Politics on the Plate
In a divisive climate, restaurants across the U.S. are dishing up a serving of activism.
Coffee shops are funneling donations to the ACLU; bodega owners rallied against President Trump’s stance on immigration; celebrity chefs are piping up; restaurants across the country are carving out a code of conduct that prizes dignity, decency, and a livable wage.
As one of the primary employers of immigrants, the restaurant industry is well positioned to amplify the voices of workers who might be particularly vulnerable if the Trump administration pushes forward with earlier proposals to deport millions of undocumented people. The Bureau of Labor Statistics places the restaurant workforce at about 12 million workers, some 1.7 million of whom are immigrants. It’s tricky to pinpoint the share of those workers who are undocumented; according to a 2009 report from the Pew Hispanic Center, undocumented immigrants are most likely to be employed in low-wage gigs such as dishwashing.
Many in the industry have decried the effect Trump’s stance on immigration could have on the food sector. Last year, during Trump’s campaign bid, the chef and gastronome-about-town Anthony Bourdain commented that “every restaurant in America would shut down” if the then-candidate forged ahead with a plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. The repercussions of stanching immigration would reverberate throughout the food system, all the way back to farm labor.
But there’s also just something about food. Sharing a meal is a near-universal symbol of building community; gastrodiplomacy imagines each bite as a chance to connect with another culture—or at least put the kibosh on arguing for as long as diners’ mouths are full. Here are some of the ways that the food industry is imagining its role right now:
A coffee campaign
This past weekend, whenever someone ordered a coffee at Wright Bros. Brew & Brew, the East Austin shop earmarked $1 for the ACLU. The café signed on to a campaign launched by the coffee news site Sprudge in response to President Trump’s executive order on immigration, which halted travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries and revoked tens of thousands of visas.
“Like a hot mug of drip coffee spilled on a crisp white apron, these actions are a dark stain on our national conscience,” the site’s writers wrote in a statement. “As Americans, we feel compelled to stand up against them.”
More than 800 cafes joined in, spanning 41 states and dotted all through urban cores and suburban reaches: Verve Coffee Roasters enlisted its seven locations in Santa Cruz; La Colombe tapped its 22 outposts across New York, Boston, Chicago, D.C., and Philadelphia; stand-alone shops enlisted in Maryville, Tennessee; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Duluth, Minnesota; and Lansing, Michigan. Sprudge promised to match the first $500 raised by each the first 26 roasters or shops to register. Other companies, including Blue Bottle and Peet’s Coffee, pledged matching funds or bulk donations, too.
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