"There was a bookmobile that came around to our apartments when I was a kid, and they had a contest: whoever read the most books would win a bicycle. I was eight years old and didn't know how to ride a bike yet, but my brother did and he wanted one, so he talked me into entering. The plan was for me to read and for him to get the prize. I thought the cookbooks looked interesting, so I started checking them out, reading, and experimenting. My first attempts at cooking were disasters. I remember trying to make fried chicken and spaghetti, but they were so awful nobody would touch them. Then I bought different sized pans from the thrift store and tried to make a wedding cake. Nobody could eat it either, but I kept trying. About a year into the experimentation, my mom realized I was serious, so she started teaching me things in the kitchen and I began helping her cook for events at church. I spent the summer I was nine helping my aunt cater weddings. From there things escalated, and now I’m a chef at Caritas Village. I love what I do. I love how food can take people to places they may never be able to go and allow them to experience other cultures, other ethnicities. I love how food connects us to each other in ways we might not otherwise connect. I don’t have one particular dish that’s my favorite to cook. I enjoy making everything. Sometimes people ask, ‘What’s your secret?’ I think the secret is the love and the passion I pour into what I do.”
Some of Eli's work below. Photo credit: Caritas Village FB page.
Chef Elijah Townsend, Culinary Artist-in-Residence at Caritas Village, 2509 Harvard
See more photos of Eli's dishes and the lunch menus for the week on the Caritas FB page.
See more photos of Eli's dishes and the lunch menus for the week on the Caritas FB page.
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