Chef Brice Crackel grew up helping his mom, Yvonne Davis, cook from the time he was little. Yvonne loved making anything that could be prepped ahead given her busy schedule, with two sons and a job in human resources for the U.S. Secret Service.
Brice’s love of cooking led him to attend the Art Institute of Washington after an initial career as a fire protection engineer. Brice spent 12 years working in restaurants, starting as a fry cook and rising to executive chef.
“Helping people is all I’ve ever cared about,” Brice said. “Feeding people makes me happy.”
Yvonne – who was goofy, loved an excuse to dress in costume, and spoke with a Chicago accent – switched to working in food safety and inspection for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She retired in her 60s. Nearly right away, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.
Then during the Covid-19 pandemic, Brice lost his job. As he helped cook for his mom, whose illness was progressing, he teamed up with a friend to make 15,000 free meals to give away, called to action by his desire to help those in need.
In October 2023, Yvonne passed away. Her family donated her brain to researchers at the University of Maryland “because she didn’t want anyone else going through what she went through,” Brice said. Researchers later attributed her cause of death to Lewy Body Disease, a type of dementia with similar symptoms as Parkinson’s.
Exactly one year to the date of Yvonne’s passing, Brice started working as a chef at Food & Friends. His work start date reminds him of the importance of his job, a role that gives him even more joy than working in restaurants did.
Brice spends most of his workday pureeing medically tailored meals for Food & Friends clients just like his mom: individuals with Parkinson’s disease and others who have trouble chewing, swallowing, and digesting because of illnesses including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and gastrointestinal conditions.
“I think of my mom and all our clients when I do this,” Brice said.
Brice saw firsthand how Parkinson’s affects people’s ability to eat. Chewing and swallowing becomes difficult, and even tiny bits of food can cause them to choke, vomit, or – if food gets stuck in the lungs – get pneumonia. Pureeing food to a proper consistency can help those with Parkinson’s receive proper nourishment and avoid malnutrition, dehydration, unintended weight and muscle loss, and other factors that can reduce quality of life.
About 70 clients are on our pureed meal plan each year. Brice spends hours each day running our medically tailored meals through two different machines to reach the proper consistency under international standards.
“I do purees all day long because it takes that long to get it through both machines,” he said.
Brice looks forward to a time the kitchen can purchase better blenders, known as Blixers, that would cut pureeing time in half, so “I could help more people.” This equipment would allow Food & Friends to expand our puree menu because it can blend foods we currently can’t, and our pureed meals would be even more nutritious because they wouldn’t need as much water in them to become smooth.
Brice’s work is made even more rewarding by the knowledge that his mom would be proud of him.
“I’m sure she’s looking down on me and happy that I’m doing this,” Brice said.
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