Wisconsin Life

Mo Cheeks

So, the act of sourdough bread making started for me as a hobby. You mix flour and water and salt, and you're gonna end up with bread. Sometimes, I impress myself, though. Usually, no one's here to see it.

Announcer

Mo Cheeks knows artisan bread making is very different than his days on the Madison Common Council. It's so much more chill than when I was in politics.

Angela

The pandemic provided this former politician a chance to further pursue his hobby. Coincidentally, I started just before the pandemic. I was not a baker at all, at all, before I took up sourdough baking. Each of these bins is gonna be 11 loaves. So, for tomorrow, we're doing 22 loaves of bread. The art of bread making also allows Mo to ease his mind. Slowly, methodically, silently in the evening, shaping dough is a really valuable source of self-care for me. It's a time to reflect on how to change the world from the confines of his kitchen. As I was thinking about how to process and the realities of injustice in our country, I have found myself with a number of sleepless nights. And there was something about handmaking the dough that had just become a hobby that now had become a source of sort of therapy for me. As I'm making this sourdough bread for my family, I realized I have too much bread. We started to give it away to our friends. That'll be good. Bakers Against Racism is certainly the inspiration for sort of how the light bulb first went on for me in terms of thinking about, oh, I don't have to just give this bread away.

Crowd

Black lives matter, Black lives matter.

Angela

The racial justice movement provided the missing ingredient for combining two of Mo's passions.

Crowd

Black lives matter. That was the first time that I saw bread and justice come together in a way that I thought, these are my people. This is exactly what I want to be doing.

Angela

And with that, Mo starts a micro bakery in his home kitchen, mixing a dash of joy and activism. It's called Bread & Justice because I originally created it with community in mind for folks who care deeply about justice and also care about being able to enjoy fresh, local, handmade bread. So, we started selling it as a fundraiser. Sleepless nights have now given way to early morning wake-up calls. As I call it, bake day,

wake up at 3

30, preheat the oven. I set a timer. And then,

around 4

30, you can start loading the dough into the oven. And that's what we do.

upbeat music

Angela

Mo also launched a Bread & Justice newsletter, sharing stories and details about his bake sales. 100% of the proceeds are donated to nonprofits fighting for racial justice. I can only make 50 loaves a week. There's 600 or so people that are on the email newsletters. This is the fun part about baking in your home oven. At the end of the day, I can only make so much bread. Okay, cool. Demand has been overwhelming. Got really good rise. I love that. It's really moving to me to see so many people be so interested in-- The reason why they want to buy bread from Bread & Justice is because they want to support social justice and anti-racism initiatives. It's nice, thick, it's nice. That smells great. Mo's efforts are not going unnoticed. It's really good. The World Bread Award selected him as Bread Hero of the Midwest for 2021. With that recognition comes a sense of satisfaction.

Mo

And that's awesome. I'm really proud to be practicing what I preach in terms of doing something to feed the community and knowing that it's feeding not only people's bellies but, hopefully, people's souls as well. The biggest thing that I take away from Bread & Justice is a reminder that there are so many good people out there that really want to be a part of making the world a better place.

orchestra music