Kevin Davidson, Project Open Hand
Saturday, March 26, 2016, 10:30 am - 11:15 am
Stop by the CUESA Classroom for a cooking demo featuring the seasonal bounty of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Kevin has spent almost his entire life cooking, eventually going to Paris in 1989 to attend culinary school. After working at Bay Area favorites such as Foreign Cinema and Garibaldi’s, he stumbled upon a listing to be a Chef for the Senior Lunch Program at Project Open Hand and applied for the job. Today, Kevin leads meal planning and production for all Project Open Hand programs, creating medically-tailored meals for seniors as well as clients living with heart disease, cancer, diabetes and a wide range of critical illnesses. Overall, the Project Open Hand kitchen team under Kevin’s direction prepares 2,000-2,5000 meals daily, 365 days a year.
As Director of Food Operations, Kevin’s focus goes beyond providing healthy meals. Waste reduction is a core value in his kitchen with only one bin of trash being disposed of each day and food scraps being reused for stocks, soups, and broths. The Food Operations Team also engages with Project Open Hand clients, leading healthy food tours in the Tenderloin neighborhood (considered a food desert). Chef Kevin helps teach clients how to shop, read food labels, prepare and access nutritious foods, enabling them to make healthy choices beyond the food they receive from POH.
He points out that Project Open Hand could not provide meals without immense help from volunteers. An average of 125 volunteers are needed per day at POH – working in the grocery centers, delivery, and senior dining rooms – with 45 of those volunteers working in the kitchen alone.
All demos take place in the CUESA Classroom (under the white tents in front of the Ferry Building) and are free to the public, with recipes and samples for all.