NHCO Food Pantry Coordinator Shares What Excites and Inspires Him About Food

NHCO Food Pantry Coordinator Jon Jordan peers through a batch of celery during a recent food distribution.

"Oh, I adore to cook. It makes me feel so mindless in a worthwhile way." — Truman Capote

Hi, I'm Jon the Food Pantry Coordinator here at NHCO. It's National Hunger Awareness Month, and I thought it would be fun to share with you what excites and inspires me about food, a few things I have learned along the way and a little about my background.

I spent many years working for a well-known national organic grocer in leadership capacities, and toiled in professional kitchens in various positions, even earning the title of Chef, which effectively translates in civilian jargon to “Chaos Manager.”

As a child in South Central Los Angeles, I was lucky enough to live in a highly diverse area where I was exposed to many different types of food and food cultures. Most memorably from my childhood were Japanese and Mexican cuisine, such as lightly sweet rice cakes at a friend's house after school while playing pachinko or fresh baked persimmon cookies and tea as a quick snack. I always enjoyed the rare trips to family favorite Casa Lopez on Redondo Beach Boulevard. Taking in the savory scents while waiting in line for takeout -- soft warm corn tortillas and spiced meats -- all while surrounded by the sounds of languages I didn't understand. These made up invaluable memories that for years I hadn't considered as part of my food experience. It was just normal stuff that happened to any kid in my neighborhood as far as I knew.

A few years later we moved to a small town in northern California. I found myself a hungry latchkey kid heating up tortillas with margarine on the electric burner, learning to scramble eggs all while lighting the pan on fire. It's in these unchecked moments where I found the courage and necessity to explore what the heck was in the pantry, combining whatever I could get away with. Ridiculous near inedible concoctions, some of which weren't half bad, never great, but always satisfying.

I can't imagine these experiences are wildly different for many kids my age at that time, or individuals and families now. Although what was available or likely not available may differ, we all have some shared experience in the way we were fed, ate or cooked. Core memories we rely on as the foundation of our lives and families -- no matter how sparse or bountiful.

This leads me to our pantry at NHCO; my highlights are helping clients understand a little bit about what we have to offer at distribution, maybe finding a commonality in a type of food they enjoy and hearing some of their stories about what they plan took cook for themselves or families.

I've learned that everyone has their "happy place" on the plate. There's no magic recipe that makes one dish better than another—it's about comfort and a sense of security. These shared moments around food are what matter most, and it's what I aim to bring to our community through our three pantry locations in the North Hills, seven times a month.

Serving the food insecure community is an act of gratitude, a warm hug in a turbulent and often unfair world, a simple gesture that has meaning and a lasting memory.