Worcester caterer serves up food — and comfort — for displaced Plumley Village residents

WORCESTER — When Jessica Reyes-Lambert received a call on Monday that displaced Plumley Village residents living in hotels were eating things like instant oatmeal, she jumped into action.

Since Tuesday, the founder of Worcester Families Feeding Families and owner of the Un Toque Borikén catering service, has been preparing hot dinners for the residents, hoping to bring them comfort and full bellies.

“When I went there and served the first day, they were very grateful,” Reyes-Lambert said. “Latinos don't have oatmeal with water. We put in condensed milk and sugar and cinnamon and coconut milk. We make it fatty and creamy and make it taste like a dessert.”

She keeps this in mind when working out of her industrial kitchen on Stafford Street, where she thinks of the meals she’s going to prepare for the Plumley Village residents.

With the help of her mother, Judy Alvarez, and an assistant, Amanda Murphey, she has been able to put together meals that serve about 200 to 300 people each night for the displaced residents.

Village to begin reopening

According to The Community Builders, which owns and manages Plumley Village, 104 residents in the top 13 floors will return to their apartments Saturday, with lower floors projected for early next week, it said.

Reyes-Lambert plans the meals she provides a day ahead. She said she some days she will spend 12 to 16 hours in the kitchen.

As as she was cooking Thursday’s dinner, pollo guisado, a Puerto Rican chicken stew, she was already thinking about what she would be cooking Friday: picadillo.

Once the pollo guisado — which included rice being prepared in three large rice cookers on shelves near the entrance of her business — was finished, she would put it all into large trays and hand it off to volunteers from Worcester Community Fridges.

The volunteers would then take the trays of food to the two hotels the residents are staying at and divide it up further into individual containers for each resident to take.

Friday’s dinner, picadillo, is another hot, comfort dish made out of sautéed ground beef, tomato sauce, peppers and onions, and sofrito — a mix of fresh peppers and onions and is a “base for all our food” — and is served over rice or potatoes.

Dishes popular with Latino residents

Reyes-Lambert has chosen these dishes not only because she can make them from muscle memory but also because many of the residents she met are of Latino descent.

“To me, it’s really important to be as culturally sensitive as possible,” she said. “I'm American, I was born and raised here … if I'm hungry, I'll eat anything. But when you're coming from another country and you're more into cultural foods, that's not something that they're accustomed to.”

Reyes-Lambert was born in New York — something that could have been avoided, she said, if her mother had remained in Southbridge, where she grew up, since she was due to give birth at any time — but raised in Central Massachusetts. She is also of Puerto Rican descent.

Having these two perspectives, she said, helped her not only think about how to best serve the Plumley Village residents but also the seniors she prepares meals for each day for Meals on Wheels.

Many of her seniors are Latino, allowing her to make Latino dishes, but some are also Vietnamese, allowing her to diversify the meals she prepares and offers to be more inclusive.

This was evident from the spices lining Reyes-Lambert’s countertops and racks, some of which had labels in Spanish and some in Vietnamese.

When she first began preparing meals for residents, Reyes-Lambert was using money from her own pockets, which costs about $500 per day. But the money the groups have been able to raise have been able to offset some costs.

Ultimately, the group is not only looking for volunteers to help at the hotels with things like serving food and cleaning up, but also for donations to be able to provide two meals per day to the displaced residents.

Their goal is to raise $10,000. Reyes-Lambert said she would continue to serve the residents as long as her services are needed, as well as funding being available.

But for Reyes-Lambert, her work does not begin and end with the displaced Plumley Village residents. Having gotten her start during the COVID-19 pandemic with a mobile food pantry, she moved on to providing hot meals, something she will be ready to continue providing during times of emergency, she said.

“I don't I didn't go to culinary school, but cooking has always been my passion,” Reyes-Lambert said. “If I start something, I'm gonna keep it going.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Jessica Reyes-Lambert prepares free meals to displaced Plumley Village residents