The numbers on hunger in New Jersey are startling.
More than 1.2 million people in the state don’t have enough to eat, according to Table to Table. Behind that number, Executive Director Heather Thompson said, is a first grader struggling to focus in school because she skipped breakfast. A mom searching a pantry for something decent to feed her kids. A grandfather scanning grocery shelves for chicken on sale because he can’t afford full price.
It’s why organizations such as Table to Table matter.
But at the food rescue organization’s annual Chefs Gala on Thursday night, an event where more than 30 of the region’s top chefs cook in the room for more than 400 guests, the night’s guest of honor told the story of one family’s struggle.
His own.
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Today, Kwame Onwuachi is one of the most accomplished chefs in the country. His restaurants include Tatiana in New York, Dogon in Washington, D.C., and Maroon, a Caribbean steakhouse in Las Vegas. He’s a James Beard Award winner, one of Time’s 100 most influential people and a best-selling author. His latest book, “All Hours: Crazy Good Food for Whatever, Whenever,” lets home cooks make his food themselves, which may be easier than getting a reservation at one of his places.
It wasn’t always that way.
Onwuachi grew up in the Bronx. When his mother fell on hard times, they went to public schools in the summer for free lunch.
He remembers his mother being somewhat embarrassed. He wasn’t. To a kid, he said, it was just food, and more time with his parents.
That’s why he was eager to serve as honoree of the gala at The Rockleigh in Rockleigh.
“It means so much to me to be a part of something like this,” he said.
He said the simplicity of Table to Table’s mission is what makes it work.
“I think that’s the beautiful thing about Table to Table, is that they’re just trying to feed people at the end of the day,” he said.
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Table to Table rescues surplus food from grocery stores, farms, school cafeterias and events, and delivers it to pantries, shelters and community kitchens across northern New Jersey. Since 1999, it has rescued enough food for almost 280 million meals, according to Thompson.
Onwuachi picked up on the size of the need.
“I don’t know how many people live in New Jersey. But 1.2 million people is a lot of people without food,” he said.
His lessons about food came from more than the Bronx. His mother once told him he was going to Nigeria for a two-week vacation. He stayed two years.
It was a challenge, he said. It also taught him to appreciate things most people here never think about: cold air, clean water, electricity.
He asked the room to keep that in mind, and to reach into their networks to help.
“That little school lunch meant so much to me as a child, and it means so much to people to just have the basic necessities of life, like food,” he said.
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The gala itself puts chefs front and center. Led by co-chairs Ryan DePersio and Jamie Knott, they cooked and served courses tableside rather than from a back kitchen. In keeping with the mission, there were to-go containers at every station, and any food left over was headed to a local shelter.
Onwuachi had reason to celebrate on his own, too. He had welcomed a new baby four days earlier. The chefs gave him a gift for the newborn and welcomed the baby to the Table to Table family, with a request that he buy a ticket next year.
The night delivered for the organization. Two anonymous supporters pledged to match every dollar raised in the live auction and paddle raise, up to $150,000, and Table to Table hit the match.
Onwuachi closed by getting the crowd to promise, on a count of three, to leave the world better than they found it.
He then reminded them that 1.2 million is a big number — and that every one of them is a person.
And that one of them once grew up to be the guest of honor.
