Wisconsin Foodie

– Luke Zahm: This week on Wisconsin Foodie : Today, we're on Martin Luther King Drive in beautiful Milwaukee.

We're just outside of Kinship Caf.

– Caitlin Cullen: So, we've got this massive salads and bowls bar, all fresh ingredients.

Everything we make here is from scratch.

Every sauce, every... You know, the beets are not from a can.

We roast 'em, peel 'em, and slice 'em.

To be really frank, we sell a lot of fried chicken sandwiches.

– Luke: Miss Shania, I'm so glad you said we were gonna do this Buffalo sandwich.

– Shania Hutchins: Yes, it's gonna be so fun.

Food really bring people together.

And I love making people happy with just food.

– Caitlin: The food center is really like the heart of Kinship and where it all got started.

Basically, 150 households or so come by each time we're open.

– Vincent Noth: Well, welcome to Kinship Community Food Center, where together, we are a community of... - Group: Generosity!

- Oh, yeah, I love that.

A community of generosity.

– Luke: I am moved.

– Vincent: Thank you so much.

- I am moved.

- Yeah, I'm so grateful.

- It's powerful, powerful work.

– Vincent: Thank you.

– Luke: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.

- The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that, in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[group cheers] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- Did you know Organic Valley protects over 400,000 acres of organic farmland?

So, are we an organic food cooperative that protects land, or land conservationists who make delicious food?

Yes; yes, we are.

Organic Valley.

- Our all-natural roll recipe has been around since 1830.

No binders or fillers.

Just pork, salt, and a savory blend of spices that we make ourselves.

Jones: Making breakfast better since 1889.

- The Wisconsin potato and vegetable growers are proud underwriters of Wisconsin Foodie.

It takes love of the land and generations of farming know-how to nurture a quality potato crop.

Ask any potato farmer and they'll tell you, there's a lot of satisfaction in healthy-grown crops.

- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit Swissconsin and see where your beer's made.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site, high-quality butchering and packaging, The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.

[upbeat music] - Luke: We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers, and chefs on the planet.

We are a merging of cultures and ideas, shaped by this land.

[brats sizzle] We are a gathering of the waters, and together, we shape a new identity to carry us into the future.

[glasses clink] We are storytellers.

We are Wisconsin Foodie.

[bright music] Today, we're on Martin Luther King Drive in beautiful Milwaukee to uncover a story about deep community and resilience, and of course, delicious food.

We're just outside of Kinship Caf, and Kinship is a three-fold organization that not only has this retail operation, but also has a working farm and then a food distribution center located in the Riverwest neighborhood.

We're here to meet with Caitlin Cullen, an old friend and the former chef and owner of Tandem, located in Lindsay Heights, to discover why this is such an amazing and delicious story.

Caitlin, it's so good to see you.

- It's good to see you, man.

- Honestly, this is like a gift.

You know, there are many stories of, like, valuable ships that have come into Milwaukee's harbor.

And as I've researched this a little bit more, I've come to find out that the most valuable ship that's ever landed here is kinship.

[both laugh] - That's a really good pun, dude.

Way to land that plane.

- Thanks, thanks!

I was just excited to get it on camera.

I've been working on that one for two days.

- Crushed.

- Tell us about, you know, you.

Where are you at?

- Oh, where am I at?

I work at Kinship now.

So, I mean, after my Tandem days, I really wasn't sure what I was gonna do for a living.

I had a lot of weird skills that didn't quite make sense for a job other than in restaurants.

So, truly, what we did here, with the Medical College and Greater Milwaukee Foundation upstairs in this building, these are folks who are in an office every day.

They wanted good variety, something healthy.

So, we've got this massive salads and bowls bar, all fresh ingredients.

Everything we make here is from scratch.

Every sauce, every... You know, the beets are not from a can.

We roast 'em, peel 'em, and slice 'em.

So, that's kind of the centerpiece, is that salads and bowls bar.

On top of that, we've got a lot of sandwiches.

We try and keep things good variety.

So, there's a lot of vegan options, a lot of gluten-free options, and then, to be really frank, we sell a lot of fried chicken sandwiches.

But you know, at the Tandem, we did the chicken sandwich once a week.

And it was a massive hit.

And so, we figured to try and get people in the door, I'm gonna offer up this sandwich.

And so, we call it That Tandem Sandwich.

– Luke: Nice.

– Caitlin: And for all the healthy salads, bowls, soups, fresh, organic crap that we make here, 40% of our sales is That Tandem Sandwich.

- Can you talk a little bit about some of the facets of Kinship that, you know, if people come into the caf here, and they see Kinship... This is just, like, it feels like this is just the surface layer, correct?

– Caitlin: Yeah.

- There's a lot going on.

- So, the caf, and that is our, like, that's the poster child for our workforce development program, which is a pretty significant arm of the agency, and it keeps growing.

These folks also spend time on Tuesdays and Saturdays making meals for folks who come to the food center.

– Luke: Okay.

- So, the caf is pretty self-explanatory.

You're spending your time here.

The food center is really, like, the heart of Kinship and where it all got started.

Basically, 150 households or so come by each time we're open... - Luke: Mm-hmm.

– Caitlin: ...to shop.

So, 40% of the people regularly who come in to help out also shop with us.

– Luke: Sure.

– Caitlin: We make it intentionally unclear how you got here.

Kinship started as a bunch of little old ladies in their church parish basement in the recession of the '80s, making sure that their neighbors had enough to eat.

– Luke: Yeah.

– Caitlin: It's a very simple thing.

That's a pretty nice thing that everyone can agree with.

– Luke: Yeah, right?

– Caitlin: It's a pretty easy way to say, "Hey, we care for each other."

And so, we care for each other by making sure you're fed.

And then, you can take that a step further and it's emotionally and spiritually and socially.

But at the very least, let's make sure we're fed.

– Luke: Yeah.

I am starting to get excited.

I know that Shania's back there.

- Oh, yeah.

– Luke: And she, I can't wait to see.

– Caitlin: She's a wild one.

– Luke: Oh, my gosh.

I can tell.

– Caitlin: There's a reason I've been hanging out with her for more than 10 years.

– Luke: [laughs] Exactly!

– Shania: My name is Shania.

I work at Kinship Caf and I'm the caf manager.

A lot of people come from almost everywhere to try our chicken sandwiches.

Food really bring people together.

And I love making people happy with just food.

I love eating food.

Might as well just cook food and make people happy.

– Luke: I am ready!

Miss Shania, I'm so glad you said we were gonna do this Buffalo sandwich.

– Shania: Yes, it's gonna be so fun.

This is the chicken that I just got.

This is how you're gonna get it to here.

– Luke: Okay.

- These are thin.

- Yep, thin to win.

- So... I take one of these breasts right here, and I kind of cut it like that, and you're slicing it.

And you're kind of pulling it back.

– Luke: Yep.

Beautiful butterfly.

Okay, so... - Okay, let me go on this side.

- I'm gonna have you watch me just do one, right?

– Shania: All right, just one.

- So, we're gonna come across the side.

I'm gonna go in here.

I'm gonna get that.

– Shania: And you're gonna pull it back.

– Luke: Yep, butterfly.

– Shania: Yep.

– Luke: All right, let's keep rolling it back.

– Shania: Wow.

– Luke: One more time, maybe.

– Shania: Wow, wow.

– Luke: Open it up.

- That is great.

– Luke: Is that all right?

- Yes!

– Luke: Okay, and then the pound.

Right?

- Pound.

[mallet taps] - Luke: Just nice and even.

– Shania: Yes.

– Luke: Is that okay?

- You know what you're doing.

You're hired.

- Oh, Shania, thank you!

Careful, I might take you up on that.

I like this place.

[laughs] I feel very seen here.

- That's Kinship.

- Yeah, that's Kinship, right?

How long have you been with Kinship?

- I've been with Kinship for a year.

- Okay.

- And this has been the best year of my life.

- Really?

- Yes.

- Why?

- A lot of good things has been happening.

So, my life always been, like, a little shaky.

I get somewhere, and then I end up going down.

I get somewhere, and then end up going down.

This is the most consistent.

Like, I come in, I'm working with people, I'm training with people.

I got a new car.

- Yeah?

- I'm finally making enough to provide for my daughter and I.

- Yeah.

- It's just, like... It's a eye-opener.

– Luke: Sure.

– Shania: And Kinship did it for me.

- All right, so what's next?

- We're about to fry up an Angry Buff.

- Nice!

To the fryer we go.

- We got our cut chicken breasts.

That's what we did over there.

This is our Georgia flour.

That's some spices.

I'm not gonna give out the secret recipe, but that's spices.

[Luke laughs] - Luke: She was so close!

– Chef: She was so close, you know?

You had to think about it!

– Shania: And then, we got three eggs, some Valentina hot sauce.

I can give you that one.

– Luke: Okay, okay.

– Shania: Three eggs, some Valentina hot sauce, and some water.

We're about to drop three.

Drop three.

– Luke: Okay.

– Chef: It'll be sitting down here for seven to eight minutes.

– Luke: Sure.

I can feel the anticipation building.

- We got this bowl of hot sauce.

– Chef: That's a Angry Buffalo.

– Shania: They're real hot.

Whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo!

Mmm.

Mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm.

I'mma get in here and grab some pickles 'cause pickles go on both the Tandem and the Angry Buff.

– Luke: Do you believe, Chef, that pickles make a chicken sandwich?

– Shania: I like my chicken sandwich to have mayo, lettuce, all that good, fun stuff, but this Angry, the pickles makes the sandwich.

– Luke: Sure.

[groovy music] - Shania: All righty, ready?

– Luke: Yeah, I think so.

You ready?

– Shania: Yes.

– Luke: Ooh, yeah.

- All right, that's the one.

- Now, do you lift it up, or do you, like, make the, uh... into the sandwich wrapper part of the... - I'm a sandwich wrapper.

- I know, I know.

- 'Cause sometimes, it gets a little crazy.

- Right, you get those crazy, messy fingers.

I don't mind a messy finger.

[Shania laughs] - Shania: Boop!

[Luke laughs] - Mmm.

Yum.

- That's the one?

- That's the one.

- That's the one.

- It's delicious.

It melds so nicely with the hot sauce, the pickles.

- And the ranch.

- That dirty ranch!

I mean, it's delightful.

[laughs] - Love me a hot sauce ranch.

- Mm-hmm.

What inspired this for you?

- Well, I wanted to make a Buffalo sandwich, always, at the Tandem.

Always told Caitlin to make a Buffalo sandwich.

- Yeah.

- And we used to do it as a special, but now it's on the menu, and it's really nice.

- Mm-hmm.

Does it feel like a little bit of a personal triumph to see something that you breathed life into in the world?

- Yes, always wanted it on the menu.

I'm like, "Just make a hot sauce sandwich!"

But I'm young, 17.

Hot sauce everything.

– Luke: Yeah.

[both laugh] And now, you're kicking 'em out all day long.

- Yes.

[both laugh] - It's the gift that keeps giving.

- Yes.

[both laugh] At Kinship, everyone gives and everyone receives.

- Yeah, I love it!

Well, I'm game.

This is delicious.

– Shania: Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

- You are a delight.

I really appreciate meeting you.

- Thank you!

- My heart is, like, it's so full.

Getting to come in here and see what Kinship is doing, not only for the community and city of Milwaukee, but for like, individual humans... - Yes.

- ...it's a good organization.

- It really is.

- And you taking that as your space?

That's hero's work for me.

I see that and I appreciate it.

- Thank you.

- Yeah.

Thank you so much for, not only talking the talk, but walking the walk.

- Thank you.

- Yeah.

- I'm glad that you're here.

- Mmm!

– Caitlin: One of the real baselines of our food is what Cole does at the Kinship farm.

– Luke: Okay.

– Caitlin: And so, that is... I mean, I think he's on track to probably do 20,000 pounds of organic produce this year.

– Luke: Wow!

– Caitlin: 20,000 pounds.

– Luke: That's a lot!

– Caitlin: He's one man with, usually, like, an intern or a part-time employee, and it's all volunteer led outside of that.

- My name's Cole Compton.

I'm the urban farm manager at the Kinship Community Food Center Urban Farm.

There are 11 production greenhouses, and we have one event coordination sort of greenhouse, storage greenhouse.

But 11 full-size production hoop houses.

Yeah, we grow a lot.

So, typically, on any given season, during the summer, we're growing about 45 different varieties of food.

Anything from your typical cherry tomato to more unique things, in Wisconsin, at least, like okra.

– Luke: Cole, it's so good to meet you, my man.

– Cole: Good to meet you.

We are on a beautiful three-acre lot, about 27,000 square feet of total growing space, surrounded by buildings, like our partner, Maglio.

We have highway behind us, Port Road in front of us, buildings all around.

And this is a little slice of urban farm heaven.

We grow upwards of 20,000 pounds of produce here in a single year.

That's what we hope to get this year.

- What makes this farm so exceptional?

Like, how do you do it?

- I would say the one... The best answer and the one answer would be the community that supports us.

Today, on this particular volunteer day, we have about 40 people here, and they are doing all of the amazing work it takes to run this operation.

So, harvesting, the planting, the watering, the weeding, you know, everything it takes is run by amazing volunteers who come here from all over Milwaukee, all over the state, honestly, and help us to take care of this produce.

All right, so, yeah, let me show you our tomatoes.

And this is a really good example of how we utilize this hoop house space we have.

These guys have been going for... Probably about three and a half months at this point.

So, they're all grown from seed, again, with volunteer help.

I would say about 65-ish pounds per plant of, like, beautiful, big, fresh tomatoes.

– Luke: Cole, it's worth mentioning that, since we're in the tomato house, tomatoes are no stranger to this neighborhood.

- They are not a stranger at all.

Yeah, one of the things, you know, we're talking about the volunteers, we're talking about our amazing donors, all of the people who support Kinship, and one big tomato that you'll see is Maglio company.

So, they're a wholesale produce distributor who is generous enough to donate this land to us, to give us a beautiful opportunity to grow the food for the past so many years.

I think seven years at this point, eight years, and they are the only reason that these hoop houses are here, and that we are here, being able to give back, it is due to Maglio Company's support.

You know, you can see our okra.

So, these are beautiful at this point in the year.

They're getting really large.

We have eggplant, and then we have beets.

And so, it's really amazing to see in these hoop houses how we can grow so many different crops close together.

You know, these rows are about a foot and a half.

So, we're packing the produce in.

We're making sure that we can maximize every inch of space so we can grow as much food as possible.

– Luke: How does all of this work in the wintertime?

What happens out here at the Kinship farm in the winter?

– Cole: Yeah, so, let me actually take you to another hoop house, and I'll show you, kind of, what we're prepping to do for the upcoming winter.

– Luke: Okay, sounds good.

I'll follow you, man.

- All right, so, this one is gonna be a good example of a fall house.

This one will go from, you know, now, mid-September, all the way to, I would say early December, with what is currently growing in here.

So... - Wow!

– Cole: It's cool to see 'cause we have our lettuce mix, this is what I was referencing before, this specially formulated mix that it has a lot of good, different colors of leafy greens, very vibrant and good for the food center.

– Luke: I am really excited at this point, like, to follow this food, so, can we follow the truck down to the food center and see what happens next?

– Cole: Let's go see what happens next.

– Luke: All right, great, man.

I'll follow you.

– Cole: Sounds good.

[volunteers talk and laugh] All of the food that we harvest here today is gonna go directly down the road, eight minutes to the Kinship Food Center, where it's gonna be distributed to 100-plus families at 4:00 p.m.

this evening.

And right now, for reference, it is 10:45.

So, very quick time from harvest to plate.

[indistinct conversation] - So, behind me, we're at the food center here in Riverwest for Kinship.

And you know, we finally get to see where all these pieces come together, from the farm, the food that comes downstairs, and the community gathers and rallies around it.

There's no one-size-fits-all for the definition of community, and this particular recipe for community is one that is nuanced, robust, and delicious.

Let's check it out.

– Mattie Allen: Okay, so, I'm making chili.

We got a little three-bean chili.

We got dark red kidney beans, cannellini beans, and black beans.

We also use poblanos, banana peppers, jalapeos, onion, garlic.

We made our own chili blend and ground a whole lot of meat.

That is for dinner.

We're also going to have jalapeo cornbread.

We're gonna have banana cake with a caramel frosting.

All my veg except for onion came from the farm.

So, my poblanos, my banana peppers, my jalapeos, all came from the farm.

It's always cool when you say, "Hey, this came right out of our garden," you know?

It kind of gives people an idea of what they can make with those things as well.

So, we love trying to do that as much as possible.

I ended up in Kinship... It was a total fluke.

I live in the neighborhood.

I walked past here maybe... five times before I actually came in.

I came in and realized it was a food pantry.

Like I said, I was a logistics manager for 16 years.

So, I came in, and then just, like, slid into random spots and just helped wherever I thought they needed help.

Maybe two months after that, I was like, "Actually, I kind of need help.

Can y'all help me?"

So, it kind of snowballed from there, from getting rent assistance, to starting the workforce program, to being promoted.

Kinship has probably made more of an impact than it intended to.

I feel like Kinship sucked me in, and then it's like holding me in a never-ending hug or something.

I don't know if that makes sense.

Not like a weird, creepy one, but like, a really nice, warm, like your grandma gave you a hug.

- Well, welcome to Kinship Community Food Center, where together, we are a community of... - Group: Generosity!

- Oh, yeah, I love that.

A community of generosity.

Who came here with a little something to give tonight?

[group exclaims] Yeah, that's me.

Who came because they knew they were gonna receive a little something special?

[group exclaims] Everybody, so, every time we gather, we just kind of do the little rehearse because sometimes, people get the mindset like, "Hey, my bills are paid."

You know, "I have enough food.

I'm here to help somebody else out."

And if that's you tonight and you're here, we wanna remind you what you're really here to do is you're here to receive as much as you could ever possibly give.

Make sure you open yourself up to what this community has for you tonight, but also, every time we open those doors, you know somebody is coming through tonight that's going through, and maybe going through one of the hardest weeks of their year, maybe one of the hardest seasons of their life.

And what can happen to us when all the waves are crashing on us is we can stop.

We can forget how essential we are to this community.

We can forget the gift that we're meant to give this community.

And so, what we've discovered at Kinship here is, in fact, those who have carried the heaviest burdens are often the ones that have the most to teach the rest of us.

So, if that's you tonight, we need you.

Just hear my voice tonight.

We need you.

This community needs you.

Give your gift tonight.

Make a connection.

Relationships are always about connection.

[group applauds] Hey, I'm Vincent.

- How you doing, Vincent?

- Thanks for being here, man.

- Thanks for having me.

This is powerful.

- Oh, thanks, Luke.

- This is really powerful.

- I'm so grateful to hear that.

This community has changed my life.

- Yeah.

- And it's been one of the greatest gifts of my life, so.

– Luke: Absolutely.

Even just coming in, walking through different phases of it, seeing Kinship Caf, great physical presence in the neighborhood, going to the farm.

– Vincent: Yeah.

– Luke: Following that food back here and then seeing the community resonance.

– Vincent: Yeah.

– Luke: This is powerful stuff.

– Vincent: This is where it all begins, here.

You know, we open those doors, and that's where-- Most people encounter us through those doors, and usually, not in the best of circumstances, you know?

It's like, "How am I gonna make the ends meet?"

And so, there's often stress coming through those doors.

And we're trying to counteract that stress with just a whole lot of love, you know, and a whole lot of connectivity.

Trauma is disconnection in our body, right?

And relationships, healthy relationships, have the power to reconnect us.

- Absolutely.

- And to kind of center us and go, "Wait a minute here."

Like, "I don't have to be in crisis all the time," you know?

And so, this place has a, it has, like, a domino effect because there's so many people doing the same thing here, which is just, like, "I see you, I see you, I see you."

So, that's what makes it special.

Are you a chili fan?

- Yeah!

I mean, who isn't?

- Yeah, right, exactly.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Exactly.

So, we've got meat and vegetarian chili, and I wasn't here this morning, but my guess is there's a ton of stuff from the farm in this chili.

- Absolutely.

- Like, a lot of peppers, a lot of fresh tomatoes.

So, I'll do a scoop of each.

– Volunteer: All right.

– Luke: I'll do the same.

- Thanks, guys.

Thanks, Cheryl, thanks, Dorothy.

Thank you so much.

I'm pumped about diving into this.

– Luke: Yeah, me too!

This matters so much.

So many people... - Yeah.

- ...go through their day-to-day life without any awareness given to maybe their friends, their neighbors, the people down the road, some of the struggles, triumphs that they're enduring as human beings.

- Yeah.

- And over the process of being able to try and capture this, I am, I am moved.

- Thanks so much, man.

- I am moved.

- Yeah, I'm so grateful.

- This is powerful, powerful work.

- Thank you.

This community is so... It's changed my life.

– Luke: Well, you've got an advocate for life in me.

Thank you so much.

- Thanks, Luke.

- You're a good human.

- Yeah, you, too.

- I see you.

- Thank you.

- Oh, man!

[Vincent laughs] - Luke and Shania: This is how we do it This is how we do it This is how we do it - Kinship kitchen I got myself an itchin' And I'm thinking that that's a Buffalo chicken [laughter] - Chef: Okay, I see you!

- I didn't know I was gonna get to come in and spit bars today.

[laughter] These are good days!

Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.

- The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that, in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[group cheers] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- Did you know Organic Valley protects over 400,000 acres of organic farmland?

So, are we an organic food cooperative that protects land, or land conservationists who make delicious food?

Yes; yes, we are.

Organic Valley.

- Our all-natural roll recipe has been around since 1830.

No binders or fillers.

Just pork, salt, and a savory blend of spices that we make ourselves.

Jones: Making breakfast better since 1889.

- The Wisconsin potato and vegetable growers are proud underwriters of Wisconsin Foodie.

It takes love of the land and generations of farming know-how to nurture a quality potato crop.

Ask any potato farmer and they'll tell you, there's a lot of satisfaction in healthy-grown crops.

- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit Swissconsin and see where your beer's made.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site, high-quality butchering and packaging, The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically-raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.

- Still hungry for more?

Get connected on Facebook and Instagram, and also make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, where you'll find past episodes and special segments.