When the Meal Train Shows Up

Earlier this summer, when a friend told us that he would soon be undergoing a difficult surgery with a prolonged period of recovery, we immediately asked who was organizing the meal train—and when he had no ready answer, we happily took up the task.

Having benefited from a meal train ourselves many years prior, we knew it to be a balm in the midst of a frightening and uncertain time. When one is burdened with doctor’s visits, picking up prescriptions, physical therapy, and the sheer mental and emotional weight of being significantly reduced in ability, a meal train provides an easy answer to at least a couple of pressing questions: What will I eat? And how will I get it?

A meal train is, at its most basic, a group of people organized to deliver meals to a community member in need of extra support. It’s often done after the birth of a baby, when the new parents are too busy and frazzled to worry about what’s for dinner—but it can also offer respite for somebody mourning a loss or recovering from an illness or surgery.

Beyond the convenience factor, it’s simply a gesture of care: making sure your loved one is eating well and knows they have a support network looking after them.

These days there are high-tech tools for this very basic social service, including MealTrain.com, as well as plenty of premade calendar templates one can find online. There are countless blog posts about how to coordinate, what recipes make for good meal-train fare, and the best etiquette for not disturbing the meal recipients.

The contribution of restaurant gift cards or delivery meals is often part of the practice too. Personally, we found that an email chain and a shared spreadsheet did the job just fine, and that any meal that takes into account the recipients’ allergies, dietary restrictions, and preferences is gratefully welcomed.

The meal train is also, seemingly, a fairly understudied phenomenon. In our attempts to research the history of this tradition, we found very little material, even in such usually reliable sources as Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies and NYU’s Food Studies research resources.

Of course, we feel certain that the term “meal train” evolved much later than the actual practice did, and thus its documents are scattered among non-keyword-searchable archives. Still, if we were to place a bet, we’d bet that this lack of research also has to do with the simple fact that it is a labor of care, and thus, historically, labor done predominantly by women.

Like the community cookbook, the bake sale fundraiser, and the church potluck, the meal train is a form of social welfare often overlooked as such—but maybe, too, there are simply no words for the gratitude of receiving a pot of homemade meatballs and marinara after the loss of someone precious, or a nourishing chickpea stew while lonely and laid up post-op.

Nor, in our experience, are any words needed.

By the way, if you find that reading this newsletter gives you some good kitchen inspiration, why don’t you forward it on to a friend? And if you’re that friend, be sure to subscribe.

Delicious Things

The green chile chicken pesto abuelita was the last of the too-many pizzas at our table to get eaten—victim, no doubt, of the thin-crust cult, or the irresistibility of the classic marinara-and-pepperoni.

But once we bit in, we felt all the comfort-food feelings. The square-cut pizza didn’t call up memories of our own grandmas, but it did evoke the green chile chicken enchilada casserole that we’ve eaten so many times, in so many ways, at so many New Mexican homes.

We’ve eaten those enchiladas in celebration and in mourning, and we’d be happy to receive a green chile abuelita from Tony’s Pizzeria as part of any meal train, for any reason.

And just as with the saucy, cheesy layers of a successful enchilada casserole, the soft, chewy, crispy-cheese-edged crust and generous sauce and mozzarella keep the chicken from drying out, as it’s otherwise been known to do on a pie.

Even thin-crust-leaning eaters such as us might find this one a keeper.

Entrances & Exits

Shoku House Japanese Café & Brunch

Shoku House Japanese Café & Brunch opened earlier this month on Albuquerque’s Westside. Owned by Paleta Bar founder Dipo Alam, who grew up in Indonesia and first moved to the United States as a soccer player, the restaurant’s offerings lean sandwich and pancake, with half a dozen spins on eggs Benedict—not all involving eggs, from what we can gather, but all served on milk toast—and a zillion things matcha.

Maria Felix’s Kitchen

In downtown Albuquerque, Maria Felix’s Kitchen has opened near Third and Central, in the spot that’s still sporting a large Son’ Regios sign. We’ve yet to stop in, but maybe they’ll be the ones who can buck the trend in that location.

The Vendawheel

The clever folks at Picnic NM have installed a vending machine that dispenses cheese and appropriate accompaniments at As Above, So Below Distillery in Santa Fe.

We have plans to test out this contraption very soon. It’s called the Vendawheel, and yes, it’s refrigerated.

No, it’s not operated by AI.

Tender Fire Kitchen

Tender Fire Kitchen’s café service is up and running. In addition to evening pizza-and-wine hours, the young Santa Fe restaurant is now serving caffeinated—and uncaffeinated—beverages and breakfast items from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Dawn Butterfly’s Restaurant

After a trial run involving dishes with ground bison and butternut squash, the crew at Dawn Butterfly’s restaurant on Veterans Highway in Taos has made the call to focus strictly on breakfast and lunch.

You’ll still find bison on the menu, along with lamb tacos, sweet and savory blue corn crepes, and an enticing selection of house tea blends.

Ceci’s African Kitchen

Ceci’s African Kitchen launches its new food truck August 31 at As Above, So Below Distillery in the Santa Fe Railyard.

We’re not fans of their AI-generated fliers, but we have high hopes for the food itself.

Occasions

Cooking with NM ChileJang

Today at 3 p.m. at Barelas Community Kitchen in Albuquerque, Kyle Key hosts Cooking with NM ChileJang.

In addition to cooking demos—including one for a “quick cheater’s kimchi”—Key will give attendees a tour of the Street Food Institute’s commissary kitchen.

This event is one of several monthly meetups leading up to the October 11 Fermentation & Fungi Festival, which is accepting vendor applications through the end of August.

La Luz Coffee Anniversary

Tonight at 7 p.m., the North Valley’s La Luz Coffee hosts its two-year anniversary party. There will be tacos by Cavitas Taco Truck, dance tunes by Soul to Sound, and, of course, special coffee drinks.

Santa Fe Indian Market

This weekend is Indian Market in Santa Fe, which means lots of food vendors will be in town and a busy scene all around, so plan your meals accordingly.

New Mexico Cheese Guild Workshops

The New Mexico Cheese Guild is back with more workshops: a two-day goat milk feta workshop on August 29–30, and another bloomy-rind Brie-style workshop on September 12–13.

Both classes will be led by cheesemaker and educator Cedar Waxwing at the Barelas Community Kitchen in Albuquerque.

Home at Last at Canteen Brewhouse

If you’re all fired up about Christopher Nolan’s take on The Odyssey, stop by Canteen Brewhouse in Albuquerque to cool down with a pint of Home at Last, an ale made with honey and thyme and named, we presume, for the moment at which Odysseus was briefly reunited with Argos—the most faithful and perhaps the most long-lived dog in literature.

Ride the Rails to the Blues

We’ve had more than a few chile relleno burritos, but the chile relleno sandwich is lesser known. They’ve added one to the lunch menu at the Castañeda Hotel in Las Vegas, which this weekend hosts the Ride the Rails to the Blues festival in its historic courtyard.

The hotel’s bar menu, with Chef Jayson Cox at the helm for a few months now, leans tapas-ward, with some empanadas we definitely want to try.

Rail Yards Market

Tomorrow is Old School Day at the Rail Yards Market in Albuquerque. That means classic cars and lowrider bikes, which would pair well with picking up some freshly roasted green chile or red chile powder.

A week from tomorrow, August 23, is Watermelon Day at the market. Whichever Sunday you decide to drop in, know that temperatures run high—in the literal sense—so cool clothes and plenty of water are advised.

Usekwu Foods Pop-Up

On August 27 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Fourth and Barelas Plaza, Usekwu Foods will be popping up.

Along with West African dishes like egusi and fufu and jollof rice, they’re advertising music.