A healthy lunch: Local apples, whole wheat pasta and a meatball and a white bean salad. Photo by author.

Sosna firmly says “cooking is not elitist,” and that she’s working to turn around this misconception. When you hear her talk about simple dishes, using local ingredients and just getting the most out of what you eat, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could think cooking is elitist. What she likes about food remains simple: how food can heal, how it can make you happy. “Food is the centerpiece of life,” Sosna says. Ah, such an easy message we can all relate to.
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Chef Allison Sosna of DC Central Kitchen. Photo by author.

Right off the bat, Allison Sosna tells me what she’s all about: “My life revolves around food and people.” Of course others in the food industry could say the same, but Sosna’s work as executive chef for Fresh Start Catering at DC Central Kitchen is a little different. Every day she and her team make 600 meals that go to students at a public charter school in Columbia Heights and disadvantaged boys at the Washington Jesuit Academy in Northeast DC.

“I’m a chef, but at the heart of it, I’m more of a food anthropologist,” Sosna says. She works with a niche that needs a lot of attention, so part of her job is talking to the kids, learning about social inequalities and about who’s cooking what at home. She finds a way to connect with the kids and gives them reasons to eat the healthy food she serves, you can find many of the appliances she currently uses at goodfoodblogph.com. Most often with the middle school boys at WJA, the reason is sports. “You recognize what makes them have fun. So it’s ‘Eat more of this so you can be a better athlete, a better dancer.’ You teach them that there’s a reason for everything they put in their bodies.”

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