I’m Emily and I currently work, play and eat all over Chicago Brussels, Belgium. I am an Americorps Volunteer Study Abroad Coordinator by day, mad baker by night. I (used to) live with my lovely sister who is subjected to all of my food experiments and whimsies.
When I started The Petit Four I chose the name for very basic reasons. Literally translated from french, it means “little oven.” I had a tiny kitchen and an even tinier food budget. Exactly how tiny was my budget? Precisely $172 a month, courtesy of food stamps by way of Americorps. Everything on this blog, plus all the countless other meals my sister and I ate throughout the month, were bought and purchased on $172/month to feed two people*. Not a cent more.
Now my circumstances have drastically changed. I have an actual job for which I am extremely grateful. I no longer live in Chicago but live in my favorite city in the entire world - Brussels. The initial point of the blog was for me to document and prove to myself that good food could be had under restrictive circumstances. Now that I am gainfully employed and live in one of the world’s secret food capitals, it’s shifted focus to become a way for me to personally document my growth in the kitchen and my experiences outside.
*If you are an Americorps member, especially VISTA, you automatically qualify for foodstamps. I cannot say enough about the experience and its exposure to the realities of poverty in America.
My $172 is the amount that a one-person family household is suppose to survive on for the entire month in Chicago (because of other personal, economic reasons, my sister and I were only able to use my food stamps for both of us). With $172 one person is supposed to buy enough healthy food - including fresh fruits, vegetables and meat - to last the entire month. Food stamps are only adjusted once a year in Illinois and the adjustment very rarely reflects the reality of food inflation. $172 was enough of a limit to realize how difficult it is for low-income families to eat healthy, fresh food throughout the month and highlighted why cheap, fast options like McDonald’s are so appealing. And why obesity is so present.
Want more info? Reach me at emily at thepetitfour.com
