Marc Meyer, co-founder of the Bowery Group which runs popular New York City restaurants including Cookshop, Shuka, Shukette and Vic's, has published a new book titled Voices from the Kitchen. The book compiles 27 transcribed interviews with current and former employees of his restaurant group, highlighting the harrowing journeys and struggles of immigrant workers in the US food industry.
Inspired by oral historians Studs Terkel and Svetlana Alexievich, Meyer began conducting informal interviews with staff three years ago. A chance visit to Mexico and encouragement from friends there convinced him to compile the stories into a full-length volume, published in November by Beacon Press. Meyer said he had been approached to write cookbooks before but felt uncomfortable omitting the individuals behind the scenes, such as farmers, dishwashers, and line cooks, without whom his restaurants would not function.
According to a report by the National Restaurant Association, 22% of restaurant and food service employees in the US are foreign-born. In states like California, New York and Texas, this figure exceeds 30%. Meyer noted the diversity of his staff, who come from countries including Bangladesh, Bosnia, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, and Ireland, and said he was shocked by the threats some faced in their home countries or during their journeys to the US.
The book includes stories such as that of Jakeline, a former nun from Lima, Peru, who started as a prep cook and became a morning shift supervisor at Shuka after being robbed of $30,000 at gunpoint back home. Jenny, a line cook from Bogotá, Colombia, was stabbed by her abusive ex-spouse, puncturing a lung. Mohammed, a dishwasher from the Gambia, went 23 years without seeing his parents. Jairo, a busser and food runner, learned his grandfather had been kidnapped and murdered in Mexico despite his family paying ransom.
Meyer emphasised that the book is not intended as a political statement, but rather to give a human face to immigrant workers at a time when they are being systematically dehumanised by nativist policies. He said, 'These are the stories that make it work. That kept bouncing around in my mind.'
