Photographing (Those who were Cooking Through Covid)
STORY AND PHOTOS FROM THE BOOK FOOD PEOPLE (ARE THE BEST PEOPLE) BY KRISTEN LOKEN (ACORN PRESS, 2020)
Like everyone else I know, California’s statewide lockdown last spring took me by surprise. I’d already visited my first new country of the year (with a goal of 10 new ones, ha!). And while I listen to the news every day, and had noted that a significant number of sponsors had pulled out at the very last minute from a favorite conference I attend every year, the severity of the situation wasn’t quite registering.
I wasn’t alone. I’d seen my dentist the same day the Bay Area’s first shutdown was announced and remember her saying ‘this (fear of the virus) was all ludicrous.’
Like the searing in your mind of precisely where you were on 9/11, I’ll always remember what I was doing when I heard the announcement of the Bay Area’s first shelter-in-place order—working from my sofa at home, post-dentist visit.
I’m a photographer—by definition not a remote career. The shutdown announcement triggered my contracts canceling, one after the other, leaving me wondering how I would pay my mortgage. The more we learned about the virus, the scarier it got. As four weeks stretched into eight, eight into 12, I found myself more anxious and depressed than I’d ever been.
I worried about my clients—arts organizations that couldn’t hold performances and brides and grooms who had to postpone their long-planned nuptials. Most of all, I feared for restaurateurs and chefs who had to immediately close their doors to guests, leaving them scrambling to figure out how to hold on to at least some part of their business.
The lockdown has been devastating to the hospitality sector, and not just from a financial perspective. Jobs were lost, yes, but also a sense of purpose. Feeding people, whether at a local fast casual or Michelin-starred food palace, is about nourishment and care taking. It’s about creating community. Restaurants offer comfort, something we all needed. More than ever, in fact.
I work primarily in the commercial photography sector which did not lend itself to the “porch portrait” pivot that I saw many personal photographers making. With businesses at a standstill, I pondered what my own pandemic pivot would be until it occurred to me that I could use my skills and the overabundance of time I had on my hands to support the restaurant community that I so dearly loved. I could offer them the gift of a photograph, a snapshot of this moment in their history. Perhaps they could share their photo to remind their customers to come by for takeout, to buy a gift card, to give them a supportive shout online.
Chef, author and restaurateur Tanya Holland of Oakland’s Brown Sugar Kitchen was the first person to say “yes!,” so I was off and running. Many of the people I photographed expressed how feeling seen and heard instantly made them feel less vulnerable. Their being open to sharing how “not OK” they were made me feel better about my own “not OK-ness.” When they had time to chat after I took their photo, they related stories of grief and loss, but also of strength and resilience.
I was so inspired by these men and women and their generosity and drive. They were fighting tooth and nail to keep their employees employed, provide meals for first responders and shelters and pivot their businesses to operate as take-out only. What began as a way for me to find a small ray of creativity and purpose quickly grew into a book, Food People (Are the Best People), that I would publish before the end of the “pivotal” year.
Every single interaction, even socially distanced and masked up, fed my soul. Every shoot had a story. When I photographed Michael Tusk at Bolinas’ Fresh Run Farm, we literally dodged lightning to get his portrait in the kale field. Mourad Lahlou shared his happy place with me, his new home in Napa where he and his wife have room for their dressage horses. Regular contributor to Edible Marin & Wine Country Georgeanne Brennan met me on her front porch, and after I took her photograph she offered me a glass of the rosé she and her husband, Jim, produce. It was the first time I’d sat down with anyone outside my “pod” since the pandemic began.
Part time capsule, part tribute, Food People (Are the Best People) shares the stories of 129 “food people,” from chefs and restaurateurs to farmers and ranchers, across all of California. It is a love letter to the people who feed us.
The common thread running through the book is that food is the great connector. When all else feels lost, food can heal and comfort like nothing else.
I recently got a fortune in a cookie that reminded me, ‘adversity breeds creativity.’ If 2020 taught me anything, it was how to be creative, and how much amazing work can come out of the toughest situations.
Our entire space was built with the intention of customers being able to see every bagel being baked, every butter block being paddled and every coffee bean being roasted. Education and food transparency are huge parts of our mission.
David Kreitz, Hadley Kreitz and Tamara Hicks, Daily Driver
On launching a new business during COVID- 19: … the more I think about it, the more I realize that this is the perfect time for self-investment. Find something that gives you joy, and invest.
Ethan Speizer, Napa Kombucha
On how has food been a part of this time on a personal or professional level: I started a journal, listing everything in the freezer, the garden, the refrigerator and the pantry. From there, I’d make lists of dishes I wanted to cook, and find or create the recipes, and then sometimes spend most of the day cooking…
Georgeanne Brennan, author
On how has food been a part of this time on a personal or professional level: For several months, along with Dry Creek Kitchen’s [then] executive chef Scott Romano, I did an IG Live called “Pigs & Pinot Tutorial Series,” featuring a rotating lineup of prominent Sonoma winemakers.
Charlie Palmer, chef, hotelier and restaurateur
On what you have gained: We have gained a sense of camaraderie that is the backbone of our creativity. COVID-19 forced us to create new systems, do more with less, get back to basics and get creative with new ideas that had never been considered before. The work to stay relevant in the marketplace with new products, messaging and purpose has been incredibly rewarding for us all.
Lynn Giacomini Stray, Jill Giacomini Basch and Diana Giacomini Hagan, Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co.
On what brought them joy during COVID-19: We are joyful each time we receive vegetables from our farmers, or when we harvest something from our gardens. The connection to Earth is grounding, and reminds us that, though things are tough, life is moving forward...
Ryan Harris and Kevin Folan, Contimo Provisions
Last year was like no other for all of us. This pandemic has touched everyone in many ways. We will always remember what we were doing when we learned that life as we knew it was going to change forever. Our way of life was undertaking the biggest transformation ever known. It was so raw, unreal and flat-out scary.
Kristen’s project was able to capture that very moment when this metamorphosis was taking place. It was the moment in which we were all trying to figure out all the shit that was happening—to us and everyone else around us. The future was uncertain and we all suffered from tremendous anxiety and serious mental health issues. The chips fell and no one knew what the f*** was next.
13 months later, we are still looking at the dust settling, but there’s a ray of hope, and light at the end of the black hole. Our world is most definitely different and it is still changing. It feels like an opportunity now to start from square one, to try to be part of the change, rather than resist it. The pandemic has exposed so many flaws in our old system. Now is the chance to make changes and not just aimlessly bring back everything from the past. Change is the norm now.
I have reopened Aziza, and we are adjusting to the new way of hospitality and social conduct.
We will get through this, and Kristen’s book will remain to remind us how fragile life is, how unsustainable our systems were and how much we needed change and chaos to become resilient and survive. The book also captured the humanity that was exhibited by all of us when our backs were against the wall. This pandemic did a lot of damage, but it reminded us to become human again.
Mourad Lahlou, Mourad and Aziza
