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Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Tony Cortaro has run some of the best kitchens in the country, but the pandemic left the Chicago chef unsure of what to do next.
Speaker 1 00:00:06 Nobody knew when we were returning to work, you know, nobody knew anything and it was such a weird time.
Speaker 0 00:00:11 But Tony and chefs across the city of Chicago have come up with new ways of sharing their craft. Since the start of the pandemic for Tony, what started as a homemade pasta delivery service for his neighbors has turned into a popular pasta shop called Gemma foods, which recently moved into a space on grand avenue.
Speaker 1 00:00:28 I started doing it out of my home kitchen and we sent a message to like 12 people and others started to chime in and respond were like, yeah, I'm in. And, uh, it just kind of grew
Speaker 0 00:00:36 Another Chicago chef that launched a new business during the pandemic is Jack Seth founder of the virtual restaurant tasting India.
Speaker 2 00:00:44 Unfortunately, I was laid off because of the pandemic just to bring myself some comfort. I started cooking a lot of the dishes that I learned when I was growing up in India. And a friend of mine then said, if you sell this food, I would love to buy it. I think the first menu that we put out, maybe five people ordered. So it went from five, five to 25 to 30 to 50 pretty quickly. I felt like very unprepared for the volume of food that I was cooking
Speaker 0 00:01:10 Restaurants like tasting India are on the rise. And for Jasmine, there are many benefits to operating her business. Virtually
Speaker 2 00:01:17 I think operating in a virtual capacity helps eliminate a lot of that financial burden and opens up the opportunity to be a little bit more creative with the menu. So with like your brick and mortar, you have to have like a very set menu that you repeat every day. For me, I know that my creativity feels stem <laugh> if I have to cook the same thing over and over again, all the time,
Speaker 0 00:01:38 Along with the creation of new businesses, the pandemic has inspired mini chef to give back after spending the beginning of the pandemic perfecting Tavern style pizza home, chef John Caruthers started selling his pies to the public via Instagram and crest fun. Pizza was born a monthly virtual pizza popup that donates a hundred percent of its proceeds to local social justice organizations and charities.
Speaker 3 00:02:02 I had been making pizza to the entire time, just obsessively to mark the weeks. And so I was like, well, I, I do pretty good with the pizza. That's the one thing I know that I can do right now. So we started there. We picked a new organization every month and it, it blew
Speaker 0 00:02:14 Up by blew up. John means that he's raised over $30,000 for charity from selling his pizzas and a collaborative pizza cookbook called for everyone that he released in July. And despite all of his success, John remains humble about the impact of his work.
Speaker 3 00:02:30 I'm in a very lucky, privileged position in life. Right? I got a good job. I like, I have a family. I have a place to live, but it makes me feel better to work on behalf of other people. Chef
Speaker 0 00:02:39 Q Abrahim also felt inspired to give back. She came to Evanston's rescue the start of the pandemic. So
Speaker 4 00:02:45 Immediately I knew something needed to be done.
Speaker 0 00:02:47 Chef Q provided free meals to families leading to the formation of kids with coworkers, a local organization that has donated over 80,000 meals to those in need. It
Speaker 4 00:02:57 Wasn't like I could go and buy people, gift cards to grocery stores, but I knew that I could buy food. And because I've been a chef for so long, I knew I could make sure it was cost effective in feed. You know, maybe a few families, <laugh> maybe a few families
Speaker 0 00:03:13 Along with kids with coworkers. Chef Q also runs an underground separate club business. And to dedicating the past two years to giving back, she's ready to make her mark.
Speaker 4 00:03:22 Uh, so looking forward to my brand, the chef, cute Ibraheem brand, growing and feeding people a bit more and being able to have people at a dinner table safely,
Speaker 0 00:03:32 Collectively these four chefs represent the intersections of innovation, food, and community, and despite unexpected challenges, their resiliency has not gone unnoticed. Here's chef Tony. Again,
Speaker 1 00:03:44 My friends who are in the industry and who have made it through, have all come out on top. I think that's really honestly gonna be the biggest takeaway. The value of the humans involved.
Speaker 5 00:03:52 This is Melissa Perry, w Nur news.
