biggest customers, and with their closing, there were no quick pivots to process massive amounts of food into smaller, consumer-ready packaging.

These mega farms are operating at a loss, as they are forced to continue destroying livestock and crops they cannot sell. 

Many grocers scramble to keep their store shelves stocked to meet increased demand from shoppers stuck at home.  And many newly jobless Americans are lining up, often for hours at a time, at food banks.

This unforeseen food waste catastrophe could have possibly been mitigated with a more decentralized food supply system.  A vast local network of farms, scattered across the country, could better handle individual crises than the limited group of farming monopolies that now exist.

Over the last 30 years, more and more farms and meat processing plants were consolidated. Currently, about 50 factories process more than 95 percent of the nation’s beef supply. 

The raw milk industry is dominated by several large companies, who distribute their supply on a regimented distribution system that cracked under speed and scope of the pandemic. 

The glaring contrast of food waste and want has caught the nation’s attention. 

In response, President Donald Trump recently announced a  $19 billion relief package to shore up farmers and purchase their excess products.  

Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, said President Trump and the US Department of Agriculture were “standing with farmers, ranchers, and all citizens to make sure they were taken care of.” 

Up to $3 billion of the relief package was allotted to purchase fruits, vegetables, dairy and meats to be distributed to food banks and other community organizations nationwide.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, speaking at a press conference, also addressed the disconnect between food on farms that were not getting to the people who needed help most.

“This is just a total waste to me,” Cuomo said. “We have people downstate who need food and farmers upstate who can’t sell their product.”

The governor’s solution is to create a $25 million Nourish New York initiative where food banks throughout the state purchase food from upstate farmers and redistribute it to locations with need.

In East Elmhurst, Queens, one of the New York neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic, the first van loads of produce arrived on Friday, producing much needed relief to those waiting in line.

Speaking to Eyewitness News at the food distribution site, State Senator Jessica Ramos said many of her constituents were immigrants and “they are running out of cash, they don’t have money for rent, they don’t have money for food.”

The distributions will continue every Friday and Saturday at 11 a.m. as long as needed.

Meanwhile, some farms and related co-ops are donating food directly to food banks to help stem the amount of food being discarded.

The Dairy Farmers of America co-op has sent over a quarter million gallons of milk that would have otherwise been dumped to food banks.

“It’s just a drop in the bucket,” one senior executive, Jackie Klippenstein, said in a recent New York Times article regarding the donation. “But we had to do something.”

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I have been quarantining in my tiny teeny West Village studio for almost two months now. The virus and news of anti-Asian attacks in New York and across the country have successfully scared me off the outside world. But there is one problem — my pocket apartment doesn’t come with a kitchen and I can’t really cook. So I have been ordering delivery for nearly every meal. 

While I am worried that I might catch the virus from receiving the food from the delivery people, contactless delivery, where the driver leaves the food in front of my door and I express my gratitude by tipping them on the app, has really helped. 

This is a look into my unhealthy quarantine diet.

Grubhub delivery order from Bus Stop Cafe in the West Village outside my door, April 11, 2020. Photo by Keighton Li.

Pasta Bolognese from Bus Stop Cafe in the West Village, April 11, 2020. Photo by Keighton Li

DoorDash delivery order from Boka St Marks Place outside my door, April 9, 2020. Photo by Keighton Li

Kimchi fried rice with spam from Boka St Marks Pl, April 9, 2020. Photo by Keighton Li

UberEATS delivery order from Blank Slate Coffee + Kitchen in Nomad outside my door, April 18, 2020. Photo by Keighton Li

Bacon scramble from Blank Slate Coffee + Kitchen in Nomad, April 18, 2020. Photo by Keighton Li

Grubhub delivery order from Shu Han Ju in the West Village outside my door, April 22, 2020. Photo by Keighton Li

Mapo Tofu from Shu Han Ju in the West Village, April 27, 2020. Photo by Keighton Li

Dig delivery order outside my door, April 28, 2020. Photo by Keighton Li

Charred chicken bowl from Dig, April 28, 2020. Photo by Keighton Li

UberEATS delivery order from Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in Chelsea outside my door, April 30, 2020. Photo by Keighton Li

Fried chicken and a side of biscuit from Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in Chelsea, April 30, 2020. Photo by Keighton Li

This is a project of  Lori Grinker’s  NYU graduate photojournalism class.

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Truck drivers — essential workers that have continued to deliver goods during the coronavirus pandemic — have pulled into this lot in Centerville, Ohio since late March to grab anything from burgers to pulled pork cooked by Mackenzie Manley, owner of Mack’s.

“My parking lot is huge and empty,” said Manley, whose bar sits in a strip mall with a lot large enough for semis to easily enter and exit. “We’re only 2 miles off the highway… and we get a bunch of supply trucks going by.” 

“I tried to make it look nice and homey,” she added. “I even write jokes on [the] pizza boxes.”

Since Manley first opened the tavern in February 2015, she had kept late hours, offering drink specials and a sizable space for patrons to watch sports and play darts or pool. 

But after Ohio imposed a mandatory quarantine last month, Manley has had to change the way she does business. She had seen Facebook posts about drive throughs that wouldn’t allow large vehicles, and quickly got to work setting up a station to service truckers. She now closes six hours early and only has two employees scheduled to work per day—one to cook, and another to run food out and sanitize the table between customers.

“I’m on day 16 of [working] 12 hour days,” Manley said. 

The bar turned curbside food joint also features a new best-selling meal for Centerville’s locals: the take-and-bake pizza that customers can finish cooking at home. They can add on a 24 pack of beer too, which Manley sells at the state minimum to compete with surrounding grocery chains.

Pizza and a joke for Truckers and others who stop by Mack’s Tavern in Centerville, Ohio.

A large part of her success comes from the bar’s Facebook page, where frequent posts encourage people to stop by for a burger and chips.

“The response is overwhelming,” Manley said, who has even received some hand-drawn thank you notes from kids who live in the area. “We’ve got quite a few customers that have come here because of that post that have never been here before.”

Despite the outpour of support, Manley worries about the future of her business. 

“What am I gonna do? We’re not a food place. We sell the food to keep people here drinking,” she said.  “We don’t make a profit.”

“I’m just gonna stay open as long as I can so my employees have money to pay their rent,” she added. “And then the day we say we can open… I am opening at 5:30 a.m…. And I am going to have one heck of a party.”

Emily Glass is an NYU undergraduate journalism student.

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Little Italy’s 93rd annual San Gennero Feast on Mulberry Street  is keeping up with the times and changing diets of New Yorkers and tourists.

“Most gelato is not gluten-free, but ours is,” said Burcian Isik, 44, the owner of stand called Gelato. “We try to stay up to date with the popular healthier food options and offer new flavors every year.”

Gelato is primarily gluten-free pastries, desserts like gelato, Italian cookies and cannoli. They recently switched over.

 “Our new strategy helps bring us more business every year,” Isik said. “We have noticed the growth of veganism and just stricter diets overall. We started using milk instead of cream.

She said the stand is now selling its first first vegan option, sorbet.

Vegetarian options are a staple of the Mulberry Street Bar best known for serving pizza with various types of cheese.

“Because we have many types of cheese, we have several vegetarian options,” Valerie Martinez, their chef said. “But we do not have any gluten free pizzas. We do not have options for customers with special dietary restrictions.” 

That means business walks away.

“We have lost many potential customers,” Martinez said. “We have  six to ten  people come to us everyday with specific dietary restrictions such as gluten. It is only the fifth day of the festival and we have lost at least 25 customers. Our competitors offer some type of gluten free dish and we need to do the same for our customers.”

Meat alternatives are also becoming popular among vendors

“I came here every year for 18 years and around four year ago, younger people began to ask about vegetarian options,” said Nick Cancio, the owner of a gyro stand. “I decided to offer veggie ball gyros and they sell almost as much as the philly. I heard of the “impossible burger” and I want to offer something like that next year.”

Tyrieka Williams, 34, grew up on Mulberry Street and said the growing diversity of food every year helps keep the festival thriving.

“Fifteen years ago there was really only two options, sausages and cannoli,” she said. “The only vegetables I saw were cooked with the meat. Now I see corn on the cob, grilled peaches and gluten free pizzas. It might not seem like much but new options like this keep this old festival booming. I used to see the same faces here, but now I see so many different types of people from different backgrounds.” 

Tara Puccio a New York University graduate student, was selling sausages and pizza at the festival.  She said she is proud to see the more diverse food options.

“We came out with gluten free pizza and are looking into Kosher and Halal meat for our potential Jewish and Muslim customers,” she said.

“My Italian culture is beautiful,” she said. “I am so happy to see our food do what food is made for, bringing people and culture together.”

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Federal workers impacted by the recently ended 35-day shutdown, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, received help from the ‘Stand with Federal Workers’ event yesterday at Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, where food and metro cards were provided.

“I’m the wife of a government employee,” New York City Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel who co-hosted the event said. “We’re two working parents and so it was a concern just within my household.”

Ampry-Samuel sent out a notice on social media asking families who’ve been impacted by the shutdown to inbox her and let her know how they can help, she said.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect but we were alarmed at the number of messages we’ve seen,” she said.

Ampry-Samuel addressed people’s needs for help with food and housing by connecting with organizations. The event today was supported by One Brooklyn Health and Campaign Against Hunger and Power of Two.

New York City Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel, right, co-hosted the Stand with Federal Workers’ event today at Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, providing food and metro cards to federal workers affected by the government shutdown.
Photo by Julia Lee

“We were getting by knowing another check was definitely going to be there,”  said a federal worker who did not want to give his name.. “But with that second check not coming in, we had to be really on the grind, and know what we had to do. Those were definitely rough times.”

Before the furlough, the workers had to pick up extra hours or work overtime to make ends meet, they said.

“My rent is $2100 a month and I have electricity bills to pay, college tuition, I have daycare, things of that matter,” said another federal worker who did not want to give her name. “So when this happened, it’s like what am I going to do.”

The federal workers said events like these are “extremely helpful.”

“It makes me so happy to see all these people that’s helping us,” said another federal worker.. “You see all these bad things, but then you see there’s still good people around. It’s such a beautiful thing to see.”

Volunteers helped with the ‘Stand with Federal Workers’ event today at Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, where food and metro cards were provided to federal workers affected by the government shutdown.
Photo by Julia Lee

During the shutdown, the employees said they have also been supporting one another by having potlucks at work.

The government is opened for another three weeks and there is uncertainty as to what will happen next.

The workers are worried another shutdown is coming.

Trump has said he will declare a national emergency if he doesn’t receive funding for the border wall.

But Ampry-Samuel is hopeful that there will not a second shutdown.

“At the end of the day, I truly believe we live in a great country and our leaders will do the right thing on behalf of the people,” she said.

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The fluorescently lit cafeteria of Public School 55 in the South Bronx sparked to life as kindergarteners and first-graders file inside. Lunch ladies shush the students as they buzz with excitement: lunchtime today is special.

Although the kids’ lunch trays have the usual items of chicken and milk, even cookies for dessert, the star of the show is the side: a spinach and kale salad with cherry tomatoes and shallots, tossed in an oregano vinaigrette dressing.

Most students receive their cups of salad with a smile. Others push it away with a crinkled nose.

“There are tomatoes,” said one brown-haired boy in disgust.

Another first grader is on her third serving, the vinaigrette still slick on her full face.

“It’s good,” she said. “It’s really yummy.”

The gourmet option wasn’t shipped in or catered by a guest chef. It was grown by the students themselves. While gardening in schools is nothing new, at PS 55 students are farming 37 varieties of fruits and vegetables in the most unlikely of places.

The K-5 school sits in the middle of the South Bronx housing projects in the unhealthiest county in New York state. The concept of fresh and natural greens meeting the mouths of developing children was a relatively foreign one, but the Green Bronx Machine now has students planting, cooking and eating produce all within the same city block.

Green Bronx Machine is a nonprofit that has partnered with the South Bronx school to repurpose an unused fourth-floor library, in a 100-year-old building, into a green sanctuary called the National Health and Wellness Center, which opened in January 2016.

The nonprofit is the brainchild of Stephen Ritz, the founder of Green Bronx Machine and self proclaimed CEO or “Chief Eternal Optimist of Bronx County.” The South Bronx is the poorest congressional district in the country, but where most see poverty, Ritz sees opportunity.

There are also outdoor gardens at PS 55, which sit behind a chainlink fence in the shadows of the towering brick projects. PS 55 is a zone school, so the students who attend it live in the South Bronx. The area has an abundance of unhealthy options and few fresh ones, said Ritz, who calls the cheap, corner store snacks a “MESS”.

“MESS is what I call Manufactured Edible Single-serve Substances,” said Ritz. “This is a very food challenged community. I mean you’re going to see a lot of very heavy kids walk around this community.”

Green Bronx Machine Executive Director Stephen Ritz wears his famous cheese hat and bowtie in front of a painting of himself at Public School 55. If students are lucky, they may be rewarded for good behavior by getting to wear the hat and be “the big cheese.” By Elizabeth Arakelian

One in four children in Bronx public schools is obese, according to the New York City Department of Health. But the bright red doors at PS 55, and the garden beds that flank them, have become a welcoming sign for students. Behind them there will be hands-on learning and soil-stained clothes. Students that enter the school won’t just go to class, but they will also learn that they have the power to decide what goes on their plate.

“We find that when kids do cooking or grow vegetables and learn about the food on their own terms, that they’re much more likely to eat it,” said Bill Yosses, former White House Executive Pastry Chef and Green Bronx Machine partner. “ They’re learning this about themselves. They own it.”

Former White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses attends the harvest lunch at Public School 55 in the South Bronx to chat with students about healthy food. By Elizabeth Arakelian

What started as an afterschool program in the Bronx in 2006 has since blossomed into an international movement with Green Bronx Machine chapters opening across America in Florida, Washington, DC, California, Vermont and Missouri, said Ritz. The organization is also partnering with 20 schools in Canada and Ritz has scouted opportunities in Mexico and Dubai, as well.

Green Bronx Machine has gained international attention and Ritz has taken students to be honored at the White House and featured in TED Talks. His work has led him to meet Pope Francis, present in the United Arab Emirates and he was a 2015 finalist for the Global Teacher Prize.

While Ritz has been successful in drawing attention to the needs of the South Bronx, for the past year and a half he has remained rooted at PS 55. It is here Ritz fosters growth in the students and their gardens. The indoor vertical farming towers in the National Health and Wellness Center burst with kale, chard and other lettuce varieties year-round. Soon, students will plant fruits and vegetables in the outdoor garden boxes. During harvest, they take home pounds of vegetables each week.

Vertical towers that recirculate water allow students at Public School 55 in the South Bronx to grow fresh produce year-round. By Elizabeth Arakelian

But farming at PS 55 is more than a fun activity — it’s actually school work. The Green Bronx Machine curriculum is aligned to Common Core educational standards, so the students are learning age appropriate skills in a hands-on way.

“It’s fractions, it’s decimals, it’s ratios, it’s proportions. It’s the art and science of growing vegetables aligned to content area instruction that allows everybody to benefit instead of just being a fun place where they come and cook and get their hands dirty,” Ritz said.

Plus, the students take on leadership roles.

“I mean I have plant police, leaf monitors, PH patrol, everything that you see here is kid maintained,” said Ritz, gesturing to the vertical farms.

The fourth-floor also boasts a mobile cooking station, equipment to record cooking demonstrations, and bicycles where kids can pedal to generate energy to charge their phones, or see how long they have to ride to burn off a soda.

Ritz even implements a reading to plants program where students sit by the vertical towers and read to the leafy greens. At lunch, Ritz swaps the plants out for bigger, more developed plants and tells the students “‘You did such a good job! Look at what you’ve done!’ So the kids really feel great and they want to perform,” Ritz said.

While the real benefit is students’ appetite for healthy and fresh produce, standardized test scores are also on the uptick and attendance has increased to 97 percent, according to Ritz.
Since its inception the Green Bronx Machine has also linked up 2,200 graduated students with jobs at places like Whole Foods and Fresh Direct.

When students aren’t learning in the National Health and Wellness Center, it is used for adult workforce development. Students and their families visit and tend to the garden throughout the year, as well.

“You literally see parents and community members shopping there for groceries,” said Ritz of the outside gardens which remain open 24/7 in the summer.

While the ultimate goal of the Green Bronx Machine is to move students up the food chain, the nonprofit is also shaping students’ self-esteem.

Fifth-grader Zuhaiti Arias said she likes being acknowledged for her hard work with the school’s gardening. “People are going to get to know me better and see who I really am,” she said.

At PS 55 choosing swiss chard over chips may be a small success, but it could lead to something greater, which students like Arias are reminded of each time they enter the National Health and Wellness Center and see the phrase “Si Se Puede” painted on the wall.

“That means ‘Yes we can’,”explained Arias. “ It means that we can do anything in the world if we believe in ourselves and do hard work.”

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Most of our conceptions of Guyana, a small English-speaking country on the Caribbean Sea, might be admittedly flimsy. Think deep jungles, wide rivers, or perhaps the notorious 1978 mass murder suicides of Jim Jones and members of the Peoples Temple.

But as this New York City enclave reveals, it’s a complex and multi-cultural place about as rich and spicy as its cuisine. More than five races make up Guyana, among them the indigenous Amerindians, Europeans, Chinese, Africans, and Indians. When the country became independent from Britain in the 1970s, political and racial turmoil brought tens of thousands of Guyana’s Indian community to the US.

With a population of more than 140,000, the Guyanese are the fifth largest foreign-born population in New York City. They’re South American, but not Latino. They’re a people who look Indian and yet speak a Caribbean-inflected English.

In order to decode this community, look no further than Pritha Singh, Director of the Rajkumari Cultural Center, a Guyanese arts organization located on Little Guyana’s Liberty Avenue.

“The people who are here, we’re the real grassroots people. And we brought all our stuff with us,” said Singh, referring to the thousands of agrarian Guyanese here who keep their culture alive through folk art, Hinduism, Indo-Caribbean Chutney music, and of course, food.

At Sonny’s Roti Shop, patrons like Allen Bassant come for Indian flatbread called roti and oxtail curry. The neighborhood connects him back to his home. “You meet a lot of old friends and when you walk down the streets you feel like you’re in Guyana on Liberty Avenue,” said Bassant.

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Sarah Sanneh, cofounder of Brooklyn eatery, Pies n Thighs, talks about her delicious business.

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