The Trump Effect On Our Eating

It is true that our current president can leave a bitter taste in one's mouth. Now his ideas and decrees are affecting our restaurants. From waitstaff to chefs, they're being hurt by President Trump's reneging of DACA Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The Dreamers that have big dreams are being threatened with their worst nightmares.They'll be forced to go back to the bleakness of their  homelands and the problems that they left there.

The issue - not surprisingly - hit the New York Times Food section today. Fernanada Santos interviewed an up and coming chef, Suny Santana and what he could face. His story is not unusual. He and his family came to Arizona from northern Mexico when he was eleven. His father , although he had a degree in mechanical engineering, along with his mother ,felt that the future would be bleak for their three children, Using tourist visas, they stayed in Phoenix where there would be new world of opportunity for Suny. He was enterprising,  As a teen  he collected plastic bottles and aluminum cans  to resell  to recycling centers. At the age of eighteen he graduated from high school and enrolled in a community college where he studied in a culinary program. That was the first problem. Chef Santana couldn't pay the grossly unfair out of state tuition fee that Arizona required from dreamers at the time ad had to leave.

Luckily there was Aaron Chamberlin, his boss, at the trendy St. Francis Restaurant where he worked.  There was also President Obama's DACA created in 2012, which allowed dreamers such as Chef Santana permission to live and work in the US. He thrived. His skills, along with his hunger to learn and determination impressed Mr. Chamberlin greatly,The restauranteur offered to put him in charge of the restaurant. He did so well that Mr. Chamberlin asked him what he'd want to do next. The answer was opening up a taqueria, He'd either do it with his father or raise the money on his own . Not wanting him as competition Mr. Chamberlain  offered to create a taqueria with him.It will be named Chelo , in honor of  Chef Santana's mother.It is her nickname and she will be the inspiration behind many of the dishes.Her method for tortillas will be used in his kitchen. It involves soaking and cooking wheat in lime water, then draining, rinsing, and hulling it. It is then ground in a hand cranked stone mill to make masa, the dough used to make the tacos.

Hopefully Taco Chelo will be allowed to be a successful restaurant and Chef Santana allowed to be a famous chef. It would be an abomination for him to be deported. It should not happen. We can't let it happen.