With more than 40 million American recipients of federal food benefits facing funding cuts, a group of New York chefs and restaurateurs has started to offer free meals. At their own expense, the restaurants Field Trip Harlem and Charles Pan-Fried Chicken have provided hundreds of free meals to people with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cards.
Funding for the SNAP continues to be impeded by the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. In court filings on Nov. 3, the Trump administration acknowledged that it would provide only half of the normal SNAP aid given to recipient households, using $4.65 billion from a contingency fund. However, it remains unclear when SNAP’s tens of millions of recipients, including around 3 million New Yorkers, might see those partial benefits.
When he learned about the government shutdown’s impact on SNAP funding, food influencer Mike Schulte reached out to and formed a partnership with the founder of the Field Trip restaurant, Chef JJ Johnson…