Photo Illustration: Russ Smith • Photo: Chai Pai Restaurant Group (Foreground); Noaa (Background)
Food is more than what’s on the plate. This is Equal Portions, a series by editor-at-large Shane Mitchell, investigating bigger issues and activism in the food world, and how a few good eggs are working to make it better for everyone.
“No water, no restaurant, no income.” Chef Silver Iocovozzi wrote those heartbreaking words on social media about the temporary closure of his 18-seat restaurant Neng Jr.’s, which has earned national accolades for its Filipinx-Southern menu in Asheville, North Carolina. After Hurricane Helene made landfall in late September, the city’s water system was knocked out in the devastating floods that swept away most of the River Arts District, and the estimated timeline for restored access to potable water may be weeks or even months from now. (As of November, running water has been reinstated, but it remains unsafe for human consumption, and that forces restaurants and breweries lacking clean water to stay closed.) Iocovozzi’s staff has participated in the relief effort, providing hot lunches, delivering supplies to nearby towns, distributing food donations, and helping friends dig out from the mud deposited by the torrent. They recently hosted a pop-up dinner in Brooklyn to raise funds for reopening.
We’ve all seen the footage from hurricanes Helene and Milton. A double whammy of destruction ripped through Florida coastal areas, Georgia agricultural counties, and western North Carolina. Not to diminish the impact on others still picking up the debris of their
