Linda Falkenstein
Melted food cart owner David Rodriguez can't make it to the Dakota Access Pipeline protest himself, but he's sending two employees to cook meals for the anti-pipeline activists. Crews from Slide and Leia's Lunchbox are also going.
Crews from three Madison food carts — Melted, Slide and Leia’s Lunchbox — are heading out to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota to feed activists demonstrating against the construction of an oil pipeline on native land.
Melted owner David Rodriguez says the group plans to leave Madison on Nov. 14 and will spend four days at the protest camp near Cannon Ball, N.D. Their goal is to provide about 1,000 meals per day, free of charge, for the protesters.
“We have a couple good friends that are out there [at the protest site], and just seeing the pictures made us want to be involved,” Rodriguez says. He’s staying behind in Madison (he has kids at home) but is sending two Melted staff members who believe in the cause. “It’s exciting that we could find a way to help.”
The food trucks themselves won’t be making the journey out to Standing Rock. Since they will be feeding thousands, a larger catering setup — think tents and griddles — is necessary. Each business will bring two or three employees, who will be paid their usual wage for the work. None of the businesses will make a profit.
The group hopes to raise between $12,000 and $13,000 to cover the cost of travel, food and wages for the employees. An online fundraiser is underway, and as of Thursday night has raised nearly $700. Supporters have also donated large quantities of eggs, potatoes and purified water. Those provisions will allow the group to serve breakfasts to the activists, but at this point, Rodriguez says they need monetary contributions rather than in-kind donations — simply because they don’t have the space to carry more supplies.
The grassroots DAPL protest movement began in the spring of 2016, but in recent weeks the conflict has grown violent, as law enforcement has clashed with protesters. Hundreds have been arrested, including Madison Ald. Rebecca Kemble. Rodriguez says his group discussed the dangers of going to the protest site, but notes that they will be serving food at the camp — “although maybe some will go and join the protest.”
Rodriguez says the main reason he opposes the pipeline is the “hypocrisy” of seizing native land — land that was given back to the tribes with the Treaty of Laramie in 1868. Though he can’t be there personally, he hopes the gift of food will help fuel the activist movement.
“When I think about food, I always think about people gathering to eat — it is a nurturing experience more than just filling your belly,” Rodriguez says. “My hope is [that] the act of providing food is in its own way a show of solidarity.”
