Chef learned craft in prison; now he feeds vulnerable

Steven Allbright first studied culinary arts by watching TV cooking shows in prison. Now he’s trying to keep Baltimore’s most vulnerable residents fed during a pandemic.

As the culinary director at the Franciscan Center in Baltimore, Allbright’s job has evolved in recent weeks with the growing demands. While some other organizations and soup kitchens scaled back as the novel coronavirus spread, Allbright’s kitchen ramped up.

On a recent morning, the 58-year-old chef arrived at the center shortly after 4 a.m., and he and his staff churned out nearly 7,000 meals over the next several hours, all destined for the city’s homeless, at-risk, aging and destitute.

“They’re kind of like a forgotten population. We can’t afford to forget them, though,” he said.

In March, as the city shut down and many services dried up, the Franciscan Center kept moving. Before the coronavirus, the center did no deliveries. Meals were served indoors to 70 or so people at a time. It now works with more than two dozen partners and community programs to serve individual homes, senior centers and homeless encampments.

Allbright is determined to serve restaurant-quality meals with healthy, fresh ingredients. The menu could range from falafel to chicken Parmesan to vegetable marinara over linguine.

“We create all of our meals from scratch now,” said Jeffrey Griffin, the center’s executive director. “We’ve gotten healthier, we’re spending less money, and we’re serving more people. That was Chef Steve’s vision.”