There are moments in life when you don’t realize you’re stepping into something bigger than yourself. Back in 2009, the folks running the Edwards Street Fellowship Center food pantry called to say they were out of food. Not low. Out. Anyone who’s spent time in a kitchen knows the clock starts ticking the second you hear a sentence like that. Their clients were depending on them that week.
After three decades in the restaurant business, the quickest solution seemed obvious: call my broadline supplier, place an order, and send that truck straight to Edwards Street’s doorstep. Done. Families were fed. But the question stuck. If they were running out, who else was? How many pantries across Mississippi were staring at empty shelves and the faces of hungry people?
Once you start asking those kinds of questions, you don’t get to walk away. One call turned into dozens. And before long, the idea that every home and business ought to have an “extra table” for neighbors who need help took hold. Edwards Street loved it. Others followed. Bill Ray and the Wesley Foundation gave me a little start-up funding. That seed—planted on a random Tuesday with one phone call—grew into Extra Table.
Fifteen years later, the scale of what this organization does still humbles me. We don’t take federal funds. We don’t traffic in expired cans or mystery items that no one can make a meal out of. We buy new food—healthy, shelf-stable, nutritious—we buy it below wholesale, and we deliver it every single month—for free— to food pantries and soup kitchens across Mississippi (at no cost to them). Lean proteins, vegetables, staples, things that make sense in a kitchen where budgets are thin and need is high.
It works because we run lean. It works because we have partners who care. And it works because of one woman who took my vision and turned it into one of the most effective and efficient hunger-fighting organizations anywhere: Martha Allen. I get credit as the founder, and as chairman emeritus, but Martha is the one who strapped this operation on her back and carried it through years of recession, hurricanes, pandemics, and day-to-day reality. Her leadership, determination, and heart have built Extra Table into an organization that stands up when Mississippi needs it most.
Hunger is not an abstract idea. It’s not some far-off problem happening in places we’ve never heard of. Hunger is here. In Mississippi. Today. And it hits in ways that should stop every one of us in our tracks.
More than 600,000 Mississippians are food insecure. There are only 2.9 million citizens in the entire state. That’s over 20%. Let that number sink in. Over 200,000 of them are children—kids who eat a school breakfast and a school lunch and then don’t eat again until the next day. Let that sink in, too. Schools let out for the holidays, and these children aren’t looking forward to presents or time off. They’re worried about when they’ll eat again. And it’s happening in our own communities.
My mother was a single mom. She, my brother, and I lived on a public school art teacher’s salary. We didn’t have money, but we never missed a meal. Someone made sure there was food on the table. A lot of Mississippi kids don’t have that certainty today.
And the problem doesn’t stop with kids. Over 125,000 seniors in this state are choosing between paying the power bill and buying groceries. These are people who’ve lived full lives, worked hard, raised families, and now find themselves standing in the kitchen doing math they shouldn’t have to do: groceries or medicine… supper or electricity.
Hunger isn’t a Delta issue or a Coast issue or a Pine Belt issue. It’s everywhere. In cities and small towns. In places that look just fine from the outside but aren’t. You cross paths every day with someone who is food insecure, whether you realize it or not. This isn’t a distant problem. It’s real, and it’s close.
They aren’t who many people assume. It’s not the miniscule fraction trying to game the system. It’s single moms who are working two jobs, trying to make ends meet and trying to feed their family. It’s homebound seniors that have served society and now are facing choices whether to purchase medicine to stay healthy or eat to stay healthy.
For years, Extra Table has stayed focused on one mission: getting healthy food to the people in our state who need it most. That hasn’t changed — not one bit.
What has happened is that the mission has grown. We’ve added something that builds on the work we already do: Extra Full — red beans and rice created to fight hunger nutritionally, not just calorically.
If we were going to create a meal kit, it couldn’t just taste good — it had to do good. So we teamed up with a vitamin scientist (I guess that’s what they’re called) to pinpoint exactly what food-insecure Mississippians are missing in their daily diets. The answers surprised us, and we built every one of those needs straight into Extra Full: twenty-two vitamins and minerals, more fiber and protein, less sodium, and Mississippi-grown rice.
All in one pot. Five cups of water. Thirty minutes. It doesn’t get any more Mississippi than red beans and rice, and it doesn’t get any simpler than one pot, water, and half an hour. And they taste good.
I was blessed enough to help with the recipe development and taste-testing on the three-year project. We took our time. It had to taste like home. It had to be something anyone would serve to their own family. And it had to be healthy enough to move the needle for people who don’t always get enough nutrients in a week, much less a day.
Here’s what makes Extra Full special: $10 buys a meal kit that feeds four of your family or friends, and that same $10 allows us to feed 50 of our neighbors in need through our 64 food pantries across the state. One purchase does double work — someone you care about gets a great meal, and fifty Mississippians eat because of your generosity.
It’s one pot on your stove that fills fifty plates across Mississippi.
There’s one more part of this project that reminds me why I love this place. These meals are packaged in a mobile factory we take all across the state and it’s run entirely by volunteers. One hour. One hundred volunteers. Ten thousand meals. Built in Mississippi, by Mississippians, for Mississippians. That’s the kind of difference we’re trying to make here in Mississippi.
You can find Extra Full red beans and rice at extratable.org or at Kitchen Table in Midtown Hattiesburg. It’s a small gift with a big reach—feeding your family and fifty neighbors at the same time.
We’re entering the season when generosity comes naturally. The pace slows down, the lights go up, and people start thinking about what they can do for others. But here’s the truth that’s harder to swallow: Mississippi is still one of the hungriest states in America.
This is the reality. But it doesn’t have to stay the reality. Not if we help. And we are here to help. It’s what we do 24/7/365.
Extra Table has become the most efficient and effective hunger-fighting organization in this state because thousands of people—businesses, churches, families—decided to care. They decided that hunger is not acceptable in their town, their county, their backyard.
Now we need those same hearts again. The need keeps coming, and there are people in every corner of this place just trying to hold on. What we give doesn’t have to be grand. It finds its way into the hard spots in somebody else’s life, and that’s when a community shows who it really is.
Fifteen years ago, one phone call turned into a mission. Today, I’m happy to share that mission, because it belongs to all of us.
Let’s make sure every Mississippian sits down to a meal with dignity this Christmas. Let’s fill homes, hearts, and plates across this state.
And let’s do it together.
God bless you all.
Onward.
Macaroni and Cheese
Growing up, elaborate mac & cheese wasn’t something that made its way to our dinner table. That’s not some sort of elitist statement. We grew up in a very modest way. It’s just that macaroni and cheese was something my mom never purchased at the store and therefore never served. This recipe is rich and indulgent with a blend of cheeses that create a creamy, savory masterpiece.
Adding crispy fried shallots or crumbled bacon to the breadcrumb topping gives it a savory, satisfying crunch. The blend of cheeses—Velveeta for creaminess, Gruyere for nuttiness, Cheddar for sharpness, and Colby Jack for that buttery melt—makes all the difference.
Serves 10 to 12
Preheat oven to 375° F
4 cups dry macaroni
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
2 cups half and half
1 pound Velveeta cheese, cut into large cubes
12 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
8 ounces Gruyere cheese, shredded
8 ounces Colby Jack cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons vegetable seasoning (see recipe page)
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
Topping:
1 1/2 cups Japanese bread crumbs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated, about 3/4 cup
1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup crispy fried shallots or crumbled bacon (your choice)
Place two gallons of water in a 12-quart stockpot. Add a quarter cup of kosher salt to the water and bring to a boil. Add the macaroni and follow the cooking time on the package. Drain well.
To make the sauce, melt the first quarter cup of butter in a 16-inch skillet over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking for five to seven minutes. Meanwhile, place the milk and half and half in a saucepot and bring to a simmer.
Slowly whisk the hot milk mixture into the roux and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for five minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Add the Velveeta and stir until completely melted. Stir in the Cheddar, Gruyere, and Colby Jack. Once the cheese has melted, stir in the salt, dry mustard, vegetable seasoning, and pepper.
Combine the cooked macaroni with the cheese sauce in the stockpot or a large mixing bowl. Mix well, then pour into a 3 1/2-quart baking dish.
To make the topping, combine the breadcrumbs, melted butter, Parmesan cheese, chives, salt, and crispy fried shallots or crumbled bacon. Top the macaroni and cheese with the breadcrumb mixture.
Place the casserole dish on a baking sheet and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the breadcrumbs are golden and the macaroni is bubbling.
Let the macaroni rest for 20 minutes before serving.
(Robert St. John is a chef, restauranteur and published cookbook author who lives in Hattiesburg, Miss.)
