No one who is coughing is allowed to help with the cooking. Many of the students are HIV-positive or cope with other chronic health concerns, such as diabetes. Once the meals are prepared, the students smooth out a tablecloth and share the food with staff and visitors. About 300 students have attended Hartel's cooking classes, which are also conducted at places including a women's HIV study group in the Bronx, a drug-prevention program in Harlem, and domestic violence shelters. Class sizes vary from a half-dozen students to more than 20.
Many participants return week after week, while others attend less regularly.
Jason Farrell, executive director of Positive Health Project, says the cooking class is the only one he knows of that is conducted at a syringe-exchange program, in which drug users turn in dirty needles for clean ones. This provides an atmosphere of love and support. Food is love. People come to eat, socialize and learn. There's no place else where a group of disenfranchised people can come and be treated like this.