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| Power Style Wellness Connections |
Soul Food
By Kimberly Crum
Chef Timothy Tucker has a reason to brag. For two
consecutive years, his culinary team has won 2nd place
in the restaurant division, at the annual Phoenix Hill
chili cook-off. “The secret to chili is toasting the peppers,”
whispers Tucker, who eschews the use of bottled chili
powder. But the ingredient that makes his team’s
2nd place prize a triumph is neither the trophy nor the
secret chili recipe. It is the fact that each cook on
Tucker’s team is struggling to recover from alcohol, or
drugs, legal troubles, life-on-the streets, or all of the
above. Candidates with well-funded and uncomplicated
lives need not apply. Culinary students must be below the
poverty line. And, “We require 90 days sobriety (to enter
the program),” says Tucker.
Tucker is a 1998 graduate of Sullivan’s Culinary Program and a veteran of kitchens at
two upscale restaurants, The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and The Painted Table
in Seattle, he came to the Salvation Army to run a kitchen that could make a difference in
the lives of its diners. “In fine dining, you master the art of making food. In a community
kitchen, you master the art of healing people’s lives with food.” At the Salvation Army,
Chef Tucker has the chance to promote a healthy lifestyle among the homeless persons
he teaches and serves. “Every meal is from scratch. We don’t use frozen food,” he says.
What the chef can’t get fresh from the Salvation Army’s “Garden of Hope,” he gets from
community farmers and donors such as Whole Foods.
This may be the only graduation ceremony where the honorees plan the menu, prepare
the food, and serve the guests. For the 4th graduating class of the culinary program, the
menu was chicken shishkabab skewered with onions and mushrooms, served with
couscous and accompanied by a marinated cucumber-feta salad. The luncheon was a
generous free feed for a group of about 80 well-wishers who gathered around Formica
tables in the dining hall. The crowd consisted of friends and families, social workers,
freelance journalists, and “soldiers for Christ” dressed in navy blue uniforms, who looked
as if they were about to break into a chorus of Onward Christian Soldiers.
Indeed, there was an offering of song. It came from a graduate named McNeal who, in a
deep tenor voice, sang The Lord’s Prayer a cappella. “Give us this day our daily bread”
is a powerful phrase when uttered in this dining hall, where 400 hot meals are served
daily to men, women and children who rarely take for granted their daily bread.
Major Richard Watts, the Louisville Commander of the Salvation Army, spoke to the
assembly about the biblical importance of food. Major Watts said food is mentioned in the
Bible 570 times. Consider such scriptural foodstuffs as the forbidden apple, milk and
honey, manna, wine from water, the mustard seed, the salt-of-the-earth, and the fishes
and loaves that fed the multitude. Eating and serving food is central to the narratives of
the lives of biblical protagonists. So it seems natural that the Salvation Army, which seeks
to fulfill its Christian mission to help the poor, uses food to liberate the persons they serve.
This innovative job training program is the shared inspiration of Chef Tucker and
executive director Theodore Dues who have discovered a way to use the Salvation Army’
s kitchen to teach job skills to men and women who are determined to change their lives.
Candidates must attend 11 weeks of classes. Good attendance merits a three-week
restaurant internship, which leads to a certificate and job placement. “It’s all about
opportunity and accountability,” says executive director Dues. “We provide the
opportunity and make (the students) accountable.”
The 5th culinary training class will include 10 candidates. One member of the new class
of culinary enrollees is O’Kemia Brown, a 47-year-old woman who currently lives in the
women’s shelter at the Center for Hope. Kem — as she prefers to be called — is a stout
woman, with neatly plaited corn rows and a friendly smile that suggests hard-times. She
sits at a dining table, surrounded by her worldly belongings stowed in backpacks and a
garbage bag. Kem describes a lifetime of peaks and valleys. She is currently trying to
climb out of a chasm that includes physical disability, job loss, eviction, and mental health
struggles. “I slept on a loading dock for awhile,” she says, referring to her life before the
women’s shelter. In spite of her hardships, Kem seems confident and hopeful. If she
completes the training and internship for her culinary certificate, she says she will “frame
the certificate…I want to own a hotel with an attached diner.” Dreams feed hope.
So far the culinary program has graduated 18 men and women, 16 of them now
employed in food service positions around the city including upscale venues as The
Brown Hotel, 610 Magnolia, and North End Café, as well as community kitchens at Dismas
House Charities, Interlink, and St. Vincent De Paul.
Job placement is the ultimate goal of culinary training. Yet, graduates get so much more
than a personalized chef’s jacket, a certificate, and a job. They gain self-confidence, an
ability to work well as part of a team, and the experience of hope fulfilled. You might say
the Salvation Army is serving a healthy helping of “soul” food.
Salvation Chips with Rosemary
An original recipe from Chef Timothy Tucker at the Center for Hope
3 medium potatoes, well-cleaned, and sliced thin and round, with skin
4 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 med onion thin sliced
2 chopped garlic cloves
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
In a bowl, mix potatoes, olive oil, onion, garlic and rosemary. Cook in oven at 375
degrees to golden brown and crispy, about 25 minutes, depending on how thin you cut
the potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste.
Garden of Hope Summer Fresh Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Fresh Grown Dill
3 fresh tomatoes cut into small wedges
3 fresh cucumbers peeled, seeded and sliced thin.
1/2 cup chopped dill
1 small diced red onion
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice of one fresh lime
Mix in a bowl, taste, and serve
Garden of Hope Herbed Chicken
8 oz. chicken breast
1 teaspoon fresh thyme chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary chopped
1 teaspoon fresh oregano chopped
1 teaspoon fresh basil chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove chopped
salt
pepper
Mix ingredients in a bowl. Cook at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until done.
Writer Kimberly Crum (kimcrum@iamtodayswoman.com) wants readers to know that, at
the time of publication, Ms. O’Kemia Brown had completed six weeks of culinary training,
with perfect attendance. She is looking forward to a restaurant internship.
By Kimberly Crum
Chef Timothy Tucker has a reason to brag. For two
consecutive years, his culinary team has won 2nd place
in the restaurant division, at the annual Phoenix Hill
chili cook-off. “The secret to chili is toasting the peppers,”
whispers Tucker, who eschews the use of bottled chili
powder. But the ingredient that makes his team’s
2nd place prize a triumph is neither the trophy nor the
secret chili recipe. It is the fact that each cook on
Tucker’s team is struggling to recover from alcohol, or
drugs, legal troubles, life-on-the streets, or all of the
above. Candidates with well-funded and uncomplicated
lives need not apply. Culinary students must be below the
poverty line. And, “We require 90 days sobriety (to enter
the program),” says Tucker.
Tucker is a 1998 graduate of Sullivan’s Culinary Program and a veteran of kitchens at
two upscale restaurants, The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and The Painted Table
in Seattle, he came to the Salvation Army to run a kitchen that could make a difference in
the lives of its diners. “In fine dining, you master the art of making food. In a community
kitchen, you master the art of healing people’s lives with food.” At the Salvation Army,
Chef Tucker has the chance to promote a healthy lifestyle among the homeless persons
he teaches and serves. “Every meal is from scratch. We don’t use frozen food,” he says.
What the chef can’t get fresh from the Salvation Army’s “Garden of Hope,” he gets from
community farmers and donors such as Whole Foods.
This may be the only graduation ceremony where the honorees plan the menu, prepare
the food, and serve the guests. For the 4th graduating class of the culinary program, the
menu was chicken shishkabab skewered with onions and mushrooms, served with
couscous and accompanied by a marinated cucumber-feta salad. The luncheon was a
generous free feed for a group of about 80 well-wishers who gathered around Formica
tables in the dining hall. The crowd consisted of friends and families, social workers,
freelance journalists, and “soldiers for Christ” dressed in navy blue uniforms, who looked
as if they were about to break into a chorus of Onward Christian Soldiers.
Indeed, there was an offering of song. It came from a graduate named McNeal who, in a
deep tenor voice, sang The Lord’s Prayer a cappella. “Give us this day our daily bread”
is a powerful phrase when uttered in this dining hall, where 400 hot meals are served
daily to men, women and children who rarely take for granted their daily bread.
Major Richard Watts, the Louisville Commander of the Salvation Army, spoke to the
assembly about the biblical importance of food. Major Watts said food is mentioned in the
Bible 570 times. Consider such scriptural foodstuffs as the forbidden apple, milk and
honey, manna, wine from water, the mustard seed, the salt-of-the-earth, and the fishes
and loaves that fed the multitude. Eating and serving food is central to the narratives of
the lives of biblical protagonists. So it seems natural that the Salvation Army, which seeks
to fulfill its Christian mission to help the poor, uses food to liberate the persons they serve.
This innovative job training program is the shared inspiration of Chef Tucker and
executive director Theodore Dues who have discovered a way to use the Salvation Army’
s kitchen to teach job skills to men and women who are determined to change their lives.
Candidates must attend 11 weeks of classes. Good attendance merits a three-week
restaurant internship, which leads to a certificate and job placement. “It’s all about
opportunity and accountability,” says executive director Dues. “We provide the
opportunity and make (the students) accountable.”
The 5th culinary training class will include 10 candidates. One member of the new class
of culinary enrollees is O’Kemia Brown, a 47-year-old woman who currently lives in the
women’s shelter at the Center for Hope. Kem — as she prefers to be called — is a stout
woman, with neatly plaited corn rows and a friendly smile that suggests hard-times. She
sits at a dining table, surrounded by her worldly belongings stowed in backpacks and a
garbage bag. Kem describes a lifetime of peaks and valleys. She is currently trying to
climb out of a chasm that includes physical disability, job loss, eviction, and mental health
struggles. “I slept on a loading dock for awhile,” she says, referring to her life before the
women’s shelter. In spite of her hardships, Kem seems confident and hopeful. If she
completes the training and internship for her culinary certificate, she says she will “frame
the certificate…I want to own a hotel with an attached diner.” Dreams feed hope.
So far the culinary program has graduated 18 men and women, 16 of them now
employed in food service positions around the city including upscale venues as The
Brown Hotel, 610 Magnolia, and North End Café, as well as community kitchens at Dismas
House Charities, Interlink, and St. Vincent De Paul.
Job placement is the ultimate goal of culinary training. Yet, graduates get so much more
than a personalized chef’s jacket, a certificate, and a job. They gain self-confidence, an
ability to work well as part of a team, and the experience of hope fulfilled. You might say
the Salvation Army is serving a healthy helping of “soul” food.
Salvation Chips with Rosemary
An original recipe from Chef Timothy Tucker at the Center for Hope
3 medium potatoes, well-cleaned, and sliced thin and round, with skin
4 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 med onion thin sliced
2 chopped garlic cloves
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
In a bowl, mix potatoes, olive oil, onion, garlic and rosemary. Cook in oven at 375
degrees to golden brown and crispy, about 25 minutes, depending on how thin you cut
the potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste.
Garden of Hope Summer Fresh Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Fresh Grown Dill
3 fresh tomatoes cut into small wedges
3 fresh cucumbers peeled, seeded and sliced thin.
1/2 cup chopped dill
1 small diced red onion
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice of one fresh lime
Mix in a bowl, taste, and serve
Garden of Hope Herbed Chicken
8 oz. chicken breast
1 teaspoon fresh thyme chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary chopped
1 teaspoon fresh oregano chopped
1 teaspoon fresh basil chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove chopped
salt
pepper
Mix ingredients in a bowl. Cook at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until done.
Writer Kimberly Crum (kimcrum@iamtodayswoman.com) wants readers to know that, at
the time of publication, Ms. O’Kemia Brown had completed six weeks of culinary training,
with perfect attendance. She is looking forward to a restaurant internship.
