Mandela Partners and allies fight food insecurity in Oakland

In the early days of quarantine, chef Enrique Soriano found himself in a pickle. 

The pandemic had all but eliminated business for his catering company, Cocina del Corazón, which he had started in 2019 to help finance pro bono food donations. He and his business partner applied for grants and tried to start up a delivery service, but neither panned out. Scrambling for sustainable solutions felt “like building a car from scratch.”