In 2020, New York City found itself at the epicenter of the global COVID-19 pandemic, leading to countless deaths across New York City and a growth in lack of resources, further disenfranchising the city’s Black, Brown, and immigrant communities. Even before the pandemic, many New Yorkers struggled to make ends meet, with 50% of working-age households across the five boroughs (or roughly 3 million people) unable to afford basic living expenses, including rent and food. Things haven’t changed much, as food insecurity continues to be an issue disproportionately affecting Black, Brown, immigrant, and low-income communities. Presently, across all five boroughs, to be considered self-sufficient, a two-parent household with two children now needs to make over $100,000. According to City Harvest, these crises in accessibility and affordability has resulted in 1.3 million New Yorkers struggling to feed themselves and their families, 1 in 4 children experiencing food insecurity, and a 75% increase in average monthly visits to food panties and soup kitchens since 2019.

As a response to the growing disparities amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, FOOD WITH FAM was born. A community built on reciprocity and a reimagination of our relationship to food and one another, FOOD WITH FAM has aimed to build a sustainable model of produce distributions that not only provides nourishment and sustenance to disadvantaged neighborhoods throughout New York City, but also long-lasting trust and connections that can become a vehicle for greater health and collaboration amongst New Yorkers. With its diverse community of volunteers of everyday New Yorkers, community leaders, and NYCHA partners, FOOD WITH FAM has cultivated a framework where everyday sustenance can become a platform for economic relief, human connection, and community.

We met FOOD WITH FAM in 2020, at one of their earliest food drives at Brooklyn’s Café Erzulie. Routinely, FOOD WITH FAM hosts volunteer-led food distributions across New York City, distributing bags of fresh produce from local New York farms and cooked meals. What began as a passion project has now blossomed into an action with a mission to continue showing up for community in a meaningful way. Through mutual aid and grassroots organizing, FOOD WITH FAM accepts donations and partners with local restaurants to reduce waste and redistribute food to local residents. This effort, kept alive through volunteering, is changing New York City, one food drive at a time. We speak with FOOD WITH FAM’s co-founders Andrew Ceneus, Craig Shepherd, and Peter Kurtz about food as a tool for change, ways to address food insecurity, and the importance of preventative healthcare.

*FOOD WITH FAM Drive at New Roots Community Garden. Woodside, Queens, April 2022. By Chris Gampat.*

Across Black, Brown, Caribbean, Latino, immigrant communities, food and the kitchen are integral parts of cultural identity formation. What are your earliest memories of the kitchen, and what have your journeys with food been from childhood to now?
Andrew: My earliest memories of the kitchen are on Sundays after church cooking with my mom and my aunt. Growing up in a two-family household, there was always someone in the kitchen cooking, usually my aunts. Also, during the holidays. earliest memories of the kitchen was also during the holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays—anytime that brought family together. The kitchen was always in use, so the kitchen has been integral part of my life, which led me into the work that I do now with FOOD WITH FAM. We are an organization that is centered around community, resource exchange over meals, food insecurity and family. My childhood, always being around family, helping out my family in Haiti, packing barrels of food to send to them and eating food around family has led me into this work of serving New York City, serving communities and eating with them.

*FOOD WITH FAM Grocery Box. Howard Houses, Brooklyn, October 2020. By Maxime Hilaire.*

Many brilliant community-centered work across the city, country, and world was born as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tell us about FOOD WITH FAM’s journey.
Andrew: FOOD WITH FAM started serving the people of NYC in March of 2020. We are a free food distribution organization started by me and my two childhood friends Craig and Peter. Every two weeks, FOOD WITH FAM hosts distributions where we give out 250-500 bags of quality, seasonal fresh produce from local farms, eggs, and sometimes fresh warm meals for various communities in need. We also collaborate with small businesses on new ways to build food sovereignty throughout the city and serve people with intention. We run on the mutual aid model, so 100% of our funds go to our food distributions, supporting local chefs, and supporting volunteers in any way we can for helping us. The elements that made this project a reality was community, our NYC network, and the need from the people. The community showed up in different ways. One of the first ways was when our friend who owns Cafe Erzulie gave us the first space to distribute the groceries for the residents of NYCHA Sumner and NYCHA Tompkins Houses in the Bushwick-Bedstuy area. We gave out 300 bags of groceries, and that’s what really made this organization and this work a reality: community, friendship, consistency. FWF started as a mutual aid organization coming together as a community and pulling our resources together to serve our neighbors—resources and quality produce that wasn’t given to them in the time of need. This wouldn't be possible without our intentionality. We make sure that every neighborhood we go to, we are thoughtful of buying the produce. We’re listening to neighbors and community when we buy the produce. We’re not just buying anything for anyone: we are making sure we’re culturally sensitive and intentional, and bring community with us to serve community.

*Moving grocery boxes. Cambria Heights, Queens, August 2020. By Maxime Hilaire.*

At the core of FOOD WITH FAM is a reimagining of our relationships to food and one another. As community advocates, how did you land on food as the main tool to build these dialogues of reciprocity?
FOOD WITH FAM is short for food with family. It’s sitting at a table, breaking bread, eating with people you love, and caring about community, all of which is another form of reciprocity. Here at FOOD WITH FAM, we make sure we can provide the best resources and hear the voices of the community by starting that conversation around food. We think by giving out free food, neighbors serve neighbors, and there’s more of a chance of folks coming together. Youth bond when one sees another serving their mom, or giving a grocery bag to their family. There’s less chance of problems in the community, because these are all representations and actions of love, care, and support, which is the driving point of what FOOD WITH FAM does.

*Groceries. Cambria Heights, Queens, August 2020. By Maxime Hilaire.*

Since FOOD WITH FAM’s inception, the organization and the team of volunteers have worked with NYCHA, farms, and food producers to serve more than 30 neighborhoods across the five boroughs. Why is addressing food insecurity in underserved communities such an important pillar of your mission?
FOOD WITH FAM makes sure we address the systemic food apartheid issues that are going on in underserved communities. We tend to serve those communities because those are usually the ones forgotten, and the ones intentionally having poor quality of produce in the community and non-accessible sources of seasonal organic produce. We also tend to find that the NYCHA communities are more open to education and building cooperative ways of food access through the resources FOOD WITH FAM provides. We are usually at NYCHA developments, because that’s where we have relationships with residents. We have family members that grew up in NYCHA. We have friends that grew up in NYCHA. We understand as native New Yorkers that these are the communities that usually don’t get first access to the quality of produce that we provide, which are usually at the farmers market.

So far, what has been the most surprising parts of your work? What have been the biggest challenges?
In a lot of ways, the most surprising part of the work has been the ease with which folks have gravitated towards being a part of the community that we’re trying to develop, and a part of communities that were trying to support. The ways in which we’ve been able to organically galvanize volunteer networks, donor bases, just a team and family of like minded people that are committed to this work, have been incredible and surprising. The biggest challenges in the work have also been born from the same struggles as our successes. Ultimately, we’ve been confined by the limitations of volunteer-based, mutual aid work. And, unfortunately, that work can sometimes come with seemingly glass ceilings. There was a ton of financial support pouring in from our immediate and extended works in the first few years–mutual aid work was a hot topic and people wanted to be involved–and now as we’ve tried to maintain and elevate our work we have to be far more creative in how we generate support.

*Nate Cox. South Jamaica Houses, Queens, September 2020. By Maxime Hilaire.*

Your work brings to light an understanding of the importance for communities of color to use food as a means of taking health into our own hands. Can you speak to food literacy as a pathway toward preventive healthcare?
Developing literacy in and around food and health is absolutely critical to prevent preventative healthcare. It’s a bit pessimistic to say, but in this country, where we’re so far removed from the origin points and sources of our food, we’re ultimately at the liberty of mass Agro and large scale food producers. Sadly, we know those industries are driven by profit margins and capital gains more than thinking of food as something that should be truly nourishing and sustaining for everyone. And still we believe that everyone, especially communities of color and underserved areas, should be empowered to develop food literacy. We’re dealing with generational cycles and traumas, relationships to and with food that have in many ways been pre-determined by a multitude of extrinsic factors. We want people to explore and reclaim their relationship to food, but it starts with having access.

Through partnering with different organizations, your food distribution have allowed for communities in need to have access to free bags of fresh produce, groceries, and home-cooked meals. What has been the response to your work thus far, and what do you hope people leave with after attending these drives?
The responses have been overwhelmingly positive, sometimes hilarious, and generally human. We've been fortunate to provide food to more than 20,000 people throughout the city, and each of them shows up with their personality on that day. Truly, though, people have been grateful and made sure to express their gratitude to the volunteers and team. And that in turn helps people feel recognized for showing up, and pitching in to help out their neighbors.

We hope people leave with fresh food first and foremost. We know we can't cure food insecurity with our distributions, but we want everyone who shows up to walk away with quality, healthy food they can eat and enjoy. We also want people to feel connected to us and our volunteers and to be seen as equals and treated with equity. We encourage everyone (especially the volunteers) to pack a bag of their own - because most of us cannot escape the financial pressures that come with living in NYC. Lastly, a core part of our mission is to introduce people to new ingredients, recipes, and to create spaces and opportunities for people to share their thoughts on food, health, and community.

*Nate Cox preparing dishes at a fundraising dinner. Cafe Erzulie, Brooklyn, November 2020.*

For underserved, communities of color across the city, state, and nation, there’s a disparity in food accessibility. In NYC, gentrification has introduced healthier options into gentrifying communities of color, but there’s still a disparity in affordability. What do you see as tools NYC can implement to ensure economic relief for all constituents when buying groceries?
When you're going against something as large and complex as our health and food system. I don't think there is a magic wand you can wave that can solve these issues overnight. At least not in the context of our current political system. Our work is rooted in the effectiveness of direct relief: give hungry people food, give broke people money, etc. These aren't complex solutions, but the level of bureaucracy we have is often designed to make navigating getting financial support, getting on SNAP, getting on disability etc. It’s discouraging, confusing and humiliating. For a while under Mayor Adams, there was a 90% SNAP application backlog. It’s since been remedied, but gives you insight into just how frustrating it is to navigate our system at times. I would personally love to see increased SNAP access, and for NYC to try and incentivize better grocery stores like Trader Joe's to not just open in gentrifying or upscale neighborhoods, but to encourage them to open up in more isolated pockets where residents have less access to cheap, affordable, and healthy options.

Equally as important as the food distribution events, FOOD WITH FAM fosters community through family meals and fundraising events. Why are these moments just as meaningful for your team to curate?
Family meals, fundraising events, and our public barbecues are ways for us to foster community in a city that is so hectic, atomized, and it allows us to make sure those who make our work possible feel rewarded for allowing us to make it happen. We feel the change we're trying to initiate can truly only be self-actualized through the community itself and increasingly, people have little concept of what community means beyond a buzz word for corporate brands to tie themselves too. Our events are about fostering community and giving people a chance to connect, be it our volunteers, the people we serve, or the general public. Our work is in the spirit of mutual aid and with that, those who give to the community we feel should be getting something back to thank them for their work.

Left to Right: Peter Kurtz (Co-Founder), Nate Cox (Chef of Big Chune, Pop-Up) Chelsea Waters (Volunteer, RA Vice President of Ingersoll Houses), Andrew Ceneus (Co-Founder), and Craig Shepherd (Co-Founder)

This year, you'll be launching a new Community Health Program with the Lower East Side Girls Club. How did this partnership come about, and what are your hopes for this program?
Since we started our work, we've relied on our model of mobile food distributions. We got to see the impact of our work across the city, but as we moved further away from 2020, we've felt the urge to work more intimately with a singular community to better show the long-term impact of our work. We've been developing this for a couple years but we're trying to find the right partner to work with. Luckily, we had a bunch of connections with LESGC, and it was a seamless fit for our project. We'll be working with a community of 15 women, who are all either pre-diabetic or diabetes, and supplying them with weekly groceries (mainly fresh local produce). In addition to receiving the weekly free boxes of groceries, participants will enroll in weekly in-person community sessions at Girls Club, where they'll work with a staff of chefs, dietitians, nutritionists, and health-care professional to better understand our food system, join a community of women facing similar hurdles as themselves, and and hopefully pick up some new skills and interests. Our hopes are just to build a replicable model that we can take and spread across the city, where we can show that access to fresh, local food is not just a remedy for the body but so much more.

It’s been nearly six years since you’ve started this work. As the city continues changing and many continue to feel left behind, what are your hopes for the city’s future as it relates to food accessibility for underserved New Yorkers?
When we started our work in 2020, mutual aids had popped up all over the city and country and now most of those have disappeared. While I think the fact that our work is still ongoing and continuing is a testament to the commitment, the reality is that less people are interested in giving back to the "community" than they were a few years ago. Disadvantaged residents in this city continue to get squeezed harder and harder. Inflation over the past few years has really made consumers feel it when they go to buy groceries. We want to build a city where everyone has access to clean, fresh, local food, has a solid baseline of nutritional knowledge, and most importantly, has access to it. We hope to be able to take our Community Health model and start increasing access to those pockets of the city that constantly are left behind, and make sure they have access to the food and nutrition that they deserve.

Tools of Love and Reimagination: Breaking Bread with FOOD WITH FAM

(ES) Herramientas del amor y reimaginación: Partir el pan con FOOD WITH FAM