For Jeremy Johnson, chief culinary officer at the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, food and cooking have always been an integral part of his story. As a kid, he spent a lot of time either barbecuing at his father’s hip or going in the back kitchen doors of some of Tulsa’s most iconic bygone restaurants including Full Moon Cafe, Goldie’s and Charlie Mitchell’s Restaurant and Pub.
“My dad always had an industry job, but he didn’t just cook — he did events as well,” Johnson says. “I grew up at Gilcrease Museum. He did events there, put up art displays, and he would work in the kitchen, too.”
Attending culinary school at the Art Institute of Atlanta after graduating from Booker T. Washington High School, Johnson later came on board with the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma in 2013 as the Mobile Eatery Manager. When he first applied for a position with the Food Bank, however, he admits he had an assumption that many people in the community may still hold today…