This article is part of our series on how restaurants changed in 2020, and why we've never loved them more. Click to see all the stories.
When I opened Eko Kitchen in San Francisco a year ago, people came for the experience, not just the food. Here, they got Nigerian music. They saw the work of Nigerian artists. They learned how to cook Nigerian food through my classes at the restaurant. When my team and I got the stay-at-home order in mid-March, we thought things would be back in a month. That wasn’t the case.
Restaurants have always been born out of a chef or an owner’s passion for food and their desire to share that. But we’re living in times where people cannot afford food or don’t have access to it. As a restaurateur, I realized I needed to step in to fill the gap. The federal government wasn’t going to do it. So during the shutdown, I connected with a nonprofit called SF New Deal, and I started cooking meals for them to distribute to the homeless and the elderly.
Now we’re working with a city program that feeds those who have the COVID-19 virus. So far, 8,000 meals have gone out of my kitchen. The menu varies between American food, like chili, and classic Nigerian food, like ewa oloyin, which is honey beans stewed with refined palm oil and shredded coconut. It’s very, very good. One time a man called to thank us because he hadn’t had a meal in three days. That made me feel like what I’m doing is worthwhile.
Food insecurity was already a problem, and it will still be when the pandemic goes away. I see Eko Kitchen as one solution. Without COVID, my business wouldn’t have pivoted in this direction, but I’m making sure that giving in this way is built into our business model going forward.
My goal has always been to shine a light on Nigeria, our culture, and our food. Feeding the most vulnerable is part of that. In Nigeria, wealthier people host soup kitchens. What I’m doing here is similar: I’m cooking the way that Nigerians always do when they see their community in need.