FieldTrip’s Chef JJ Johnson donates 6,000+ Thanksgiving meals in Harlem, Queens

Thanksgiving came early for thousands of New Yorkers by way of the James Beard Award-winning chef known for putting his own stamp on rice bowls with a global flair.

On Wednesday, Chef JJ Johnson was joined by community, political and business leaders at sites in Harlem and Queens to dish out more than 6,000 meals to those in need as part of a continued effort to ease the food insecurity that many New Yorkers face.

Earlier this month, the owner of the FieldTrip restaurant chain — with eateries in Harlem and Rockefeller Center — launched the “Feed Our Community with SNAP Benefits Program” to provide free meals for those affected by the loss of their food stamp benefits during the government shutdown.

He told The Daily News: “We were already feeding folks when they lost their SNAP benefits, and Resorts World liked what we were doing and they reached out and said, ‘Hey, we want to do something for Queens, Brooklyn and Harlem. Do you think you can feed 7,000 people?’ And I was like, ‘Well, yeah, why not?”

“I’m in the business of feeding people either way, but my goal was to make sure that we can give people hot food, and also something really tasty,” he said.

The 41-year-old Poconos-raised Long Island native, who now calls Harlem home, pointed out that his neighborhood was heavily impacted by the shutdown of SNAP.

“About 8,000 people lost their benefits just in our corridor,” he said. “How can I how can I let people just walk by a restaurant, watching people get food, and being like, ‘Oh, I don’t have my SNAP dollars to go purchase food in the grocery store.’ I believe communities look after communities, and now is our chance to look after folks in the Harlem community. And our feeding effort is now continuing to feed some more of New York City during a given time.”

Johnson and his staffers were up at the wee hours of Wednesday morning at his flagship restaurant on Malcolm X Blvd., prepping a massive haul of his signature rice bowls made with jerk salmon and plantains, chicken curry, and turkey with collard greens and candied yams.

Boxes of the provisions were transported to Queens Borough Hall and the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building in Harlem for distribution to more than 20 nonprofit organizations that picked up the meals to deliver to individuals within their networks.

The “Just Eats with Chef JJ” star then joined executives from Resorts World New York City, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr., and members of the Queens Economic Development Corporation in Kew Gardens, where 500 people were served a pre-Thanksgiving Day feast.

Meanwhile, FieldTrip staffers were in Harlem with New York City Council Member Yusef Salaam to hand out boxes of food.

“It just feels like the right thing to do at this time because people are struggling, prices are high,” Johnson said. “This gives a chance for people that can’t have a Thanksgiving or can’t get a meal to really have one.”