Welcome to Table Talk, The Daily Memphian’s weekly food and dining newsletter for subscribers only.

The tenets of journalism are fairness, accuracy, accountability, transparency and independence. Journalists seek out the who, what, when, where, why and how to ensure that we’re telling accurate stories of our neighborhoods. 

Recently, I got it a little wrong. Journalists are still people, after all. Biases are often baked into our everyday lives, and we don’t always see them.

Victor Cruz, owner (left), and his son Brian Hernandez (right) work at El Acapulco Mariscos Y Comida Mexicana. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian)

I recently reported on the effect potential U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids were having on our city’s restaurant industry. Some of these restaurants are owned and operated by immigrants. Others are staffed by immigrants; many of them have dense concentrations of immigrant customers.

I knew all this but still made assumptions. I assumed ICE raids would affect local kitchens more than anything else. Perhaps I was unconsciously tapping into my personal experience and short-lived career as a (terrible) server, but kitchens were my first frame of reference for where many Latino people work. 

My assumption the story would only be about staffing issues was short-sighted at best. 

“I’m sure some kitchens are having staff problems, but I haven’t heard of any specific complaints,” Mauricio Calvo said when I asked him what was happening in some of the city’s immigrant communities.

Calvo is the executive director of Latino Memphis, a local nonprofit that offers wraparound services for the city’s Latin American community — immigrant and otherwise.

“I’m sure some kitchens are having staff problems, but I haven’t heard of any specific complaints,” Mauricio Calvo said. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian)

“I think all of us are limited in our knowledge of the world in general, and self-awareness of that is amazing,” he said when I later confessed I’d initially pulled on the wrong thread when I first started reporting the story. “We are in a rapidly changing, unpredictable and unprecedented world. ... All of us have to check our ego at the door and say that we don’t know anything.”

The realization of my bias didn’t stop me from pursuing the story. But it did light a fire under me to learn the truth of what was shaping this particular restaurant slump.

It turned out most the employers who were willing to talk to me either on or off the record weren’t having staffing problems at all. They were having a problem keeping customers coming through the doors.

I won’t rehash what I learned. You can read about it here. But I will say our city’s stories don’t end with the period at the end of the final sentence. Life goes on for businesses such as those on Summer Avenue and other neighborhoods.

“I think we have a mandate to recognize first that we don’t know everything and (there’s) this moral obligation to become educated, whether you’re a journalist or just a regular person,” Calvo said. “You may not see ICE detaining 100 people at a time — yet — but they are taking three people a day. And that adds up to (almost) 100 people a month.” 

Mauricio Calvo (middle) speaks March 10 during a rally opposing Tennessee Senate Bill 836 and House Bill 793, which seek to deny or make it difficult for immigrant children to attend K-12 public schools. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

That’s where Memphians like Kaya Lewis step in. 

Lewis runs Kaya’s Kitchen, a grassroots organization of mostly friends, neighbors and church members who grocery-shop for families who are unable to shop for themselves.

“Some of the people who reach out to us are afraid to go grocery shopping ... or they just financially need that support,” Lewis said of her group. 

Kaya’s Kitchen runs completely off GoFundMe donations. When they have enough money for a shopping trip, they gather grocery wish lists from the families they can serve, split up at a local grocery store and deliver the groceries directly to people’s homes.

“I do it because there was a time that my family needed that same support, and so I understand without judgment,” Lewis said. “I have the resources and power at the moment to do something about it. So how could I not?”

Kaya Lewis runs Kaya’s Kitchen, a grassroots organization of mostly friends, neighbors and church members who grocery-shop for families who are unable to shop for themselves. (Nam Y. Huh/AP file)

It’s easy to think a story might be finished when an article does. But people like Lewis remind me what happens after publication — at grocery store checkouts, on porches and at kitchen-table conversations — is where journalism meets real life.

And if we’re paying attention, that’s where the next story begins.

Happenings on the Memphis food scene

Fans and mourners of Houston’s in East Memphis may be happy to learn of the latest venture from its former executive chef. 

In Food Files, Sophia Surrett updates us on the latest locations coming to TacoNGanas and which smoothie franchise will call Memphis home next.

Customers line up for lunch Oct. 13, 2020, outside TacoNGanas food truck on Summer Avenue. (The Daily Memphian file)

Listen to Holly Whitfield’s “Sound Bites” episode to get the info you need about the upcoming Craft Food & Wine Festival and who you can expect to see there.

If you’re looking to venture into West African food without breaking the bank, Erica Horton’s latest $15 Deal outlines exactly what you should try at Bala’s Bistro in Whitehaven.

There are other international flavors in Memphis coming from Halinka’s Polish Eatery, a food truck is bringing authentic pierogi and kielbasa to our city’s streets, and Chai’s Halal Bowls and Tacos. Learn what to order at the fusion food truck blending the flavors of Mexico, Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean.

Beer rules in Collierville are changing for the first time in 40 years. Abigail Warren breaks down the modernization of the city’s rules and what it means for local businesses.

And Slim + Husky’s pizza hosted a grand opening for its new location on the University of Memphis campus this week.

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