Let’s Support COVID-19 Fighters! Progress Report, May 7, 2020
DAY-1
It’s finally the first day of the “Let’s Support COVID-19 Fighters!” Project.
Our Food & Beverage department has long been preparing for this day! Starting yesterday, chef Yasuoka,, Kageyama, and Hondo gathered in the kitchen at 6:30 in the morning. They took the necessary safety precautions before they began cooking, and wore double layers of protective gear including masks and gloves. They then began cooking and made sushi rolls, grilled salmon, fried chicken, shrimp tempura and much more, of course while practicing social distancing.
Once all the food was prepared, 130 bento boxes were lined up in the dining room to make a wide variety of bento boxes.
The first bento was made up of Japanese food that Americans enjoy while maintaining a well-balanced menu of fish, meat and vegetables, all put together in a beautiful arrangement. We also made 15 vegetarian lunch boxes for each hospital. Chef Yasuoka hopes that the medical workers will feel less tired and brighter from the meals.
We will make a different bento box each week, so we are thinking of new ideas besides authentic Japanese-style lunch boxes like these. We are thinking to try other lunch boxes that are popular with foreigners like Katsu-curry.
Today’s menu: Grilled Salmon, Egg custard, Fishcake, Crab meat dumpling, Konnyaku, Baby soy beans & seaweed, Vinegared lotus root, Veggie spring roll, Carrot, Sautéed Broccoli, Red pepper & Potato, Tofu Edamame ball, Japanese Taro, Snow pea, Vegetarian Fried noodles, Fried Chicken, Pumpkin & Shrimp, Grape tomato, Lemon, Avocado Cucumber Carrot roll
Today’s menu (Vegetarian) : Tofu steak, Vinegared lotus root, Veggie spring roll, Carrot, Sautéed Broccoli, Red pepper, Yellow pepper, Zucchini, Shiitake & Potato, Tofu edamame ball, Japanese Taro, Snow pea, Vegetarian Fried noodles, Fried Pumpkin, Lotus root, Zucchini & Japanese sweet potato, Grape tomato, Lemon, Avocado Cucumber Carrot roll
The real charm of these bentos is the support message from the companies who sponsored this project. Each bento had a sticker on it with their message. We all hope that it will serve as a nutritional source not only for the body but also for the mind, for medical teams who are on the frontlines every day. We are deeply grateful to everyone for their ongoing cooperation, and we are delighted to be able to work with you to support the rapid recovery of New York City. (Click here for support message)
It was our first time making 130 bento boxes with only three people, so it took some time and ran a little late. But we were finally able to load all bento boxes onto Nippon Express’ truck at 11:20am. Nippon Express always delivers safely so we were relieved.
The track delivered the bento boxes to Mount Sinai and Columbia Presbyterian Hospitals.
From The Mount Sinai Hospital
“It was very popular! Thank you. I enjoyed bento box which is beautiful, plenty of volume and delicious!”
“Oh wow!!! Amazing food!! Thank you!!”
“This is so outstanding and delicious! Thank you again!”
“Thank you for the delicious bento box – I very much enjoyed it. It was a lovely treat!”
From Columbia Presbyterian Hospital
“Let’s Support COVID-19 Fighters!” project is planned to continue to deliver bentos for about half a year with the cooperation of many member companies and the the Japanese Medical Association of America (JMSA). We will do our best to serve healthcare workers as many delicious lunches as possible during this time!
The next delivery will be on Thursday, May 14th.
▶︎If you are interested in this project, please check this page「Let’s Support COVID-19 Fighters! 」
