With Chef Tiffany Williams in the kitchen, GMHC’s lunch attendance has doubled over the past year – a testament to how much clients love her food. Williams and her able team, Sous Chef Lakiah Pugh and Kitchen Assistant Bobby Jack, joined the agency last year, when it resumed cooking meals on site four days per week for our food-insecure clients living with HIV.
“Cooking is what I love to do,” Williams says. “I make things that are close to home – classic foods that we all grew up on, that are nostalgic.” Soul food and Caribbean flavors are big influences for the Brooklyn native, since her mother grew up in South Carolina and her father is Jamaican.
For the bounteous Thanksgiving luncheon that Williams prepared for over 400 clients last Friday, November 21, she pulled out all the stops, serving her special turkey wings with onion-mushroom gravy, accompanied by collard greens and baked mac n’ cheese. Non-meat eaters could savor acorn squash stuffed with vegan sage sausage, mushrooms, kale, and dried cranberries. For dessert, longtime volunteer Danny Chow, a retired pastry chef, whipped up sweet potato pies.
The turkey wings are a labor of love, Williams says, because they require baking until the meat is falling off the bone. During the regular Monday to Thursday lunch service, there isn’t always enough oven capacity. “I love to do it, because the clients love them,” she says.
It took three seatings to serve everyone, so Williams dreamed up “an extra something” to hand out while they waited – keepsake charcuterie boxes filled with cheese, grapes, olives, and crackers. “I wanted it to feel upscale. Our people deserve it,” she says.
I feel whole when I come here. These are my neighbors, the people I walk by on the street every day. I’m feeding my community.
What’s Cooking
For the weekly lunch service, Williams draws inspiration from all over, serving Italian, Indian, and Asian-inspired dishes. “Clients never know what it’s going to be,” she says.
“Today, I did a really nice vegetable medley of roasted sweet potatoes with cabbage, onion and peppers, seasoned with a little garam masala and extra cinnamon – warm Indian flavors. They loved it!” she says. “Veggie medleys are how I get people to eat double vegetables.”
Recent lunch menus feature dishes like Moroccan Fish or Eggplant with couscous and roasted squash and Sweet & Sour Chicken or Plant-Based Protein with mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley. A vegetarian entree is always available, along with a salad bar, whole wheat bread and fresh fruit.
Almost all of the agency’s clients are enrolled in the no-cost lunch service, available to any low-income New Yorker living with HIV. “This is the most complete meal that a lot of our clients are getting, so I try to make it as hearty as possible,” Williams says.
Just under 200 clients per day were coming by for lunch when the government shutdown cut off people’s SNAP benefits on November 1. Since then, Williams has been feeding an extra 20 to 25 clients per day, and she’s upped the portion sizes. “We want to help however we possibly can,” she says.
“I love to give them new things they’ve never had,” she adds. “One older gentleman who’s a longtime client told me I’ve turned him from a meat-eater into a flexitarian. He’ll skip the chicken entree and eat the eggplant instead. That warms my heart.”
“My roasted eggplant with garlic herb butter sauce is a fan favorite,” she says. So is her mock tuna salad with roasted chickpeas. “Our CFO Michael Hester loves it.”
A Divine Sign
Before joining GMHC, Williams was working as a corporate chef for Morgan Stanley’s dining room. “Coming to GMHC changed my whole trajectory,” she says. “I was working in corporate kitchens where everybody was a little miserable and burnt out. I said, ‘God, I’m tired. Give me a sign if you want me to stay in this kitchen’.” Soon after, a classmate from her culinary program told her GMHC needed a chef.
“This is the most fulfilling job I’ve ever had,” she says. “Every day, someone will tell me, ‘I so enjoyed that,’ or ‘Girl, you were on fire today.’ The clients really let me know what they like.”
Williams says she always wanted to be a chef, but she couldn’t afford the pricey tuition for culinary school. Around six years ago, she learned of Project Renewal’s Culinary Arts Training Program, which enrolls New Yorkers who qualify at no charge. She interned at Cookshop, a popular farm-to-table restaurant in Chelsea, which turned into a fulltime job upon graduation. That led to stints as a corporate chef for Barclays Center, law firm dining rooms, and then Morgan Stanley.
Cooking for GMHC’s clients, Williams says, has renewed her sense of purpose. “To be able to help people who really deserve it and really need it – it just does something for you,” she says. “I feel whole when I come here. These are my neighbors, the people I walk by on the street every day. I’m feeding my community.”
Chef Tiffany’s Roasted Eggplant in Garlic Herb Butter Sauce
- Slice an eggplant lengthwise and season it well with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika.
- Roast until fork tender and nicely browned.
- Meanwhile, melt unsalted butter with fresh garlic, dill, and basil.
- When the eggplant steaks are ready, slather them with the garlic herb butter sauce. Enjoy!
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