Hot Bread Kitchen Kneads with Social Vision

Posted by Ed Yowell, Slow Food NYC

FSNYC member Jessamym Waldman is a woman who puts her bread where her politics are. Jessamyn is the Founding Director of the not-for-profit Hot Bread Kitchen. I chatted recently with Jessamyn about Hot Bread Kitchen and why and how it got started.

Ed: For those of our readers who have not met Hot Bread Kitchen by discovering and enjoying the breads, what exactly is it?

Jessamyn: Hot Bread Kitchen produces artisanal breads “kneaded with a social vision”, I like to say. We help immigrant women, who have come from places as diverse as Mexico, Afghanistan, and Togo, to turn their traditional baking skills into commercially valuable careers. That, in turn, can lead to jobs in the City’s baking industry and launching their own micro-enterprises.


E: How did you come up with the idea for Hot Bread Kitchen?

J: Hot Bread Kitchen is the product of my great passions; baking, social justice, and immigration advocacy. First, I am the great-granddaughter of an immigrant Polish baker, so I guess flour is in my DNA. And, I have been baking part-time at Daniel (restaurant). But most importantly, I’ve worked as an immigration advocate at several international organizations, including the UN. I guess I’ve collected an unusual set of qualifying credentials: a Masters in Public Administration from Columbia (University), where I specialized in immigration policy, and a Master Baker certificate from the New School. What else could I do?


E: But why pick baking as a way to help new Americans?

J: In New York City, many immigrant women find low-paying, insecure, domestic jobs. I found a study conducted in 2006 by Domestic Workers United. It showed that 99 per cent of domestic workers are foreign born and 93 percent are women of color. Only 16 percent of the 6,000 bakers in New York City are women and only 500 of them are immigrant women.

What a waste, most of the bakers in the world are women!

Look, the cultural identities of immigrant women often are tied to making their traditional foods, including baking bread. At Hot Bread Kitchen, we capture lost human capital, we value the skills the women have. I think that generates self-confidence. And self-confidence can help them break into professional baking, where incomes can be higher and jobs can be more secure.


E: What sorts of breads are the Hot Bread Kitchen bakers baking?

J: Well, I think we produce some of the best tortillas in New York City. We also bake a terrific, crispy lavash (crispy flat bread). And, of course, we do baguettes and European-style, multi-grain breads. As we grow and are able to bring on more bakers, our line of products will grow.



E: What makes your breads stand-out?

J: First, the bakers. Second, we use authentic, sustainably produced ingredients. Our bakers don’t settle. They complained about the quality of corn flour for tortillas. So, we commissioned a specially designed and fabricated, bicycle-powered corn grinder. With it, we peddle Mexican-grown red, white, and blue corn into our own nixtamal (corn dough). And each week, we bake focaccia topped with seasonal, locally grown produce.

E: How has Hot Bread Kitchen been received?

J: People love the idea. I am humbled by the positive reception that we’ve received during the past year. We are creating a community of bakers and bread eaters who are committed to preserving and enjoying bread-making traditions. We are in more and more markets.

The breads of Hot Bread Kitchen are available locally at an increasing number of the City’s good food markets and cheese shops. To find where Hot Bread Kitchen breads are available, visit www.hotbreadkitchen.org.

Editor's Note: Congratulations to Jessamyn and Hot Bread Kitchen for her recent reciept of the 2008 Echoing Green Fellowship! Click here for more information.