A retired chef and his husband have started a volunteer-led soup kitchen in Yellow Springs, Ohio. They're calling it "Who's Hungry," and want it to be a space where people can find community and enjoy gourmet food, regardless of income level.
Carl Moore has been in the kitchen all his life, working his way up from a cook to a head chef with multiple degrees. At the beginning of his career, he said he was homeless while working in a kitchen in Atlanta, Georgia.
"Dropped 25 pounds, but I worked out at a gym, so I was able to keep up appearances. And I figure, as long as I'm working in a restaurant, I'll have something to eat." Moore said, "Friend of mine ratted me out to my boss. Went to work one day, my boss gave me $1,800, told me to go find an apartment, don't come back to work until."
Now that Moore is retired and living in Yellow Springs with his husband, he wants to help people in similar situations to the one he was in early in his career.
Just because you're homeless or you can't cook for yourself, don't mean you can't eat good. For example, on Monday we had a braised lamb shank over wild rice with dinner rolls.Carl Moore
Moore used to work in the kitchen at Emporium Wines & The Underdog Cafe in Yellow Springs, where he saw hunger in the community and the need for free food.
"People would come in, and you would see them looking at the menu, but not eating. Things are costing too much. Everybody's hungry." he said. "Then I see the pantry boxes, and we were doing our best to try to keep those full. And you fill them up in the morning, by afternoon they're gone."
So Moore started the Who's Hungry soup kitchen in Yellow Springs.
"I saw something on the news about [Ohio Gov.] DeWine giving money to Dayton for soup kitchens. And I'm like, 'well, we can do that here," he said.
Moore and his husband Jim Zehner connected with a vegan fusion restaurant in the village called Mazu, which let the volunteer-run kitchen use their equipment and dining space for free.
Mazu is open Thursday through Sunday, and Who's Hungry operates for dinner on Monday and Wednesday, so it was a good fit.
When they first started operating the kitchen in 2024, Zehner said he noticed that there was a stigma associated with eating at soup kitchens for some people.
"When you think soup kitchens, a lot of times you think of the 1930s, and that was an emergency." Zehner said, "And we've got emergencies now, but we don't have to deal with it the same way we did in the 1930s."
For Who's Hungry, this means prioritizing high-quality ingredients, supporting local producers when possible, and making it feel like you're eating at home.
Moore and Zehner also have a reputation in the area for making good food. They used to run a restaurant on the south side of Yellow Springs. Walter Rhodes, who used to go to that restaurant often, traveled from a nearby town to get dinner at Who's Hungry.
"I know these guys, they should have a restaurant, and so I'm visiting today, I love their cooking, and that's kind of why I'm here," he siad.
The popularity has come with financial challenges for Who's Hungry. They had to take a pause for a few weeks last Fall to replenish their supplies.
Moore said the biggest challenge for his volunteer-run kitchen is funding and space. Right now, they're operating entirely on donations in a small kitchen. Still, they often feed more than one hundred people a week.
According to Kyle Harewood from Yellow Springs, the kitchen has become a community gathering space for him in addition to the food.
Harewood usually sits down and eats at Who's Hungry, but he has a new baby at home this week, so he takes his food to go.
"Is it a little tiny baby"? Moore said to Harewood.
"He's only eight days old," Harewood said. "He's my firstborn."
On his way out of the soup kitchen with his to-go bag, Harewood thanked Moore and Zehner.
"You feed me and my children," Harewood said.
This story was produced at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices at WYSO. Culture Couch is supported by the Ohio Arts Council.
