April 28, 2022 • 35 mins
There’s a reason a certain type of home-cooked cuisine is referred to as “soul food”—because it nurtures the spirit as well as the body. From the American South to New York City’s Harlem neighborhood, food is an integral part of culture, a symbol of love, and a way to bring family, friends, and strangers together.
On this episode of Why Am I Telling You This?, President Clinton is joined by “America’s queen of comfort food,” Melba Wilson, whose eponymous restaurant has been serving mouth-watering meals in Harlem—where she was “born, bred, and buttered”—since 2005. In addition to nurturing her native community with food, Wilson also takes care of her neighbors in other ways. In 2021, she was instrumental in setting up a mobile COVID vaccination site for Harlem residents, provided meals to thousands of essential workers, and established the Melba’s COVID-19 Employee Relief Fund to provide financial aid to dozens of restaurant workers who found themselves out of work during the pandemic. She is also serving on New York City’s COVID Recovery and Health Equity Task Force.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
I loved Harlem from the first time I set foot
there more than fifty years ago. It embodied all the
things I love about New York City in America, with
its vibrant culture, rich history, and deep artistic roots that
embraced both the jazz Age and the wonderful Harlem Renaissance.
(00:23):
But to me, nothing characterizes Harlem, at least today more
than the food, with world renowned restaurants offering a type
of cooking that nurtures the soul as much as the body.
So why am I telling you this? Because today I
am truly delighted to be joined by someone who was
born and bred and, as she says, buttered in Harlem
(00:44):
and has played a crucial role in making the neighborhood
what it is today, someone whose mouth watering meals have
earned the unofficial title of America's Queen of Comfort Food.
Melboy Wilson has always known she wanted to stay close
to the community she grew up in and create a
dining experience for her neighbors that would make them feel
(01:05):
like they were coming home for a good meal. After
working at the legendary Sylvia's Rested in Harlem and launching
the famous Sunday gospel brunch. There, she decided it was
time to branch out on her own. Her first restaurant, Melbourne's,
opened its doors on A hundred fourteen Street in two
thousand five. Since then, it's become a hotspot for residents, tourists,
(01:28):
and celebrities alike. Her menu offering Southern cuisine like fried chicken,
egg now waffles, collared greens, macroni, and cheese. They're all
country food staples to take me back to growing up
in Arkansas, where home cooking was an expression of love
for your family, friends, and neighbors. Melba has repeatedly expressed
(01:49):
her love for her neighbors and those who depend on
the jobs her restaurants provide by looking out for them.
Last year, Melbolle's helped establish a mobile COVID vaccinatee and
site for Harlem residents and launched the Melbourne's COVID nineteen
Employee Relief Fund to provide financial relief to dozens of
wrestaurant workers who found themselves out of work. The restaurant
(02:13):
also provided meals the thousands of frontline and other essential workers.
Melboa has lent her time and services to support many
good causes. Including Alzheimer's research, diabetes relief, literacy, and senior
citizen efforts, and she's currently serving on New York City's
COVID Recovery and Health Equity Task Force. So while she's
(02:36):
known around the country from TV appearances and her own cookbook,
Melburne's American Comfort, it's also the way she nourishes her
community that to me makes her one of Harlem's true
points of pride. Melba, thanks for being here today, Mr President.
It is such an honor to be here with you today.
(02:57):
You are one of my heroes and definitely a huge
supporter not just of our country but as well of Harlem.
So thank you for having me. Thank you, I think
for the benefit of people who maybe don't share the
same roots entirely. When you say you were born bread
and buttered and Harlem, what does that mean to you?
(03:19):
What was it like growing up here? Wow? Well I was.
I was born in Harlem Hospital. We lived on a
hundred and forty street in Harlem between Lenox Avenue and
Seventh Avenue, also known as Adam Clayton Powell. We also
lived on a hundred and thirty seven between Lennox and seven,
(03:43):
right around a corner from the Renaissance ballroom. So when
I say I was born bread and buttered, bread because
being raised here, but also buttered because Melba tells it's
a horrible pun, a really bad joke. But that's where
the buttered cun comes in. But when I also say buttered,
it means that I was groomed here. Harlem's in my roots,
(04:07):
It's in my spirit, Harlem is in my soul. So
much of who I am today is because of the
life lessons that I've learned from my community. When did
you decide you wanted to be a chef? How old
were you? Well? Growing up in Harlem, every summer, what
(04:28):
we did is the day that school ended. The next day,
my mom, dad, brother's sister, and I would all pack
into the car and we would take the ten eleven
hour drive to South Carolina, which is where my parents
are from. And every time, the first thing I did
when we arrived in South Carolina was greeted my grandparents
(04:49):
with warm hugs. But then it was to that farm.
That's where we went, and my grandmother knew that I
looked forward to going to the farm with her, where
we picked greens, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, and watching my grandmother
gather all of these ingredients and then take them into
(05:09):
the kitchen, singing normally church hymns. We would cook together,
and whether I was snapping peas, peeling potatoes, cannon tomatoes,
I loved every aspect of the magic that we created
in our kitchen. It was then that I actually first
(05:32):
fell in love with cooking, with food and with the
power of food. See, every important event in our family
happened over food. It happened over a meal, whether it
was the birth of a new baby or the one
(05:53):
birthday and celebrating my grandmother or my great grandmother, whether
it was a marriage or unfortunately a repast. I noticed
that food was at the center of everything that was
important to us. So I knew I wanted to be
a part of the magic. I wanted to be a
(06:13):
part of that magic called feeding people's souls, but feeding
their spirits as well. Wow, you brought up a lot
of old memories to me. I had. My grandmother's brother
and his wife were sort of our family magnet when
I was a little boy in Hope, and we all
(06:34):
had to learn to shell peace and do whatever else
was necessary. I personally favored turning the crank on the
ice cream machine the most because I knew what was
at the other end of that effort. Yeah, but I
think that when you were talking about being on your
grandparents farm and how it's amazing how many people today
(06:58):
who have never been on around a farm, of never
planet a garden, who have never experienced this, I think
sometimes they spend an unlimited number of days ordering food
out and having delivered, having no real clue about what
else is involved. And one of the things that always
(07:18):
impressed me is that you seem to want the people
who dined at your restaurants and buy your book to
know that that food in front of them is part
of a larger fabric of community that we should nurture
and respect. That is so true. Um, you know, food
was our entertainment. We come from very, very humble beginnings,
(07:41):
and so it wasn't about going to the movies or
taking an airplane trip any place. Food was the nucleus
of everything that we did. Mr. President. So Monday through Friday,
my dad worked, Saturdays and Sundays were spent at our
cousin's house, my uncle's, my aunt's, my grandparents homes. That's
(08:04):
what we did. But not only did we go to visit,
we brought a dish, we brought a plate because remember
that's bragging rights. Who makes the best tata salad? Okay,
that macaroni and cheese better be creamy. And you have
to see the cheese strings rise up from the plate
(08:24):
to the top of the fork like it's gonna touch
the heavens in the sky. So food is definitely it
was definitely a part of entertainment, but it's also a
way to show love. It's the way that we nurtured
each other. And it's also a vehicle, a conduit that
we used to tell stories of the past. See. I
(08:46):
never got to meet great Grandma Julia, or Mambo as
my parents affectionately called her, but every time we sat
down to eat, there was stories that were constantly told
about my great grandmother Mambo. And you know, we shared
these stories over food, and it could have been a
(09:06):
meal that she cooked. But that's how I got to
tell my son the stories of his great great grandmother.
So even though she didn't live in the present, she
lives in his mind and he knows about his lineage.
He knows the important part that she and the rest
of our family members played still today play in our lives,
(09:28):
and he knows the reason that we do certain things.
You know, I still like the shell peas because they
take me back, and that's one of the beautiful things
that food does. It transports you back to warm times
and wonderful memories. Oh, when you decided to open your
(09:48):
own restaurant, it wasn't in the best of times. It
was just a couple of years after nine eleven. And
tell us when you decided that at the time had
come for you to have your own play and how
you made the decision, Mr President, That was a tough time.
It was shortly after nine eleven where I worked with
(10:10):
chef Michael Lamonico, formerly from the twenty one Club. Chef
Lemonico was at Windows in the World and I worked
there with him every Sunday, and I was there September nine.
You know, my band performed their September nine. September, I
was sitting in a meeting with David Emil and Michael
Lamonica renegotiating our contract and September you know, I got
(10:37):
the call that Tuesday. I'll never forget so that it
was a devastating time for us. Um I was on
a flight one day and I heard a flight attendant say,
in case of an emergency, put on your masks first.
Now we've heard this hundreds of times before, but on
this day it resonated with me. It wasn't. I had
(10:58):
an epiphany. And with my mom being from the South,
she had always saved up money under her mattress. So
you know, we emulate what we see our parents do. Right,
So every Friday when I got paid, I put a
little five spot sometimes Mr President, it wasn't one spot, okay,
it was whatever little extra I had made for the week.
(11:22):
I'd put it under my mattress. So when I heard
the flight attendant say that, I said, well, let me
see how much money I have under my mattress. I
don't want to wake up one day and go what
about me? I love my community. Harlem at that time
was written with drugs. Fourteen Street and Frederick Douglas was
(11:44):
one of the most drug written blocks in Harlem. I
wanted it to change, so I figured I could talk
about it or I could be about it. Started counting
that money and counting and counting. Then I got scared
because it was a whole lot of money. I had
a massive very very small fortune, and I decided to
(12:06):
take that and invest it into my community. I had
been married gotten divorced, so I was a single mom
with a child, and we're living in Harlem, and I
wanted to see my community change and decided to invest
in this corner that was red a clock across the
street from the heavy drug neighborhood and try to see
(12:30):
if I can invoke change, if I could evoke change,
and so I did. Melville's It's been such a blessing
to me because I was able to take. I am
able to take people from my community, give them jobs, skills,
and right now I'm at forty one employees. And it's
(12:51):
great because ninety eight two percent of those employees live
within the Harlem community. So to be able to work
here on in a living year, to take that money
and then go back and recirculate it in our community,
it's how we are able to have some sense of
economic empowerment. That's terrific. I wonder if you feel comfortable
(13:12):
just telling us what did COVID do to your business
and how did you deal with it? Oh, COVID, COVID,
you know, it's still unbelievable. The day was March sixteen.
I was scheduled to open up a new restaurant the
(13:35):
end of March, and we had heard that the city
was going to be shut down. But I'm like, this
is New York. New York is a city that never sleeps.
How are we about to be shut down? To be
very candid with you, I didn't believe it was going
to happen. I didn't believe New York City was going
to be shut down. The call came March sixteen, I
(14:00):
immediately called my employees in and even though I'm the
only I have no partners and no investors, is just
me my employees, I considered them my partners and my
investors because there's no way I could run this business
successfully without them. So I figured if this was going
(14:20):
to be a hard decision, that we had to make
it together. The call was that the city was going
to shut down and restaurants could only do take out. Now,
remember we're a restaurant that thrives on sit down. Did
we do take out, yes we did. Did we do catering, yes,
but we didn't know how we were going to fear.
After meeting with my staff, they all agreed that they
(14:43):
wanted to stay open. But we started brainstorming. We changed
our hours from five to eleven to twelve to twelve,
so that allowed us to keep more people working. And
it was a scary day. Mr. President. Now we're around
food all day every day, all of a suddenly, I
(15:04):
can't tell you if you can feed your family, how
long this is gonna last? When it's gonna end. And
so it wasn't about me. It was about my family members.
And I had no answers. And that's one of the
few times in my life that I could not give answers.
And that frightened me, That worried me, that saddened me
(15:27):
because I had thirty nine people that depended on me
to take care of their families and I had no answers.
We pivoted, as you know. We went from being the
epicenter for new cases hearing me and seeing their horrific
stories about trailers being filled with bodies of loved ones.
(15:52):
Um just saying it now is still devastating. I'm the
president of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, first female
president and first person of color to have a hold
this position, and we all came together as an industry.
We did not want food to be an issue. So
(16:13):
we decided to feed frontline workers. We decided to feed
police officers. We decided to feed people off the street
that could no longer feed their families. We also decided
to feed restaurant workers. We invited restaurant workers to come
in and just get bags of groceries that we'd filled out.
This was good for them, but it was also good
(16:34):
for us because we were stressed, We were sat and
we were disheartened, we were broken, and we didn't know
what the end was going to bring. And how long
did you feed other people of people that were involved
in daily with a pandemic, Probably from the second week,
(16:54):
from the second week it started. So my advertising budget
since I've opened since two thousand five has always gone
back into feeding the community. It's not something that I publicized,
but it's something that we do all the time, from seniors,
two kids that deal with literacy issues. So that was
a natural progression for us. During the election time, we
(17:17):
went to the polls and we fed people standing in
Lyne that we're waiting to vote. We gave them water
and sandwiches that we had made for them. We gave
fried chicken and you know, fried chicken sandwiches. But that's
what we do. We use food as a conduit to
bring people together, especially during tough times, and that's what
we did during the pandemic. We stopped counting at about
(17:40):
a little over two hundred thousand people, so I'm not
sure how many in total, but we know it was
well over two d We'll be right back. Tell us
(18:01):
a little about your work on the Mayor's COVID Recovery
and Health Equity Task Force, and how are you doing
with Mayor Adams and what do you think you ought
to do now? Well, we're we're super excited to have
Mayor Adams as the mayor of this amazing city. We
think that his presence is definitely needed, someone of his
(18:22):
stature and a man of his belief, especially during these times.
My grandmother used to say, got melby. God gave us
two years so that we can listen twice as much
as we speak. And that's what Mayor Eric Adams does.
He listens to the constituents, He listens to the over
eight million people that live in this city and he
(18:44):
makes his decisions based on that. So he has a
lot of work cut out for him as well as
his work with small businesses. The fact that he has
four col cheers and that one of them deals specifically
with small businesses. I think it's important in his shows
that he has committed to our plight and our involvement
(19:05):
within our small communities. In this city of New York,
the greatest city in the world. I really wanted you
to make your small business plug because I think that
it's easy to lose sight of in New York because
of it's all the financial centers here, and because but
it's very important not to forget. You know that most
people still work for small businesses in New York City
(19:28):
as well as in the country, and it's important, correct,
Mr President. Small businesses are the economic engines that drive
our cities. So in order for New York City to
come back, small businesses have to come back. How do
we do that. Well, first of all, the rent is
too darn high. It has to be affordable for us
(19:52):
to come back. There's a plethora of vacant spaces. Every
time I drive around this city, I've ever in my
life seeing this many vacant spaces. So they're sitting there vacant.
And one of the things that we're talking about right
now is how do we make these vacant spaces available
(20:12):
for small business owners. They need to be a hub
for small business owners to come in operate our businesses.
And what do we do by doing that? We employ
people within these communities. It is a win win situation.
Those dollars intern then recirculate back into our communities and
we pay what taxes which benefits the city. Just keep
(20:36):
singing that song. We have to keep working at. As
you've pointed out, twenty six thousand utter people like you
who feed people in New York City, and with a
mayor who seems genuinely interested in all this, I hope
you'll come up with some good answers. Because we don't
know where workers going, we don't know where artificial intelligence
is going. We don't know whether there are some businesses
(20:57):
that will never again for right the way they did
having people come in for eight hours every day. But
we know one thing, people will, if given the chance,
keep going out to eat, because as you pointed out,
it's a form of entertainment by people who can't even
afford to go to the movies much. Let's go on vacation.
(21:20):
So I hope you'll stay at that because I really
believe that it's important. Mr President, I so agree with
you about that. You know, the food and beverage industry
is the second largest private employer in this country, literally
in the country. It's not the automobile industry, it's not
the airline industry. It is the food and beverage industry.
(21:41):
So when you think about F and B, food and beverage,
it's so much more than just a restaurant. But when
a restaurant closes its doors, it's such a layered effect.
Let's break it down. It's the produce farmer, right, it's
your fishmonger, it's your beef, it's your meat. It's also
the paper good supplier. It's the vineyard that we're hurting.
(22:06):
It's the truck driver that drives the goods from one
place to another. So we employ so many different people,
and in New York City alone, it's over three hundred
thousand jobs. That's a lot of jobs. So we are integral.
(22:26):
We have an integral part to this city. Coming back
good for you. Just stay after. I think we've got
a good chance. And uh, I know how frustrating dealing
with COVID has been, and it's been equally frustrating for
people around the world. You can see this three in
every country. Should we open up? Should we not? If
(22:47):
we do what you and I think you have hit
the sweet spot because you've done so much to support
people getting vaccinated. And we know that getting the vaccination
and the booster, even if it doesn't stop a new
variant like this omicron, it almost always keeps people out
of the hospital, off of a ventilator, out of a mortuary.
(23:10):
And I think it's very very important that we keep
that in people's minds. I think if you want to
bring back open businesses and keep them open, we can't
be seen as spreaders of an epidemic. You know. We've
got to see be seen as people that are dealing
with these things and they come up quickly and minimizing
(23:30):
the danger. And I think you've got to do that,
which I appreciate very much, Thank you, thank you. But
I also agree if you want to live, if you
want to live, being vaccinated is the difference between living
and not living. I can tell you stories, amongst stories
(23:52):
of people that I know that have died simply because
they were not that next literally for no other reason
than because they weren't vaxed, and it's disheartening that, as
you stated, Mr President, we still have people that are
(24:15):
reluctant about getting vaccinated. I'm about to host another VACS, really,
and that's one of the things we're talking about. We
do vacs one oh one to be or not to be.
I have doctors there to talk to them, and I
also have people that look like us, because oftentimes it's
a lot of people in my community. Lest if we're
(24:37):
gonna talk, Mr President, let's talk, it's people that look
like me oftentimes. And I'm backs, I'm backs, I'm boosted,
I'm I put the bee on the VACS and call
it backs. That's boosted and VAXX. And I'm here to
tell the story. And I had COVID. I had it
in the early stages and it was right before I
(25:00):
did the sixty minutes piece. And I've never felt anything
like that before in my life. That was in March.
Never felt anything like that before in my life. And
I thought I was going to die, And so I
don't want anybody else to experience that feeling more after this.
(25:32):
Tell me where you think will be with all this
in five years? Where do you think we're gonna be
with the economy, with small business. If you could write
your own story for the next five years, where would
your business be? Good question. Well, I think that there
were some lessons that came out of COVID right. COVID
(25:52):
taught us that people really do need people, and the
importance of the simple things in life, the worts of
just going out to take a walk, the importance of
checking on our neighbors, because I think to some point
a lot of us forgot about the little things, you know,
So that's what COVID for me personally, taught me to
(26:14):
step back, take a minute, and relax. I think as
New Yorkers, um, it's all about the race. We walk fast,
we talk fast, we move fast, we do everything fast.
COVID made me slow down, take a look, dip my
foot in the pool. The water is not so cold.
(26:38):
I also think that COVID taught a lot of people
how to get into their creative mind, their creative sense,
and to understand that we are our brothers and sisters keepers.
I think it humanized us in a way that an
I dare to say this that was oddly beautiful and simplistic.
(27:01):
I know, the way that we look at the food
and beverage industry is different. There's no longer small things
like front of the house versus back of the house.
We're all one house. It didn't really matter if you
were a big restaurant or a small restaurant. A lot
of us suffered together so we were able to support
each other. We have to ensure that this does not
(27:24):
happen again. We have to be proactive. But I also
think that we have to look at us as truly
the melting pot that we say we are. I think
we have to become that melting pot. You know, when
I think about George Floyd and what that meant and
did not just to our city, to our country. We
(27:46):
have to make sure that situations like those don't happen again.
You know, I'm a mom of a six ten, twenty
two year old young man, and I can tell you
when he walks out the front door, I'm always concerned
about him because even though my son is a gentle giant,
because he's a black man at six ten, that is never,
(28:10):
oftentimes not seen. So I'm hoping that we look at
each other in a more humble way, in a more
caring way, and realize the importance and understand that we
need each other. I also think that as a city,
we have to look at the homeless issue within our
city as well as understand and say it out loud
(28:33):
so that we can deal with the fact that we
have a problem with mental health. Not talking about it
it's not It doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, and
it's not going to go away because we don't talk
about it. We must address the issue of mental health
(28:55):
as well as as a drug epidemic going on in
our city. So these are hard questions, hard issues, hard problems. However,
when I walk out of the doors of Melba's on
One Street and Frederick Douglas Boulevard, I looked to my right,
(29:16):
there's an amazing statue at one Street, and this statue
is of a man named Frederick Douglas, Mr. President. When
I looked to my left, there's another amazing monument built
(29:36):
to the Queen herself with the roots extending from the
hymns of her garment, and that is the one and
only Harriet Tubman. I think about the trials, the tribulations
(29:57):
that Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman and so many others have endured,
and it is on their shoulders that I get my
hope and my strength, and I know and believe and
declare that this great city, with all of us working
(30:17):
together and working hand in hand, shall stand again as
New York, New York. So nice that they had to
name it twice. I've never heard that. That's great. You
should have been with me when I was in politics.
You could have might a fortune as a speech ruter.
(30:41):
Run again, Mr President, I got you. Oh. Let's close
with something that I've really been impressed with, and that
is that every year you come up with a word
you make a conscious effort to implement. One year it
was the word kinder, another year it was pivot. I
(31:03):
read what you said about where you got the pivot idea.
So what's the word this year? And what are you
doing with it? Wow? So my staff they're the only
ones that know that. So someone on my team had
to tell you that they rated me out. Yeah. I
do come up with the word, and this year my
(31:25):
word is togetherness, because together we are stronger and the
only way that we're going to get through this is
by standing strong together. So that's my word this year
is togetherness. It's the right word. If there's one thing
that I'm concerned about is the large number of people
(31:49):
who now seem to believe that our differences are all
that matter. In fact, our differences do matter. They're important.
I mean, that's what allows debate, that's it allows progress,
that's what allows learning. But in order for us to
be stronger together, which we clearly are, that was the
(32:10):
slogan of Hillary's campaign. But in order for us to
be stronger together, we have to believe that our common
humanity is more important than our interesting differences. And in
a world where you know, we're used to these quick
retweets and clicks, and you know, people are going over
(32:30):
the social media, it's easy to forget that. And I
think that in a funny way, someone like you, who
spent her life feeding the mind and the soul as
well as the body, you're in a unique position to
remind us. So here she is Will going from Kinder
(32:53):
to Pivot two together. Thank you so much, Thank you
so much, Mr President. I so appreciate you. Thanks. Why
am I telling you? This is a production of our
Heart Radio, the Clinton Foundation and at Will Medium. Our
executive producers are Craig Menascian and Will Malnadi. Our production
(33:15):
team includes Jamison Katsufas, Tom Galton, Sara Harowitz, and Jake Young,
with production support from Liz Raftoree and Josh Farnham. Original
music by Watt White. Special thanks to John Sykes, John
Davidson on hell Orina, Corey Ganstley, Kevin Thurm, Oscar Flores,
and all our dedicated staff and partners at the Clinton Foundation. Hi,
(33:41):
this is Bill Clinton. I hope you're enjoying. Why am
I telling you this? I started the Clinton Foundation on
the belief that everyone deserves a chance to succeed, Everyone
has a responsibility to act, and we all do better
when we work together. In the more than twenty years
since the Foundation for opened its doors in Harlem, we've
(34:02):
brought people together across traditional divides to address some of
the most complex and pressing challenges of our time. The
need for cooperation has never been more urgent than it
is now. The COVID nineteen pandemic has ripped the cover
off long standing and equities and vulnerabilities across our global
community and here at home. The existential threat of climate
(34:24):
change grows every day and all around the world. The
forces of division are tugging at the fabric of our
common humanity. That's why this year we're relaunching the Clinton
Global Initiatives Annual Meeting in New York in September, bringing
together heads of state and other government officials, leaders of
NGOs and philanthropic organizations, prominent voices and business, labor and
(34:48):
finance and youth leaders, and grassroots activists to drive progress
on inclusive economic growth and recovery, climate resilience, and health equity.
While the challenges we fa us are steep, our work
has always been about what we can do, not what
we can't do, and by bringing diverse partners together to
take action and achieve real results, we can create a
(35:11):
culture of possibility in a world hungary for hope. I
hope you will take a moment to share your thoughts
and ideas with us and learn more about our work
by visiting www dot Clinton Foundation dot org. Slash podcast.
Thank you,
I loved Harlem from the first time I set foot
there more than fifty years ago. It embodied all the
things I love about New York City in America, with
its vibrant culture, rich history, and deep artistic roots that
embraced both the jazz Age and the wonderful Harlem Renaissance.
(00:23):
But to me, nothing characterizes Harlem, at least today more
than the food, with world renowned restaurants offering a type
of cooking that nurtures the soul as much as the body.
So why am I telling you this? Because today I
am truly delighted to be joined by someone who was
born and bred and, as she says, buttered in Harlem
(00:44):
and has played a crucial role in making the neighborhood
what it is today, someone whose mouth watering meals have
earned the unofficial title of America's Queen of Comfort Food.
Melboy Wilson has always known she wanted to stay close
to the community she grew up in and create a
dining experience for her neighbors that would make them feel
(01:05):
like they were coming home for a good meal. After
working at the legendary Sylvia's Rested in Harlem and launching
the famous Sunday gospel brunch. There, she decided it was
time to branch out on her own. Her first restaurant, Melbourne's,
opened its doors on A hundred fourteen Street in two
thousand five. Since then, it's become a hotspot for residents, tourists,
(01:28):
and celebrities alike. Her menu offering Southern cuisine like fried chicken,
egg now waffles, collared greens, macroni, and cheese. They're all
country food staples to take me back to growing up
in Arkansas, where home cooking was an expression of love
for your family, friends, and neighbors. Melba has repeatedly expressed
(01:49):
her love for her neighbors and those who depend on
the jobs her restaurants provide by looking out for them.
Last year, Melbolle's helped establish a mobile COVID vaccinatee and
site for Harlem residents and launched the Melbourne's COVID nineteen
Employee Relief Fund to provide financial relief to dozens of
wrestaurant workers who found themselves out of work. The restaurant
(02:13):
also provided meals the thousands of frontline and other essential workers.
Melboa has lent her time and services to support many
good causes. Including Alzheimer's research, diabetes relief, literacy, and senior
citizen efforts, and she's currently serving on New York City's
COVID Recovery and Health Equity Task Force. So while she's
(02:36):
known around the country from TV appearances and her own cookbook,
Melburne's American Comfort, it's also the way she nourishes her
community that to me makes her one of Harlem's true
points of pride. Melba, thanks for being here today, Mr President.
It is such an honor to be here with you today.
(02:57):
You are one of my heroes and definitely a huge
supporter not just of our country but as well of Harlem.
So thank you for having me. Thank you, I think
for the benefit of people who maybe don't share the
same roots entirely. When you say you were born bread
and buttered and Harlem, what does that mean to you?
(03:19):
What was it like growing up here? Wow? Well I was.
I was born in Harlem Hospital. We lived on a
hundred and forty street in Harlem between Lenox Avenue and
Seventh Avenue, also known as Adam Clayton Powell. We also
lived on a hundred and thirty seven between Lennox and seven,
(03:43):
right around a corner from the Renaissance ballroom. So when
I say I was born bread and buttered, bread because
being raised here, but also buttered because Melba tells it's
a horrible pun, a really bad joke. But that's where
the buttered cun comes in. But when I also say buttered,
it means that I was groomed here. Harlem's in my roots,
(04:07):
It's in my spirit, Harlem is in my soul. So
much of who I am today is because of the
life lessons that I've learned from my community. When did
you decide you wanted to be a chef? How old
were you? Well? Growing up in Harlem, every summer, what
(04:28):
we did is the day that school ended. The next day,
my mom, dad, brother's sister, and I would all pack
into the car and we would take the ten eleven
hour drive to South Carolina, which is where my parents
are from. And every time, the first thing I did
when we arrived in South Carolina was greeted my grandparents
(04:49):
with warm hugs. But then it was to that farm.
That's where we went, and my grandmother knew that I
looked forward to going to the farm with her, where
we picked greens, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, and watching my grandmother
gather all of these ingredients and then take them into
(05:09):
the kitchen, singing normally church hymns. We would cook together,
and whether I was snapping peas, peeling potatoes, cannon tomatoes,
I loved every aspect of the magic that we created
in our kitchen. It was then that I actually first
(05:32):
fell in love with cooking, with food and with the
power of food. See, every important event in our family
happened over food. It happened over a meal, whether it
was the birth of a new baby or the one
(05:53):
birthday and celebrating my grandmother or my great grandmother, whether
it was a marriage or unfortunately a repast. I noticed
that food was at the center of everything that was
important to us. So I knew I wanted to be
a part of the magic. I wanted to be a
(06:13):
part of that magic called feeding people's souls, but feeding
their spirits as well. Wow, you brought up a lot
of old memories to me. I had. My grandmother's brother
and his wife were sort of our family magnet when
I was a little boy in Hope, and we all
(06:34):
had to learn to shell peace and do whatever else
was necessary. I personally favored turning the crank on the
ice cream machine the most because I knew what was
at the other end of that effort. Yeah, but I
think that when you were talking about being on your
grandparents farm and how it's amazing how many people today
(06:58):
who have never been on around a farm, of never
planet a garden, who have never experienced this, I think
sometimes they spend an unlimited number of days ordering food
out and having delivered, having no real clue about what
else is involved. And one of the things that always
(07:18):
impressed me is that you seem to want the people
who dined at your restaurants and buy your book to
know that that food in front of them is part
of a larger fabric of community that we should nurture
and respect. That is so true. Um, you know, food
was our entertainment. We come from very, very humble beginnings,
(07:41):
and so it wasn't about going to the movies or
taking an airplane trip any place. Food was the nucleus
of everything that we did. Mr. President. So Monday through Friday,
my dad worked, Saturdays and Sundays were spent at our
cousin's house, my uncle's, my aunt's, my grandparents homes. That's
(08:04):
what we did. But not only did we go to visit,
we brought a dish, we brought a plate because remember
that's bragging rights. Who makes the best tata salad? Okay,
that macaroni and cheese better be creamy. And you have
to see the cheese strings rise up from the plate
(08:24):
to the top of the fork like it's gonna touch
the heavens in the sky. So food is definitely it
was definitely a part of entertainment, but it's also a
way to show love. It's the way that we nurtured
each other. And it's also a vehicle, a conduit that
we used to tell stories of the past. See. I
(08:46):
never got to meet great Grandma Julia, or Mambo as
my parents affectionately called her, but every time we sat
down to eat, there was stories that were constantly told
about my great grandmother Mambo. And you know, we shared
these stories over food, and it could have been a
(09:06):
meal that she cooked. But that's how I got to
tell my son the stories of his great great grandmother.
So even though she didn't live in the present, she
lives in his mind and he knows about his lineage.
He knows the important part that she and the rest
of our family members played still today play in our lives,
(09:28):
and he knows the reason that we do certain things.
You know, I still like the shell peas because they
take me back, and that's one of the beautiful things
that food does. It transports you back to warm times
and wonderful memories. Oh, when you decided to open your
(09:48):
own restaurant, it wasn't in the best of times. It
was just a couple of years after nine eleven. And
tell us when you decided that at the time had
come for you to have your own play and how
you made the decision, Mr President, That was a tough time.
It was shortly after nine eleven where I worked with
(10:10):
chef Michael Lamonico, formerly from the twenty one Club. Chef
Lemonico was at Windows in the World and I worked
there with him every Sunday, and I was there September nine.
You know, my band performed their September nine. September, I
was sitting in a meeting with David Emil and Michael
Lamonica renegotiating our contract and September you know, I got
(10:37):
the call that Tuesday. I'll never forget so that it
was a devastating time for us. Um I was on
a flight one day and I heard a flight attendant say,
in case of an emergency, put on your masks first.
Now we've heard this hundreds of times before, but on
this day it resonated with me. It wasn't. I had
(10:58):
an epiphany. And with my mom being from the South,
she had always saved up money under her mattress. So
you know, we emulate what we see our parents do. Right,
So every Friday when I got paid, I put a
little five spot sometimes Mr President, it wasn't one spot, okay,
it was whatever little extra I had made for the week.
(11:22):
I'd put it under my mattress. So when I heard
the flight attendant say that, I said, well, let me
see how much money I have under my mattress. I
don't want to wake up one day and go what
about me? I love my community. Harlem at that time
was written with drugs. Fourteen Street and Frederick Douglas was
(11:44):
one of the most drug written blocks in Harlem. I
wanted it to change, so I figured I could talk
about it or I could be about it. Started counting
that money and counting and counting. Then I got scared
because it was a whole lot of money. I had
a massive very very small fortune, and I decided to
(12:06):
take that and invest it into my community. I had
been married gotten divorced, so I was a single mom
with a child, and we're living in Harlem, and I
wanted to see my community change and decided to invest
in this corner that was red a clock across the
street from the heavy drug neighborhood and try to see
(12:30):
if I can invoke change, if I could evoke change,
and so I did. Melville's It's been such a blessing
to me because I was able to take. I am
able to take people from my community, give them jobs, skills,
and right now I'm at forty one employees. And it's
(12:51):
great because ninety eight two percent of those employees live
within the Harlem community. So to be able to work
here on in a living year, to take that money
and then go back and recirculate it in our community,
it's how we are able to have some sense of
economic empowerment. That's terrific. I wonder if you feel comfortable
(13:12):
just telling us what did COVID do to your business
and how did you deal with it? Oh, COVID, COVID,
you know, it's still unbelievable. The day was March sixteen.
I was scheduled to open up a new restaurant the
(13:35):
end of March, and we had heard that the city
was going to be shut down. But I'm like, this
is New York. New York is a city that never sleeps.
How are we about to be shut down? To be
very candid with you, I didn't believe it was going
to happen. I didn't believe New York City was going
to be shut down. The call came March sixteen, I
(14:00):
immediately called my employees in and even though I'm the
only I have no partners and no investors, is just
me my employees, I considered them my partners and my
investors because there's no way I could run this business
successfully without them. So I figured if this was going
(14:20):
to be a hard decision, that we had to make
it together. The call was that the city was going
to shut down and restaurants could only do take out. Now,
remember we're a restaurant that thrives on sit down. Did
we do take out, yes we did. Did we do catering, yes,
but we didn't know how we were going to fear.
After meeting with my staff, they all agreed that they
(14:43):
wanted to stay open. But we started brainstorming. We changed
our hours from five to eleven to twelve to twelve,
so that allowed us to keep more people working. And
it was a scary day. Mr. President. Now we're around
food all day every day, all of a suddenly, I
(15:04):
can't tell you if you can feed your family, how
long this is gonna last? When it's gonna end. And
so it wasn't about me. It was about my family members.
And I had no answers. And that's one of the
few times in my life that I could not give answers.
And that frightened me, That worried me, that saddened me
(15:27):
because I had thirty nine people that depended on me
to take care of their families and I had no answers.
We pivoted, as you know. We went from being the
epicenter for new cases hearing me and seeing their horrific
stories about trailers being filled with bodies of loved ones.
(15:52):
Um just saying it now is still devastating. I'm the
president of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, first female
president and first person of color to have a hold
this position, and we all came together as an industry.
We did not want food to be an issue. So
(16:13):
we decided to feed frontline workers. We decided to feed
police officers. We decided to feed people off the street
that could no longer feed their families. We also decided
to feed restaurant workers. We invited restaurant workers to come
in and just get bags of groceries that we'd filled out.
This was good for them, but it was also good
(16:34):
for us because we were stressed, We were sat and
we were disheartened, we were broken, and we didn't know
what the end was going to bring. And how long
did you feed other people of people that were involved
in daily with a pandemic, Probably from the second week,
(16:54):
from the second week it started. So my advertising budget
since I've opened since two thousand five has always gone
back into feeding the community. It's not something that I publicized,
but it's something that we do all the time, from seniors,
two kids that deal with literacy issues. So that was
a natural progression for us. During the election time, we
(17:17):
went to the polls and we fed people standing in
Lyne that we're waiting to vote. We gave them water
and sandwiches that we had made for them. We gave
fried chicken and you know, fried chicken sandwiches. But that's
what we do. We use food as a conduit to
bring people together, especially during tough times, and that's what
we did during the pandemic. We stopped counting at about
(17:40):
a little over two hundred thousand people, so I'm not
sure how many in total, but we know it was
well over two d We'll be right back. Tell us
(18:01):
a little about your work on the Mayor's COVID Recovery
and Health Equity Task Force, and how are you doing
with Mayor Adams and what do you think you ought
to do now? Well, we're we're super excited to have
Mayor Adams as the mayor of this amazing city. We
think that his presence is definitely needed, someone of his
(18:22):
stature and a man of his belief, especially during these times.
My grandmother used to say, got melby. God gave us
two years so that we can listen twice as much
as we speak. And that's what Mayor Eric Adams does.
He listens to the constituents, He listens to the over
eight million people that live in this city and he
(18:44):
makes his decisions based on that. So he has a
lot of work cut out for him as well as
his work with small businesses. The fact that he has
four col cheers and that one of them deals specifically
with small businesses. I think it's important in his shows
that he has committed to our plight and our involvement
(19:05):
within our small communities. In this city of New York,
the greatest city in the world. I really wanted you
to make your small business plug because I think that
it's easy to lose sight of in New York because
of it's all the financial centers here, and because but
it's very important not to forget. You know that most
people still work for small businesses in New York City
(19:28):
as well as in the country, and it's important, correct,
Mr President. Small businesses are the economic engines that drive
our cities. So in order for New York City to
come back, small businesses have to come back. How do
we do that. Well, first of all, the rent is
too darn high. It has to be affordable for us
(19:52):
to come back. There's a plethora of vacant spaces. Every
time I drive around this city, I've ever in my
life seeing this many vacant spaces. So they're sitting there vacant.
And one of the things that we're talking about right
now is how do we make these vacant spaces available
(20:12):
for small business owners. They need to be a hub
for small business owners to come in operate our businesses.
And what do we do by doing that? We employ
people within these communities. It is a win win situation.
Those dollars intern then recirculate back into our communities and
we pay what taxes which benefits the city. Just keep
(20:36):
singing that song. We have to keep working at. As
you've pointed out, twenty six thousand utter people like you
who feed people in New York City, and with a
mayor who seems genuinely interested in all this, I hope
you'll come up with some good answers. Because we don't
know where workers going, we don't know where artificial intelligence
is going. We don't know whether there are some businesses
(20:57):
that will never again for right the way they did
having people come in for eight hours every day. But
we know one thing, people will, if given the chance,
keep going out to eat, because as you pointed out,
it's a form of entertainment by people who can't even
afford to go to the movies much. Let's go on vacation.
(21:20):
So I hope you'll stay at that because I really
believe that it's important. Mr President, I so agree with
you about that. You know, the food and beverage industry
is the second largest private employer in this country, literally
in the country. It's not the automobile industry, it's not
the airline industry. It is the food and beverage industry.
(21:41):
So when you think about F and B, food and beverage,
it's so much more than just a restaurant. But when
a restaurant closes its doors, it's such a layered effect.
Let's break it down. It's the produce farmer, right, it's
your fishmonger, it's your beef, it's your meat. It's also
the paper good supplier. It's the vineyard that we're hurting.
(22:06):
It's the truck driver that drives the goods from one
place to another. So we employ so many different people,
and in New York City alone, it's over three hundred
thousand jobs. That's a lot of jobs. So we are integral.
(22:26):
We have an integral part to this city. Coming back
good for you. Just stay after. I think we've got
a good chance. And uh, I know how frustrating dealing
with COVID has been, and it's been equally frustrating for
people around the world. You can see this three in
every country. Should we open up? Should we not? If
(22:47):
we do what you and I think you have hit
the sweet spot because you've done so much to support
people getting vaccinated. And we know that getting the vaccination
and the booster, even if it doesn't stop a new
variant like this omicron, it almost always keeps people out
of the hospital, off of a ventilator, out of a mortuary.
(23:10):
And I think it's very very important that we keep
that in people's minds. I think if you want to
bring back open businesses and keep them open, we can't
be seen as spreaders of an epidemic. You know. We've
got to see be seen as people that are dealing
with these things and they come up quickly and minimizing
(23:30):
the danger. And I think you've got to do that,
which I appreciate very much, Thank you, thank you. But
I also agree if you want to live, if you
want to live, being vaccinated is the difference between living
and not living. I can tell you stories, amongst stories
(23:52):
of people that I know that have died simply because
they were not that next literally for no other reason
than because they weren't vaxed, and it's disheartening that, as
you stated, Mr President, we still have people that are
(24:15):
reluctant about getting vaccinated. I'm about to host another VACS, really,
and that's one of the things we're talking about. We
do vacs one oh one to be or not to be.
I have doctors there to talk to them, and I
also have people that look like us, because oftentimes it's
a lot of people in my community. Lest if we're
(24:37):
gonna talk, Mr President, let's talk, it's people that look
like me oftentimes. And I'm backs, I'm backs, I'm boosted,
I'm I put the bee on the VACS and call
it backs. That's boosted and VAXX. And I'm here to
tell the story. And I had COVID. I had it
in the early stages and it was right before I
(25:00):
did the sixty minutes piece. And I've never felt anything
like that before in my life. That was in March.
Never felt anything like that before in my life. And
I thought I was going to die, And so I
don't want anybody else to experience that feeling more after this.
(25:32):
Tell me where you think will be with all this
in five years? Where do you think we're gonna be
with the economy, with small business. If you could write
your own story for the next five years, where would
your business be? Good question. Well, I think that there
were some lessons that came out of COVID right. COVID
(25:52):
taught us that people really do need people, and the
importance of the simple things in life, the worts of
just going out to take a walk, the importance of
checking on our neighbors, because I think to some point
a lot of us forgot about the little things, you know,
So that's what COVID for me personally, taught me to
(26:14):
step back, take a minute, and relax. I think as
New Yorkers, um, it's all about the race. We walk fast,
we talk fast, we move fast, we do everything fast.
COVID made me slow down, take a look, dip my
foot in the pool. The water is not so cold.
(26:38):
I also think that COVID taught a lot of people
how to get into their creative mind, their creative sense,
and to understand that we are our brothers and sisters keepers.
I think it humanized us in a way that an
I dare to say this that was oddly beautiful and simplistic.
(27:01):
I know, the way that we look at the food
and beverage industry is different. There's no longer small things
like front of the house versus back of the house.
We're all one house. It didn't really matter if you
were a big restaurant or a small restaurant. A lot
of us suffered together so we were able to support
each other. We have to ensure that this does not
(27:24):
happen again. We have to be proactive. But I also
think that we have to look at us as truly
the melting pot that we say we are. I think
we have to become that melting pot. You know, when
I think about George Floyd and what that meant and
did not just to our city, to our country. We
(27:46):
have to make sure that situations like those don't happen again.
You know, I'm a mom of a six ten, twenty
two year old young man, and I can tell you
when he walks out the front door, I'm always concerned
about him because even though my son is a gentle giant,
because he's a black man at six ten, that is never,
(28:10):
oftentimes not seen. So I'm hoping that we look at
each other in a more humble way, in a more
caring way, and realize the importance and understand that we
need each other. I also think that as a city,
we have to look at the homeless issue within our
city as well as understand and say it out loud
(28:33):
so that we can deal with the fact that we
have a problem with mental health. Not talking about it
it's not It doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, and
it's not going to go away because we don't talk
about it. We must address the issue of mental health
(28:55):
as well as as a drug epidemic going on in
our city. So these are hard questions, hard issues, hard problems. However,
when I walk out of the doors of Melba's on
One Street and Frederick Douglas Boulevard, I looked to my right,
(29:16):
there's an amazing statue at one Street, and this statue
is of a man named Frederick Douglas, Mr. President. When
I looked to my left, there's another amazing monument built
(29:36):
to the Queen herself with the roots extending from the
hymns of her garment, and that is the one and
only Harriet Tubman. I think about the trials, the tribulations
(29:57):
that Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman and so many others have endured,
and it is on their shoulders that I get my
hope and my strength, and I know and believe and
declare that this great city, with all of us working
(30:17):
together and working hand in hand, shall stand again as
New York, New York. So nice that they had to
name it twice. I've never heard that. That's great. You
should have been with me when I was in politics.
You could have might a fortune as a speech ruter.
(30:41):
Run again, Mr President, I got you. Oh. Let's close
with something that I've really been impressed with, and that
is that every year you come up with a word
you make a conscious effort to implement. One year it
was the word kinder, another year it was pivot. I
(31:03):
read what you said about where you got the pivot idea.
So what's the word this year? And what are you
doing with it? Wow? So my staff they're the only
ones that know that. So someone on my team had
to tell you that they rated me out. Yeah. I
do come up with the word, and this year my
(31:25):
word is togetherness, because together we are stronger and the
only way that we're going to get through this is
by standing strong together. So that's my word this year
is togetherness. It's the right word. If there's one thing
that I'm concerned about is the large number of people
(31:49):
who now seem to believe that our differences are all
that matter. In fact, our differences do matter. They're important.
I mean, that's what allows debate, that's it allows progress,
that's what allows learning. But in order for us to
be stronger together, which we clearly are, that was the
(32:10):
slogan of Hillary's campaign. But in order for us to
be stronger together, we have to believe that our common
humanity is more important than our interesting differences. And in
a world where you know, we're used to these quick
retweets and clicks, and you know, people are going over
(32:30):
the social media, it's easy to forget that. And I
think that in a funny way, someone like you, who
spent her life feeding the mind and the soul as
well as the body, you're in a unique position to
remind us. So here she is Will going from Kinder
(32:53):
to Pivot two together. Thank you so much, Thank you
so much, Mr President. I so appreciate you. Thanks. Why
am I telling you? This is a production of our
Heart Radio, the Clinton Foundation and at Will Medium. Our
executive producers are Craig Menascian and Will Malnadi. Our production
(33:15):
team includes Jamison Katsufas, Tom Galton, Sara Harowitz, and Jake Young,
with production support from Liz Raftoree and Josh Farnham. Original
music by Watt White. Special thanks to John Sykes, John
Davidson on hell Orina, Corey Ganstley, Kevin Thurm, Oscar Flores,
and all our dedicated staff and partners at the Clinton Foundation. Hi,
(33:41):
this is Bill Clinton. I hope you're enjoying. Why am
I telling you this? I started the Clinton Foundation on
the belief that everyone deserves a chance to succeed, Everyone
has a responsibility to act, and we all do better
when we work together. In the more than twenty years
since the Foundation for opened its doors in Harlem, we've
(34:02):
brought people together across traditional divides to address some of
the most complex and pressing challenges of our time. The
need for cooperation has never been more urgent than it
is now. The COVID nineteen pandemic has ripped the cover
off long standing and equities and vulnerabilities across our global
community and here at home. The existential threat of climate
(34:24):
change grows every day and all around the world. The
forces of division are tugging at the fabric of our
common humanity. That's why this year we're relaunching the Clinton
Global Initiatives Annual Meeting in New York in September, bringing
together heads of state and other government officials, leaders of
NGOs and philanthropic organizations, prominent voices and business, labor and
(34:48):
finance and youth leaders, and grassroots activists to drive progress
on inclusive economic growth and recovery, climate resilience, and health equity.
While the challenges we fa us are steep, our work
has always been about what we can do, not what
we can't do, and by bringing diverse partners together to
take action and achieve real results, we can create a
(35:11):
culture of possibility in a world hungary for hope. I
hope you will take a moment to share your thoughts
and ideas with us and learn more about our work
by visiting www dot Clinton Foundation dot org. Slash podcast.
Thank you,
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