In the Kitchen With Carmen

Entering Carmen Schiavone’s orbit is like jumping into a mile-high twister: you just have to hang on and go along for the ride. And as catering and kitchen manager for Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa, she stirs up just about everything that comes into and goes out of the Pittsburg kitchen.

On this day, Carmen was short a cook and a driver. Moving quickly from office to kitchen and back, she filled in the gaps with the day’s volunteers: a small army of pony-tailed young women from Alamo, decked out in New Orleans-style strands of shiny red and green beads.

“We need an oar for that,” she said, handing an honest-to-gosh real-life wooden oar to a trio of girls struggling to stir 40 gallons of green beans in cream sauce with regular-sized spatulas. In went the oar – which worked a whole lot better.

The next problem: a shortage of eight-quart pans, which hadn’t been returned to the kitchen from an earlier meal. “I’ll pick up more later on today,” mused Carmen. Then there was the juice shortage. There wasn’t any. “The supplies dried up,” she explained. The more than 500 daily guests at five locations eat and drink what’s donated, and a lot of times you just don’t know what that might end up getting plated.

“This job’s very creative,” Carmen explained.

A 22-year Martinez resident and retired Bank of America IT executive, Carmen first came to LFCC a year ago as a volunteer, working in the Martinez dining room.

“I needed to do more, and food is so very basic,” she said. “The first thing that has to happen to raise people up is to feed them.”

Carmen keeps a spreadsheet to keep track of upcoming meals so there will be enough to feed the steadily increasing number of daily guests in need of a hot meal. “I aim high,” she explained, so there will be enough for everyone. She pointed a gloved finger at the menus pinned to the kitchen board. In addition to tomorrow’s spread of roast beef, twice-baked potatoes, and green bean casserole, there was today’s to worry about: Brazilian black bean and pork stew. “It’s not exactly how it’s made in Brazil, but people like it,” she said.

But before moving on to the next thing, Carmen goes to the day’s volunteers and thanks each one personally for the day’s labors.

“I love my volunteers,” she said, “and I’m not just saying that because they’re here,” she laughed, giving each one a quick hug.

Then she was back to work, her backwards LFCC cap and thick hooded sweatshirt disappearing amid the stainless steel racks laden with pots, pans, and food.

Tomorrow’s meal was right around the corner.