Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — With Thanksgiving days away, the Pine Street Inn homeless shelter is putting the final touches on their annual Thanksgiving meal.
Frank Van Overbeeke was previously the executive chef for Bouche, but since 2010 he has been the executive chef at Pine Street Inn. Part of his duties are to helm the annual Thanksgiving feast.
Van Overbeeke said how the meal feeds around 4,000 people every year, which means a mountain of food to prepare. Specifically, 500 pounds of sliced turkey breast and 700 pounds of potatoes are made for the feast, the latter of which is cooked the day of.
He explained that preparation for the meal begins months in advance. That doesn’t change the fact that the week of the holiday is still crunch time.
“Cooking, cooling, slicing and so on for the whole week,” he said. “Between Sunday and Wednesday to be honest with you, if we’re not ready going into Thursday, we’re in trouble.”
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This is on top of the meals they still need to prepare for guests at the shelter every day leading up to Thanksgiving.
“We’re still doing those other 3,700 meals every day, so we have to squeeze that all in between,” he said.
Van Overbeeke said this meal is especially precious to Boston's homeless, who would otherwise have nowhere else to go.
“It really means something to them, probably because of the challenges in their lives and the awareness of what they’re missing,” he said.
More information about the Thanksgiving meal can be found here.