{"id":57209,"date":"2025-12-01T15:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T15:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/57209\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T15:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T15:44:13","slug":"chef-jj-johnson-cooks-donates-thousands-of-holiday-meals-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/57209\/","title":{"rendered":"Chef JJ Johnson cooks, donates thousands of holiday meals \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanksgiving came a little early on Nov. 26 to thousands in Queens and nearly 1,000 in Harlem thanks to Chef JJ Johnson<\/a>, Resorts World New York City<\/a>, the Queens government and dozens of nonprofits.<\/p>\n

A big Thanksgiving is nothing new for chef and restaurateur JJ Johnson, who started and leads Fieldtrip<\/a> restaurants. He grew up in the Poconos with Thanksgiving at his grandparents\u2019 house, complete with a long table and 15 people, and still remembers meals and moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody would cook something,\u201d he said as the holiday approached. \u201cIt was joyful, memorable.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Those Thanksgivings were small compared to what he and Fieldtrip restaurant staff did with the support of Resorts World New York City, the Queens Economic Development Corporation<\/a> and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr.<\/p>\n

\"\"The event was beneficial to many Queens residents. Photo by Claude Solnik<\/p>\n

They provided more than 6,000 hot Thanksgiving meals on Nov. 26 to give individuals and families one more thing to be thankful for.<\/p>\n

Johnson and Fieldtrip staff hunkered down to cook and distribute 200 meals each to 35 nonprofits at Queens Borough Hall, and hundreds more for a pre-Thanksgiving meal at Borough Hall.
\n\"\"Photo by Claude Solnik\n<\/p>\n

Around 600 more meals were distributed at the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building in Harlem on Wednesday at an event attended and supported by City Council Member Yusef Salaam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all hands on deck,\u201d said Johnson, who closed his Harlem location for two days to prep, along with some prep at the Rockefeller Center restaurant, in addition to work done all week. \u201cThere\u2019s also the logistics of getting the food to and from locations. Cooking is joyful. When we\u2019re cooking this food, it\u2019s not, \u2018Oh, my God, it\u2019s 6,000 meals.\u2019 We\u2019re able to help somebody in need and put a smile on their face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s staff at the Harlem location, with some support from the Rockefeller Center restaurant, prepared meals, placed in plastic containers with a purple label. \u201cMy team was working around the clock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Johnson, who also has a restaurant in the Bahamas and one slated to open at JFK International Airport next year, has done projects with Resorts World New York City before, such as Cook Out, celebrating roughly 15 chefs of color, on Oct. 18 at St. Bartholomew\u2019s Church, or St. Bart\u2019s, in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re making sure we can give back to this community,\u201d Borough President Richards said in Queens Borough Hall surrounded by diners. \u201cThese are challenging times. Every little bit we can do makes somebody\u2019s life better.\u201d<\/p>\n

He talked about the need to get meals into people\u2019s hands \u201cin the streets, not just the suites\u201d with the help of chefs such as Johnson, corporate support and \u201cessential workers\u201d such as nonprofits.<\/p>\n

Resorts World New York City Chief Legal and Chief Strategy Officer Kevin Jones talked about the need to do \u201cnot fly-bys, but dine-ins.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cResorts World has always been a partner supporting my efforts. They saw how much I championed the community of Harlem and New Yorkers. They said, \u2018Let\u2019s keep this effort going and feed more people,\u2019\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThey saw me feeding people who lost SNAP benefits and asked, \u2018Would you continue those efforts?\u2019 I said, \u2018Why not?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As a DJ played music, Thanksgiving came early to Queens in the Helen Marshall Cultural Center at Queens Borough Hall.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working with the borough president for years. This year we said we have been distributing food throughout the borough,\u201d said Michelle Stoddart, senior vice president of community development for Resorts World New York City. \u201cThis year we would like to do the distribution of meals from Borough Hall and set up a feast for local residents, employees of the building and community nonprofits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"(Left to right) Resorts World Senior Vice President of Community Development Michelle Stoddart, Chef JJ Johnson, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and Resorts World Chief Strategy and Legal Officer Kevin Jones. Photo by Claude Solnik<\/p>\n

Johnson and his restaurant\u2019s staff cooked turkey, took meat off the bone, made gravy, rice, collard greens and candied yams, as well as jerk salmon for fish eaters that don\u2019t want turkey, mango chow, plantains and chickpea curry for vegetarians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re feeding people hot meals,\u201d Johnson said on Wednesday. \u201cA lot of people live by themselves at home that don\u2019t have anybody to celebrate Thanksgiving with.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He said he sought to prepare food with a combination of his signature style and traditional Thanksgiving approach.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re getting spices, a little bit of Caribbean flare, some of that Southern touch,\u201d Johnson added. \u201cWhat people are eating is, I always say, from my own personal Thanksgiving table.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Johnson added that food insecurity is as much an issue as ever, if not more, making help around Thanksgiving or any time important. \u201cWe can see people struggling to buy food. We know how much food costs,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe are buying food. We see how much prices have increased.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queens resident Connie Stevenson, who arrived dressed for the holiday, enjoyed dining, but also company and camaraderie at the event at Queens Borough Hall.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt tasted homemade. I tasted the seasoning,\u201d she said near friends Russell Holder and Sherlyn Khan. \u201cWe seniors a lot of times don\u2019t have a lot of family. There\u2019s a high price for groceries. It\u2019s good for us to get out and socialize.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"(Left to right) Russell Holden, Connie Stevenson and Sherlyn Khan.Photo by Claude Solnik<\/p>\n

While providing food to cook at home can brighten people\u2019s holiday, Johnson said cooking for them can also be special and easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cHand somebody a hot meal and they can go home and not worry about wanting,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cPeople open their meal, sit down and eat. It tastes good and is warm. That\u2019s impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thanksgiving came a little early on Nov. 26 to thousands in Queens and nearly 1,000 in Harlem thanks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,30917,6788,30918,30919,9,24,63,1664,6967,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-57209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-chef-jj-johnson","tag-donations","tag-fieldtrip","tag-fieldtrip-nyc","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-resorts-world-new-york-city","tag-thanksgiving","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}