A disaster relief agency had a chance to road test its new high-tech mobile kitchen by providing hot meals for those displaced by the devastating Eaton Canyon Fire.
World Central Kitchen's Rapid Response Mobile Kitchen (RRMK) is a decked-out big rig with a 40-foot trailer behind it. On Friday, it was loaded with personnel and equipment pumping out hundreds of plates of shrimp gumbo in Altadena.
"We have tilt skillets that allow us to do different types of stews, chilies, and so forth," Chef Jason Collis told KNX News' Pete Demetriou. "Then, we have an automated steam kettle that allows us to cook large batches. Right now, we're cooking shrimp inside of there, and we're able to do that at a rapid pace, but we're also able to hold it."
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Chefs working the mobile test run told KNX News that the ambition was mobility, with the capacity to produce hot meals in minutes for days on end.
"We have to feed a lot of people in a very short amount of time, and the assembly line method works," said one chef. "We set it up, we get it out, and try to feed impacted individuals as fast as we can."
World Central Kitchen officials called the test a success and believe that the RRMK, nicknamed "Mildred," is ready to produce 20 thousand meals a day.
With self-contained propane on board, filtration systems that can purify thousands of gallons of water on the spot, and chefs who can turn any donated foodstuffs, fresh or canned, into hot meals, the agency says it is prepared to assist those in need whenever and wherever the next disaster strikes.
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