Partner Spotlight: Recovery Cafe
"Nutrition is key to a healthy mind. Food is medicine."
-Tadashi: Director of Programs and Community Outreach
One of the toughest challenges to swallow in both the restaurant and agricultural industries is so much food waste (*GULP*). Maintaining high quality sales with only fresh food means that lots of b-grade veggies need to find new homes. As Spade & Plow expands its growing acreage, we also are expanding our donation outlets.
Enter deeply-rooted and faithfully holistic donation partner: Recovery Cafe of San Jose. Our friends at RC run an incredible community-centered organization that makes sending off our weekly produce donations just as exciting as selling it.
Produce filling the kitchen, ready to be put to great use!
The Recovery Cafe is a haven in the city for folks recovering from addiction. Through specific programming, including support groups and daily lunch, the café is always buzzing with different activities and community-building. One of the keys to their successful impact is the value that RC puts on nutrition and health. The head chef Chris (a former member and volunteer for the café) now enjoys giving back by preparing creative, healthy meals and teaching nutrition courses from the kitchen. Some of his recent classes and dishes with Spade & Plow donations include winter greens pesto, cauliflower mashed potatoes, and broccoli-kale slaw with almond butter dressing (check out the delicious RC recipe here!) Thanks for making our product look so fabulous Chris! “Food connects people in so many ways,” Chris says, “that’s why we love having people cook and eat healthy food together every day. The people who eat the food appreciate it more because of the education component behind it.”
S&P Dahlia donation brightening up the cafe dining area.
From our field to their kitchen and tables, there are people at every stop along the way who are learning through the hands-on process of growing and preparing food. As many members of the café cook, learn, and eat together daily, they are forming the strength and bonds to grow and bloom through recovery. The RC approach could not be more comprehensive: a safe and honest palace for accountability, a commitment to celebration, and daily opportunities to learn together. What more could we ask for a home for our veggies! Along with cooking classes, the café also offers long-term courses and support groups including mindfulness, ash kickers, self-discovery through art, and movin’ and groovin’- talk about a calendar for success! Not surprisingly, Tadashi (Director of RC and long-time friend of S&P) admits that “Recovery Café is by far one of the happiest places in San Jose. People come out of their shells so quickly because it's a place to belong and to grow in their recovery.”
