This Alabama chef is using a bicycle to fight hunger
Chef Jake Reed of Decatur's gourmet Albany Bistro grew up poor, and he's determined to fight childhood hunger with Chefs Against Hunger. (Karim Shamsi-Basha/Alabama NewsCenter)
He grew up poor and sometimes went to bed hungry.
But when you look into his eyes today, you see resolve to help prevent local children from experiencing the same. Chef Jake Reed is fighting hunger through bike rides with Chefs Against Hunger, and through his gourmet restaurant, Albany Bistro in Decatur.
“Last year we did a Chefs Against Hunger bike ride locally to raise awareness for hungry children in this area. Nationally, one in five children go to bed hungry every night. In this area, it’s actually one in four. So we started a campaign with the help of local volunteers, and that turned into the bike ride,” Reed said, “We had over 150 riders here in town and raised over $7,000. This year, I am going to the No Kid Hungry bike ride in California.”
Alabama Bright Light Jake Reed serves hungry customers while working to feed hungry kids from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
Albany Bistro looks like a house and sits in the middle of a quaint neighborhood. It was built in the early 1900s and was once a grocery store.
Now it shines as an elegant dining room with fancy chandeliers and modern art, combined with Southern food with a gourmet twist.
“Albany Bistro is a small family-owned restaurant that we started in 2009. We focus on Southern cuisine in an elegant atmosphere. I try to bring recipes that my grandmother and mother passed down through our family,” Reed said.
Feeding the hungry is not just a “feel-good thing” for Reed.
“I grew up in poverty. I remember when I was younger my family received government commodities; I remember that very well,” Reed said. “With a lot of help from the community and an education, I was able to come out of that poverty. Now I’m using my career to help others.”
For lunch, I had the acorn squash stuffed with rice and beans, sitting atop of a bed of sautéed arugula lettuce. It was divine. The food at Albany Bistro is a well-designed combination of modern essence with traditional and Southern influences, perhaps one of the toughest cuisines to perfect. A couple of decades ago, Frank Stitt in Birmingham helped popularize a culinary movement converting Southern food into elegant gourmet fare.
“We follow the concepts Frank Stitt pioneered in our offerings, and try to elevate Southern food to become unique and elegant,” Albany Bistro co-owner Rick Brown said.
After lunch, I asked Reed if he wanted to add anything.
“I gotta tell you, this is so rewarding, even without the thanks,” he said. “I know what it’s like to be on the wrong side of poverty, and just to know that I’m making a difference in the lives of others, it gives me a great feeling.”
For more information, visit http://www.albanybistro.net.
Alabama Bright Lights captures the stories, through words, pictures and video, of some of our state’s brightest lights who are working to make Alabama an even better place to live, work and play. Award-winning journalist Karim Shamsi-Basha tells their inspiring stories. Email him comments, as well as suggestions on people to profile, at karimshamsibasha@gmail.com.
