Meet Nine WCK Chef Corps Members Cooking with Their Whole Hearts in Los Angeles
World Central Kitchen Chef Corps members have the big responsibility of helping us get cooking as quickly as possible after crises. That’s exactly what happened when deadly wildfires ripped through greater Los Angeles, forever changing Southern California.
Within hours of getting the call, Chef Corps members Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger from Border Grill and Socalo were providing comforting meals for evacuees and the first responders embarking on a harrowing, weeks-long fire fight.
“We chefs are built to feed people, and when there’s a disaster like this one in L.A., we swing into fifth gear,” Chef Mary Sue told Civil Eats. “WCK is the glue between those in need and chefs who want to keep busy doing what they love: cooking.”
Chef Evan Funke was also an early and emphatic, “yes” to jumping into action. He evacuated his parents from their home when the fire was 100 yards from their front door. A few hours later, the Santa Monica native had already empowered his restaurant teams at Felix Trattoria, Funke, and Mother World to prepare meals for their neighbors in need. He also volunteered at our distribution sites to share meals with the community.
Chef Evan isn’t the only Chef Corps member who was directly impacted by the fires. Chef Daniel Shemtob and his brother both lost their homes in the Palisades fire. “I was sitting there super depressed and sad—I couldn’t be alone for 10 minutes,” Chef Daniel said in the early days of the response. “I realized that that’s one way to respond, the other way is to give back and get out there.”
Chef Daniel and his team at The Lime Truck provided nearly 9,000 meals to various communities in need, His tacos trios are a huge hit. In the early days of WCK’s response, Chef Daniel had a surprise visitor roll-up his sleeves and help on the truck—Chef Corps member Tyler Florence. The pair know each other because Chef Daniel won the reality TV competition that Chef Tyler has hosted for over a decade, “The Great Food Truck Race.”
Chef Tyler was also able to visit first responders in the field and offer them a selection of meals and refreshments as a break from their round-the-clock work. He has repeatedly joined WCK in fire responses in his home state of California since becoming a Chef Corps member.
Chef Corps members Kim Prince and Greg Dulan have become a reliable and welcome daily presence in the tight community of Altadena that was ravaged by the Eaton Fire. The sweet smell of fried chicken, cornbread, and collard greens beckons the community to visit their Dulanville food truck. They shared how a typical day starts out.
“Our morning starts with yawn-filled calls to one another, just to make sure neither of us slept through our 4 a.m. alarm,” Chef Kim explains. She and her colleagues—Kim Hernandez and Chef Tasha Butler—make it to the restaurant by 5:30 a.m. to prep and cook. Meanwhile, Chef Greg manages the day-to-day business of the restaurant and ensures the food truck is literally a well-oiled machine.
Chefs Greg Dulan and Kim Prince
Chef Kim says she and her team felt called to help because it’s in a restaurateur’s DNA to serve: “Food is a part of living, and chefs have the ability to source the means, prepare, and plate something nourishing for the mind, body and soul. We’re trained to do the metrics and ensure no belly is sent away empty.”
She likes that WCK “understands food trucks and restaurants are part of the community” and is happy to be one of the newest members of the Chef Corps. “The Chef Corps is the embodiment of food and hospitality workers lending their time, talent, and treasure for the greater good of humanity.”
Chef Corps member Marcus Samuelsson visited the Dulanville food truck and Chef Kim showed him the ropes.
You can also catch Chefs Greg and Kim on Jimmy Kimmel Live here.
Chef Sandra Cordero of XUNTOs and GASOLINA also recently joined Chef Corps. Her restaurants have been providing meals for everyone from displaced veterans and first responders to the people tasked with clearing debris. In addition to sending meals out into the community, Chef Sandra’s restaurants have been open several hours a day for anyone impacted by the fires to come in and pick up a meal.
“It started with a call with my friend Grace, who told me that her son, a firefighter, had been working nonstop for days with only energy bars for fuel,” Chef Sandra explains. “A lot of people needed to be fed who were in a much worse situation than I was, so I called my old contact at World Central Kitchen and asked, ‘What can we do?’”
Chef Sandra Cordero (left)
Chef Sandra shared some observations from working shoulder-to-shoulder with the WCK team on the ground: “The difference between WCK and others is that WCK truly prioritizes rapid response. They know how to move fast and get straight to the source to help the people who are most in need.”
