Jeff Bacon at the Triad Community Kitchen

Chef Jeff Bacon of the Triad Community Kitchen

Chef Jeff Bacon is a busy man who gave me time to explain the collaborative cooking project in detail. It didn't take much to get him behind DATS MashUp even though he had events stacked up and busy workers coming in and out of his office getting ready for the next event. On the classroom walls were rows of photos of graduated classes, proud new cooks who'd gone through the ten-week training course held in the Second Harvest Food Bank warehouse in Winston-Salem.

Second Harvest Food Bank in Winston-Salem

Warehouse facilities at the Food Bank.

Jeff said he could squeeze in time just a week before the conference. Would that be enough? He's a professional, he knows. One day for meet and greet, another day for extended work with the refugee cook in the kitchen. He'd pull it all together, but he suggested the individual I select be energetic and ready to go. This changes some of my plans and limits some of my possible contacts. I call Narayan, my contact at Senior Resources of Guilford County, who began calling some Nepali refugees. Let’s see where these contacts lead to.