[Note: This
post, prepared originally for the NC Folklife Institute's NCFood blog, is
hosted on the institute’s website, with excerpts and a link to the website
posted here.]
Food is more
than simply sustenance. Kitchens are more than places to prepare and eat meals.
No place is better for demonstrating the value in society of food and kitchens
than The King’s Kitchen in Charlotte, NC. As its customers enjoy the menu of the day, the
unemployed, underemployed, difficult to employ, and recently released prison
inmates learn culinary and food service skills.
 |
| Chef-in-training Horace Pressley spreads a big smile when someone raves about his mac and cheese. |
Customers enter
because the food is excellent and the service is top-notch. The Southern meat
and three sides (with bread) seems the most popular order. The entrees of
braised pot roast, fried or baked chicken, fried catfish, and grilled meatloaf
rival any superior Southern restaurant. Customers may also be satisfied because
the restaurant has a huge heart and social conscience. When I ate recently at
The King’s Kitchen, the food was so good and the service so professional, I
couldn’t image that the staff could include someone once homeless, a former
drug addict, or convicted felon.
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