If it’s lunchtime in New Orleans, that means Feed the Front Lines Nola, organized by Krewe of Red Beans founder Devin De Wulf, is up to three things:

• Feeding health care workers at every hospital in the city

• Keeping 25+ local restaurants in business

• Employing local musicians to make deliveries

For Devin, it’s personal: his wife is an ER doctor. She came home one night early into treating Covid-19 and mentioned how much a batch of cookies baked by an ER nurse had uplifted her team’s spirits. He had a lightbulb moment: through the Krewe of Red Beans, Devin’s existing network of restaurant owners across New Orleans could multiply that effect tenfold. And keep them in business. Devin was uniquely positioned to scale, and fast. Ever since, he and his crew have been serving meals for those on the front lines. Spreading “food love,” as he calls it. This week they served their 40,000th meal.

On this episode, we speak with Devin about the work #FeedtheFrontLinesNola is doing and also speak with two local restaurant owners who are part of this network — Lisa Nelson of Queen Trini Lisa and Nathanial Zimmet of Boucherie and Bouree. Lisa shares about her Trinidadian and Tobagonian heritage and Nathanial shares his experience surviving Hurricane Katrina and seeing the city come together during times of hardship.

Episode Notes:

• Visit Feed the Front Line Nola

• Feed the Front Line Nola’s Instagram, @redbeansparade

• @boucherienola on Instagram

• @the_queen_trini on Instagram