560: Asmeret Berhe-Lumax Is Fighting Hunger with One Love Community Fridge

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0:31The face of food insecurity and who's coming to the fridges is not just one face. There are so many different people that are coming. There's different cultures, there's different age groups, there's different needs. So everything is really needed at the fridges. This is Taste. I'm your host, Eliza Barbanel.

0:59Asmarit Berge-Lumex is the founder of One Love Community Fridge, a network of 10 community fridges across New York and Seattle working to eradicate food insecurity. Their work is more urgent than ever, and it's so special to have Asmarit into the studio to talk about fighting hunger and the stigma associated with it and One Love Community Fridge's big plans for expansion. And we've got some breaking news. Poppy was acquired by Pepsi. And we have Andrea Hernandez from Snackshot to go over the deal and what it means for the probiotic soda category. It's a fascinating conversation. I hope you enjoy this episode.

1:43Asmore at Berge Lumex, this is Taste. Thank you for coming on the podcast. Hi. Thank you so much for having me today. Thank you for driving into Midtown in the midst of your busy day to talk about One Love. I imagine every day is probably full of a million different things that you have to do. I did find parking right in front, which is like gold. It's an omen. It's a gold. The rest of your day is going to be perfect. So I've invited you on the show today to talk about One Love Community Fridge and the amazing work that you do. But first, I just want to give a little bit of context into who you are and what you bring to the project.

2:17So to start off, I'm wondering if you can tell me if there are any food memories that you have from growing up that you think are especially impactful or memorable. I mean, I think for me, there's so many, so much around our family life revolves around food and meals. Or, you know, if there's an issue, you solve it over a meal. if there's a celebration or somebody's birthday is also over a meal. But also such a simple thing is when somebody comes over, you always offer them something to eat and drink. So I have so many memories. But I think I grew up in a home where I think I was very fortunate.

3:02My mother cooked quite a bit. So we just always gathered in the kitchen. What kind of food was she putting on the table for dinner? Let me see. So it's a mix. So I grew up in Sweden, in Stockholm, but my family is from East Africa, Eritrea. So it would be a mix. We would eat a lot of our traditional food, which is like injera and with a lot of stews, fused with traditional Swedish food, which is like, oh, I don't even know the English word for it. It's like a sausage, meatballs, fish. The Airtrain Swedish fusion food is not something I've ever had before, but I would love to be a guest at that table.

3:49It sounds awesome. Love to have you. So what kind of work were you doing before you started One Love Community Fridge? Oh, I spent a lot of years in fashion and I did work in product development, production, supply chain management. very different from I think from building a non-profit however I think with One Love is this perfect fusion of like my personal experiences and my professional experiences just all coming together. Could you maybe explain like what a community fridge is and how they operate? Yes so a community fridge is first of all the beauty of it is a community fridge is literally a fridge that's owned by the community.

4:35But it's a fridge that many of us have in our home that you place outdoors in a public space for anyone to be able to access and for anyone to participate in helping to stock them and really creating a space for resource exchange and sharing. And it's really interesting because it is an appliance, but when you put it in a public space like that it just actually comes alive and the beauty of like the community that's created around it so take me back to the pandemic how did the idea for One Love kind of first come about and what did the early days look like I mean we were here we were here in New York during the pandemic and during lockdown I was volunteering with two organizations that work really, they're a great organization that work hard to address food insecurity.

5:36And I was here with my family and a friend of ours set up one of the first fridges in New York, which was in Harlem. And I just thought it was this amazing, this genius idea because it was so simple, but it also would help address some of the challenges a lot of traditional food banks organization was experiencing at that time, which was an overwhelming demand. More families ever needing support in terms of having access to the most basic thing, which is food and water. And I think the other thing was, you know, I always say that because, you know, we're so used to reading and knowing like big numbers.

6:25and it's very different to read, you know, 2 million New Yorkers are food insecure compared to actually knowing, you know, 10 families are food insecure. We just wanted to take action and I wanted to really make sure I was able to do it in a way that included my family and friends and build that space. Yeah, definitely. I remember first hearing about One Love in those days of the pandemic And I think that I think being in New York in that period of time, so many people were seeing like the gaps of people that weren't being reached and also the ways that being able to gather in the way that like a food pantry or a food bank would normally have, like we weren't necessarily able to do that.

7:09I'm curious if you could tell me about like what are some of the challenges and the benefits of running community fridges versus a more traditional food pantry? It's not a traditional model. And I think initially what it required was also just helping people open up their minds and a little bit of a cultural mind shift in terms of what is possible in this space. that was the biggest initial challenge and finding host partners and also I think for our food partners to ensure that they're not worried about liability because we live in a country that where it's very easy to get sued. But I think beyond that, the biggest challenge after that was just that it takes, you know being given the the grace of time because i think that our approach to it is about community building and really like connecting people engaging people and also empowering people and really trying to address the root of the problem rather than just being a band-aid solution um so go goes on beyond you know redirecting food or you know it's really really making sure that people feel empowered to be part of the solution.

8:30So, and creating that and building that, that takes time. So I think that's like the biggest, another big, like one of the biggest challenges as well. But I'm so confident about that. That's where we have the biggest impact. That's also the space where we're able to, I think, inspire more people to come up with their own ideas or other ideas and carry it even further. Yeah. And I think there's a lot of work that goes into maintaining them just like in your own home, how you have to clean out the fridge and stock the fridge and make sure the milk isn't expired. So what does that kind of work look like on the back end?

9:08Yeah. So with, for example, with One Love, it's we have food partners that we pick up food donations, excess food from seven days a week. And we have an incredible volunteer community that picks up food donations and helps stock community fridges. And then the other part that's so important is because it's food, it's helping actually care for the fridge and the area around it. So we usually partner with a fridge host and it could be anything from a cafe, to another nonprofit, to health care provider that would allow us to set up the fridge in connection with their space and provide electricity.

9:59And then we have community members that will help, you know, check on and on the fridge and clean the fridge. But the real goal is also really for the fridge to be adopted and to have the local community take full ownership of it. So with One Love is like, you know, we'll help stock it, we'll help drive volunteers, and we'll help clean it. But the ownership doesn't stay with One Love. Does that make sense? Yeah. I mean, you want the community to feel like it's their fridge. It is their fridge. It is their fridge and that they can come by and see what's in it. And if they notice that something has spilled, pick it up if they need if their neighbor needs something to come to it in that kind of way, that kind of connection.

10:49Yes. And I mean, I think for me, you know, unfortunately, the demand for food far exceeds what we're able to supply at this point. However, I think one of the moments that makes me the most happiest is when I go by a fridge or when I drive by or stop by a fridge and I see that somebody else has put something in the fridge, you know, even if it's an apple or a sandwich. And so knowing that there's this constant exchange going on locally. Yeah, I'm in the group chat. So I got the text that's like, this bakery has a bunch of leftover bread. Can somebody go get it? Or this cafe has leftover sandwiches.

11:30and that kind of distribution that happens. And I think it's really interesting in a city like New York because we do have so much variation in like access and economic benefit. And there are people who have so much extra food to spare from events or things like that. And then also this great need at the same time in the city and to see that kind of way that like having access at one business or one place can help feed another part of that community, I think is interesting. And I'm curious how you've seen One Love grow since you first started it. How many fridges do you have right now and how has the business grown in other kinds of ways as well?

12:06Yes. I mean, I think also for any listener that might not be aware of the statistics too. In the U.S., over 44 million people are food insecure. New York City, over 2 million people are food insecure. One out of seven adults, but also one out of four children. And then yesterday, I don't know if you saw, there was an article that came out that was sharing updated statistics in terms of how poverty is rising and one out of four New Yorkers cannot meet essential needs. and I think for like us as an organization is we're just trying to do as much as possible we can through collaboration and raising awareness and also creating a space that people can participate in ways that work for them and I think that's really important in order for it to you know really really have impact I mean we currently have 10 fridges in New York actually nine fridges in New York and one is in Seattle.

13:15Then we also help support another close to 30 fridges that are set up by other organizations, so mutual aid groups or individuals. And we support them by driving food donations and volunteers. But then we have more fridges underway, which I think is like amazing because the fridgester we're setting up now has been because people organization are reaching out to us and saying hey you know we've seen how this is working we would love to have a fridge how can we set that one up and I think that's a big shift from you know a couple years ago because honestly we could probably have a fridge on every other block and that would still be not be enough and then in terms of an organization i think uh we have just like steadily steadily grown our volunteer uh community and it's amazing to see that like you know just in whatsapp we have over 500 people that everyone um participate in different ways there are there are like i call them fire souls they're you know that are involved every day and then some people are, you know, every other week or once a month or, you know, for different, you know, for different activations or packing days and food drives.

14:43I think that's the beauty of it, too, that to be able to create a space and that people can participate in ways that work for them and hopefully meet somebody else or get to learn something else and, again, come up with another idea. Yeah, I think that's really beautiful. And I really appreciate you kind of sharing some of those statistics about the reality of hunger in this country and in this city right now. I think a lot of people reading the news and certainly experiencing it themselves when they go to the grocery store. Eggs are really expensive. Groceries, everything is really expensive just to be living.

15:17And we also have to remember this is all happening while over 40 percent, close to 50 percent of all the food that's being produced is being wasted. Right. I'm just sitting with that number for a second. Because it is so frustrating to see that food being wasted and to know that it could be so easy to direct it into other ways. Where are you getting most of the food that's going into the fridges? Is it grocery partners and people like that? Oh, it's a mix. And that mix is important. So it's individuals. You know, we always encourage individuals if you have, you know, excess food at home. But also even when you're, you know, going to the store, if you can afford to buy a few extra things of, you know, your favorite food to share with somebody else to do that.

16:04And then also small businesses, we always try to figure out how can we make it easy for small businesses to participate? Especially we are also aware of that, you know, a lot of, you know, especially like restaurants, they have limited capabilities or resources. And then the third one is really like bigger food partners that are able to help us, you know, bring volume to the fridges. This episode is brought to you by Aura Frames. If you're one of those last minute shoppers, you might know the feeling. Ideas are running low and the clock is ticking. Here's a fun idea. Aura Frames. Aura Frames is the solution with a gift that feels personal, a little curated and sent with love.

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18:07A restaurant you wish we'd visit to talk about on Three Things? What about a lesser-known cookbook author who deserves a spot in our studio chair? You can let us know by clicking the link in our show notes to complete the survey. It will only take a couple minutes, I swear, and will help us continue to make the best show possible. That's the This Is Taste listener survey link in our show notes. Over the past couple of years, have you seen an increase or like a shift in demand as you've been able to expand? Yes. Are there any things that are like specifically in demand or you know that when you put them in the fridge, they're going to be the first to get?

18:44taken up. I mean, right now it's eggs. Yeah. I was like, right now it's eggs. And we're really fortunate to have an amazing food partner, Hansenbrook Farms, that donate eggs. So that's been amazing. But everything is needed. Everything is needed. The face of food insecurity and who's coming to the fridges is not just one face. There are so many different people that are coming. There's different cultures, there's different age groups, there's different needs. So everything is really needed at the fridges. I think the one thing we try to focus on as much as possible is fresh food, especially fruit and vegetables, but also, you know, different protein options.

19:30That's why eggs are so great. Down to things that people might not think about, which is like salt, spices, herbs. But and also really like what can we focus on that we feel is missing that maybe other organizations are already providing. What about like supplements or like that kind of thing? Does that make sense in the fridge as well? Yeah, we don't really bring it to the fridges. However, what we do is when we do, we organize like consistent like packing days that where we focus on, you know, combining fresh produce with either like it's a specific theme. It might be, you know, around hygiene.

20:13So it might be hygiene products or it could be supplements. Like, you know, we really focus on immune system, for example. or if it's in the winter, it might be, you know, cold weather. Vitamin D, et cetera. Yes, exactly. But we try to avoid having any non-food products at the fridges. Yeah, I imagine that must be part of the work as well when you're cleaning it is making sure that people aren't, you know, dropping random things at the fridge as well that they think like someone else might want to take. Yes. I mean, it's all like people do with intention is there. Yeah, good intentions. Good intentions, right?

20:54But because, again, because, you know, people come in there to get their food, it is important that it's sanitary. And we discourage people to leave anything that's not food at the fridges. I mean, it's New York. People like put their things that they don't want on the curb and someone always comes and takes it. Yes. So I want to talk a little bit about like how education and the other activations that you do fit into the One Love Community Fridge mission. Are there any like events like the farm to fridge or chef to fridge or even like the big packing days that you think have been especially impactful for One Love over the past year?

21:30Yeah, I mean, our mission is to connect, empower, engage the community. And we do it through education and then access to food. And I think the three lead words is like respect, dignity, and health. So we talked about kind of our food-to-fridge program, which is really, again, redirecting food and minimizing food waste. But what we realized, again, because if you want the impact to be deep, it's like access in itself. It's not enough. That's why we also included education in it, in the mission. And so we built like three other programs around it, which is farm to fridge, school to fridge and chef to fridge.

22:19And they all interact and overlap. and what we realized was like again like the community building aspect is so important especially when you you want to include education as well so we do you know do a lot of workshops and food drives and packing days or speaking engagements but they're all interconnected and the way we look at it is like if true impact deep impact And the reality of how the world works and how we work as human, we need to have these four programs always interconnected. So, Asmire, I'm curious if you think that the way that you view food or cook has changed all in your own life since you've been working with One Love Community Fridge and engaging with food in this kind of way.

23:13Yes. It's really interesting because when I first moved to New York, I was actually really excited because I was like, oh, amazing. I live in the city. I wouldn't actually never have to cook. Yeah. I was really excited about it. But then, you know, you realize after a while and, you know, that I think the way I was eating probably wasn't the healthiest for me. You know, your body can handle different things in different ages. And then I had kids. And I think once I had kids, I actually that's when I really, really started cooking. But then you also I think we live in a city that and the lifestyle that a lot of people have it's like either you might not have time to cook or you don't know really how to cook or you don't have access to a kitchen it's and then I think on the other hand and on at the same time is like eating healthy could be difficult again because it could be either very expensive or time consuming or again you might not have this social structure around you to like might not know how to cook on a certain budget that would work for you.

24:16So I think it's been really interesting. So I feel like the way my work with One Love has affected me has, one, actually made me really look at waste in our family. And it's interesting because I definitely, I grew up in a family, it's an immigrant family where my parents, especially my mom, would use everything, like nothing would ever go to waste and everything could also always be reused like if you know could be reused another way so like zero waste and I think when I first moved to New York I was kind of like oh actually I don't think about that anymore and I think I've kind of come back to that and then I think with One Love Two has been like there's so many volunteers and community members that I'm so inspired by that have also like taught me how to like think about food in different ways or things like, you know, different ways of cooking.

25:09So that's been amazing. The irony of it is where we currently are because it is a kind of 24-7 operation. I'm probably cooking less now than I did two years ago or four years ago. Yeah, I think what you're saying about shifting needs based on where you are in your life or who you're cooking for, what time you have even like cleaning up after cooking takes so much time compared to being able to get takeout or have a meal from somewhere else and i think all of those factors in addition to just having access to food all kind of add up to impact the way that we like have our own relationships with food but i think like the other thing with one love is like and i think it's important to mention is like you know we do focus on fresh food we focus on you know uh workshops or like advocating like on how like how to cook for your cook or you know but I think it's important to know like we're not pushing a specific lifestyle on anybody it's really about giving people the opportunity to choose for themselves and having that access and at least like being aware and I think that's the thing that's important so I I really believed in I really believe in like having like a balanced life if you have you know if they have the opportunity to do that but so i don't believe in you know just eating one thing and not the other or you know any of the extremes and i think that's also not sustainable for most people but for us it's really about like how do we again like just giving people the opportunity to choose because a lot of a lot of people don't have the privilege of making those choices or having access to fresh produce.

26:58Definitely. And looking ahead at this year, do you have any plans for the future of One Love that you can share with us? This year ahead, I mean, I'm so excited. Last year, we piloted our first like a CSA program, which is a community supported agriculture program, where we were able to not just take on donations from some of the farms that we work with, but actually be able to purchase produce from them. And that was amazing because it was connected to all of our four ecosystems where we worked with weekly chefs to create a recipe based on what was in the bag. And we were able to donate four bags for every one bag that somebody subscribed to.

27:46So I'm really excited to do that this year again and extend the program. We did 10 weeks last year. We're doing our health form again. We have quite a lot of programming and workshops that are coming up this year. And hopefully just keep growing our food partners. And then we have additional fridges coming up. So there's a lot happening this year. There's always a lot happening. And in the show notes on the episode, we'll link to One Love's website. So if people want to plug in and find out about when they can do the CSA or when the health forum will be coming up, they can plug in in that kind of way.

28:20And I guess to close today, you know, you have a platform right now. We're on the mic and people are going to be listening to this. And if you were going to tell people who are listening like one thing about food insecurity or changing access to that, like what would be your message that you would want people to hear? We can all do something and that no action is too small. And no action is too big. But to get involved and just take that first step and, you know, just to remind people that, you know, if we all just do something, we do a lot together. And that, you know, I said it earlier, but the face of food insecurity, it might not be the face you might think it is.

29:05And I think just get involved. Please, you know, just reach out and we can help you take that first step. Thanks so much for coming on the show. Thank you so much.

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