MEET JAY

Hi there! I can’t thank you enough for taking the time out to join in on our first segment for “conversations with”. As I’m putting together this segment my stomach can’t stop rumbling going through your portfolio. The detail to every little spec on the plate is truly an art form. However your passion for philanthropy work and helping your community is truly inspiring. Everybody say hello to the creator of Hera-the traveling restaurant, hosting seasonal dinner parties all over New York City, Jay Rodriguez.

So Jay,

Why the name Hera?

When starting my own project, I set out to accomplish a few different tasks. One of the most important of those was offering a different kind of restaurant experience; one that was rooted in people feeling good and taken care of. A lot of those feelings come from memories and excellent times and meals with my mother. Hera is the goddess of childbearing, womanhood, etc. She’s a mom! So I wanted to capture that maternal essence in our style of service and mission. At Hera, we try to invoke empathy, compassion, and caring in all things we do. These are just a few of the traits that remind me of my mom. The first three letters, “H-E-R” kept having me think about the most important her in my life, my mom. So it all comes back around on itself.

Throughout the pandemic you began feeding so many in need & setting up food donations throughout the city. What pushed you to become so involved in the community?

I’m a cook. It’s what I’ve known my entire life. My parents met in a restaurant and I grew up in the family business. They taught me to work hard, to travel and explore this beautiful world and to appreciate and try to help all the wonderful people that inhabit it. During particularly rough times in our lives, I think food can be used as an essential tool to solve or help alleviate a lot of problems or at the very least, to connect and care for our fellow humans. When Covid hit, a lot of food pantries closed down in New York. So an already strained system became even more depleted. Couple that with closed restaurants and needless to say, food insecurity was rising. As a cook, I saw a way to close the circle from my wonderful farmer community to people who needed to eat. I was on unemployment and my needs were met so I used my excess money to buy high quality ingredients to support my local farmers and then some like minded friends and I would prepare them into meals and distribute them to anyone in need for no charge. Mutual aid and grassroots organizing is and always will be an integral part of Hera’s ethos.

You and your team have been featured on numerous outlets from food network, EATER & the infatuation (just to name a few) Does the success ever feel real or does a piece of you struggle with imposter syndrome?

The success is something that still feels very unreal and wild to me. I of course appreciate how far we’ve come and how deep our community runs, but it just always blows my mind how much people enjoy this little project of mine and how supportive everyone is. I see the success as a means to an end. The more people that know about Hera and support it then creates more opportunity for me and the various teams I work with to drive true change in the restaurant industry and hopefully inspire folks to do similar projects or blaze their own path. There’s definitely still lots of impostor syndrome I have but I think that mainly is rooted in the creative side of Hera. There’s loads of dishes I’m so extremely proud of (they wouldn’t be on a menu otherwise) but there’s also so many things I haven’t put out there yet because I feel as if I’m not “ready.” I’m still not sure what “ready” actually means but I balance it out by allowing myself patience and grace for my mistakes and shortcomings.

What’s been the biggest struggle you’ve had building Hera?

There’s been so many. Convincing people that veggies are awesome is one. Another might be filling seats (a constant worry I’ll always have no matter our success). And yet another big struggle might be learning and navigating what it’s like to be an effective leader and small business owner. They don’t exactly write step by step guides to this sort of thing. I think the biggest struggle, however, is finding my voice as a chef and as a creative. There’s a great deal of pressure I feel sometimes as a young chef trying to find his way in an industry dominated by giants. New ideas and projects are often looked down on by folks with beliefs rooted in ageism or the belief that one must “pay their dues.” This way of thinking is a form of gatekeeping in my eyes and something I feel is being dismantled in many fields thanks to the influx of younger creatives doing amazing projects. It all goes back to finding one’s voice among what can feel like a very large choir. I’m grateful for my own journey so far and have started to really align with the person I’ve always felt I was, both as a chef and personally.

Shows like “The Bear” are portraying the restaurant world in a stressful, chaotic light. Do you find the show to be true to the industry? Or do you think the stereotype has changed over the years?

Honestly I hated the bear. I made it through three episodes of the first season. I thought it was well acted and definitely accurate in some ways and not so much in others. What I mainly disliked the most was the seemingly fetishized trauma the show presented, or rather what mainstream food media presented when the show launched. Of course, a show about an ethically-run restaurant (they exist) doesn’t make for good tv, but I do feel there’s untapped stories to explore in that realm. There’s been quite the reckoning in the restaurant industry in recent years and for good reason. I do feel that ego-driven, exploitive restaurants are on the decline thanks to fellow restaurant folks doing their own progressive projects. I have high hopes for the future for sure.

So, what’s next for Hera?

Such a great question because the answer changes all the time. We will continue to do pop ups and takeovers at restaurant spaces and other venues as well as residencies and private events and traveling extensively (currently writing this from the French alps) but the goal has always been to settle down in a brick and mortar space. The thought of Hera being in one physical space and operating like a “normal” restaurant is something that absolutely terrifies me. Without saying too much, however, I feel as if Hera is on track to settle down in the very near future.