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Double-cut grilled pork chop with brown rice and asparagus from Human Food RVA
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Human Food RVA’s sesame chicken salad with soy-scallion quinoa and napa-peanut slaw
So Fresh, So Clean
Haluk Ural, founder of Human Food RVA
“My first passion is cooking,” says Haluk Ural, founder of Human Food RVA. “My second: fitness.”
When Ural attended the University of Central Florida, he originally studied in its culinary program before switching to business and minoring in hospitality management. Previously working for Starwood Hotels in New York, he landed in Richmond over 15 years ago. In 2012, while working at Altria, Ural started his first meal-prep service, Fed Wellness.
“My gym was doing a CrossFit challenge, and because I loved clean cooking, I batched for my team on Sundays,” Ural explains. They would bring Tupperware, and he would fill them up with gluten-, dairy- and refined-sugar-free foods for the week.
After selling Fed Wellness and leaving Altria, Ural launched Human Food in 2018 from the now-shuttered kitchens of Pasture and Comfort — both restaurants co-owned by his brother-in law, Jason Alley, whom he describes as a mentor. He moved the operation to Hatch Kitchen last summer.
Ural describes his typical customer as young, and someone who may lack the time or desire for cooking. Favorite entrees include the double-cut pork chop, bangers and mash — also in a vegan version — and golden chicken salad with a corn-poblano quinoa. While pulled pork is on the menu every week, paleo, vegetarian and vegan options are always available, and meals range from $9 to $13.
Prepping on Sundays, Human Food’s culinary crew consists of cooks from other Richmond kitchens, including Pasture and Comfort alumni as well as staffers from the Gold Cart pop-ups, while the team that packs up client orders is made up of friends from RVA Performance Training.
“I like to think we’re doing good for the community by making it possible for people to avoid the grocery store and meat shortages,” Ural says, noting that most customers purchase five to seven meals at a time. “Our sweet spot is simple, well-spiced food that reheats well.”
Vegan fried chicken made with oyster mushrooms, served with mashed potatoes and tomato gravy from Elegant Cuizines
From Liberia With Love
Elegant Cuizines Chef Theresa Headen
Chef Theresa Headen moved with her family to Richmond from Liberia at age 8. Later studying biology at Chowan University, Headen made extra money selling plates of her food to the football team.
Elegant Cuizines, a catering business, began in 2016 as a side hustle for Headen while she managed a children’s clothing store. In 2018, she expanded the meal-prep side of Elegant Cuizines and began to add preordered lunch options that were available Monday through Friday.
“We grew a lot during the pandemic,” Headen says. “We’re something people needed, a restaurant-like dining experience. I went from doing 30 meals [a week] to 200 a week.”
Elegant Cuizines’ online menu lists dozens of choices, from keto-friendly and dairy-free options to vegetarian and vegan selections, along with family-size meals and bulk soups, fresh-squeezed juices, pastries, vegan cupcakes and Liberian cuisine.
“I want everyone to try traditional Liberian food,” Headen says. “My spicy pepper soup has lots of meat and herbs; that soup will make you cry if you aren’t ready for it.”
Headen seasons her African specialties with habaneros, parsley, oregano and bay leaves in lieu of salt. A monthly meal subscription provides 20 meals for $150, while a weekly subscription of five meals is $50.
Headen’s favorite Liberian plate is jollof rice. “It’s kind of like jambalaya — full of meat and seafood,” she says. “Jollof rice is always served at weddings and parties. Every African country competes over who makes it best, but I can tell you, it’s definitely Liberia.”
Sous Casa’s breakfast sausage burrito
Rolled With Purpose
Jim Hamilton, furloughed from cooking for the band Phish, launched Sous Casa in April.
Chef Jim Hamilton and his business partner (who prefers to remain anonymous) launched Sous Casa, a frozen burrito and bowl company, in April from the pandemic-shuttered kitchen of Kuba Kuba Dos. A personal chef for touring musicians, Hamilton has worked for Beyonce, Jay-Z, Bon Jovi, Katy Perry and currently the jam band Phish, which has paused its 2020 tour. Earlier this year, he was furloughed.
Lifelong friends, Hamilton and his partner agreed that frozen burritos didn’t have to be terrible. While many store-bought frozen burritos can be months old, Sous Casa’s are delivered just one day after they’re made.
The two chefs tested their spicy pollo verde (aka “frollo verde”), breakfast sausage and gluten-free burritos on friends, coworkers and folks who just needed a meal. From the get-go, Sous Casa was giving away and sharing a lot of its food. Their communications director, Anj McClain, previously worked for a nonprofit that provisioned families during the shutdown. Donations were mostly canned veggies and mac and cheese. Sous Casa saw an opportunity and began to donate one burrito — ranging in price from $3 to $4 — for every burrito purchased. Quickly, McClain got calls begging for more. “Kids could easily heat them up,” she says. “The burritos sparked joy.”
Providing for the food-insecure is part of a growing business plan, one they hope will include franchise expansion in the future. At press time, over 4,400 burritos had been donated to organizations including Boys & Girls Clubs, the YWCA, and First Baptist Church, among other charities.
