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David Lee
Executive Director
Feeding Wisconsin
August 18, 2015

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As much as we talk about the value of good food around here, and the experience of sharing it, one thing that we must remind ourselves is that it can't be taken for granted. The problem of hunger is one that has been publicized and puzzled over in the media for decades. David's story is another good reminder that the solution to hunger is not such a mystery after all.

When did you know that you wanted to work in food?

Looking back, I think I had a bunch of a-ha moments that I was going to have a career in food but I was too dense or simply not ready to recognize as a-ha's at the time. The a-ha that made me a professional hunger fighter was back in 2008 during the Great Recession. I was working in community relations at a large community non-profit in Los Angeles and as the banking crisis unfolded, the organization began seeing and hearing about donors showing up at local food pantries. The organization wanted to do something about hunger in Los Angeles, which has the ignominious title of being the hunger capital of America, and I volunteered to help build out the initiative.

As I learned more and more about the issue and our food system, it became clearer and clearer that solutions to hunger and food insecurity were (and still are) absolutely within our reach. We have all of the food and resources to ensure that everybody in America has access to an adequate, nutritious diet. It's not a production problem as many might think, but it's a distribution and access problem. We just need to figure out the systems and methods to move the food and resources around to the people who need them.

I came to believe that of all the deeply entrenched problems we face as a nation, eradicating food insecurity in America is something we can easily accomplish if we just choose to. By doing a lot of small things like donating, volunteering, talking to your friends, neighbors, co-workers and policymakers and getting them involved, we can solve this in a decade's time.

Hunger is a solvable problem and it leads to children and families who have the energy and nutrition to live up to their full potential. Once you know this, you can't not do anything about it. It would be irresponsible.

How did you get your current good food job?

As with getting most jobs in my life, it was some magical blend of being prepared and being lucky. I had been working at Feeding America, the national association of food banks, and in that position, I helped consult its member food banks in Wisconsin organize into a state association to better coordinate their work throughout the state. When the organization got into a position to hire somebody, I was the right person, in the right place, at the right time.

How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?

A whole host of experiences and memories have prepared me for a career in food. Some of my earliest memories are of dim sum on weekends with my parents in Chinatown in San Francisco. As a kid, I was really in awe of the waiters. To me, an immigrant Chinese kid, these waiters were like butlers, with their black suits, white shirts, and bow ties. They were so classy. Attentive and efficient. They seemed to know everything - what's the best thing to eat, where your food was, bringing you more tea, calculating your bill. For a time, I wanted to be just like them.

Then, fast forward to my first job out of college. I was a cook at one of the first gastropubs in Boston, a job I got with no formal cooking experience. The chef there took a chance on me. I still have dreams of showing up at the restaurant to prep for a Friday dinner service. Even in these anxiety dreams, where I don't know any of the recipes, I'm still having fun on the line.

Later, my first play was produced in New York and Los Angeles, and it was about a dying chef and his circle of friends. Even later, my first film was about the property succession of a farm. And who would have guessed that the girl I ended up marrying grew up on a farm.

What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your Good Food Job dream?

How about greatest obstacle in general? I'd say the pace of change. While the pace is glacial, it does happen. So staying engaged with the pursuit and staying the course is important.

While change does happen, our society's penchant for demonizing people with low incomes continues to be disheartening. We've all seen or read the stories about the "cheats," the "takers," the "undeserving," etc. I understand why we do this, we've done this from the beginning of time, but it still sucks: We need to have a story for why some people are struggling in order to make us feel safe that it won't happen to us and so we mythologize a few bad apples to be representative of the whole.

We also hate being taken advantage of so when the exception occurs, our psychological reflex is to guard against that exception. Finally, Americans also overestimate social mobility and the amount of money other people have. This really feeds into that insidious misconception that people with low-incomes are lazy or that they're not really "that" poor and it makes it extremely hard for the people who hold these views to access their compassion.

What keeps me going is when I actually meet and learn the real stories of the people's lives that we impact. These are resilient, hard-working and hopeful people. Take "John" who served 14 years in the military, serving multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He returned home with PTSD and has had trouble securing work while he's also getting treatment. His limited Veterans' benefit wasn't paying all of the bills, which led him to the services our member food bank provides in his area. John isn't lazy or a taker; he's remarkably resilient and an inspiration. We should all hope to have a fraction of his courage and bravery that helped him to defend our country, got him home safely, and will guide him as he fights his new battle at home. John helps me persevere.

Name one positive thing that a former employer taught you that you continue to appreciate?

I've been lucky that in my career path, I've been able to follow my nose and find employers in fields that I was interested in pursuing who were willing to take a chance on me, since I know that I didn't check off all the boxes they were looking for in an HR sheet. This is probably the most extreme example but I remember my first job interview out of college - to work in the kitchen of that gastropub in Boston. The chef asked me, "Where did you go to culinary school?" I told him that I hadn't but that I went to college near the Culinary Institute of America. He sort of looked at me askew and nicely explained that most people who cook professionally have had some training or experience. Then he asked me to show up later that week to stage. So for me, I've carried this forward with the philosophy that anyone can learn the technical skills of a job but what you can't learn are attributes like commitment, adaptability and curiosity. People who are brimming with those qualities are the kinds of people I'd want on my team of hunger fighters.

What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now? 

A ton of people are interested in good food right now. This is super exciting and is a testament to how far we have come in democratizing food access. There was a time when you could only get local, organic and other specialty food products at the natural foods co-op. Now you can get those products at your local big box grocery.

Our interest in food has without a doubt bent the cost curve and availability of these products. That's amazing. We have to continue on this path because "good food," which I broadly define as food that is justly and sustainably produced and healthful for people and the environment is still out of reach for far too many. In addition, despite its general accessibility, healthful food still cost more per calorie than less healthful options. I feel that in some ways, food has become a proxy for our virtue or our class, and has been used to draw divisions and shame others who may not have the same tastes, preferences, habits, or means.

What we eat (or don't) and how we eat has come to symbolize who we are as individuals and our values. This is a sad to me because food is supposed to bring people together, not push people away. Yes, food is incredibly personal. It's one of the few things that we take from the outside world into our bodies. But it also holds this unbelievable power to bring people together to build community. And to exclude people on the basis of affordability is a shame to me. So - ensuring that the "good food" movement is a "good food for all" movement, rather than a "good food for some" movement is a huge opportunity.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?

Impact - no question. Or gummy candies. I am a sucker for gummy candies in all forms - bears, worms, butterflies, letters, cherries, cola bottles, sharks, pirate coins, or any other thing that can be made with sugar, gelatin, starch and flavoring!

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