5 of Brooklyn’s Food Influencers Talk About the State of Brooklyn Food
Cesar Fuentes: Executive Director of the Red Hook Food Vendors
How did Red Hook Food Vendors first get started?
The RHFV started in 1974 at the Red Hook Ball Fields, as a side attraction to the soccer games played there on weekends. Over the decades, it became the main attraction due to the quality of food offerings and authentic, traditional marketplace feeling around it.
When and how did you first get involved?
I am the child of one of the vendors. I first began as an assistant in my family’s stand in the late 90s. I became the representative of all RHFV in 2000 in a rushed and unexpected manner, when the group was first threatened with closure due mostly to neglect by the presiding organization and the soccer leagues using the park space at the time. The vendors were used as scapegoat to avoid permit cancellations from NYC Parks for not cleaning the park, allowing illegal activities, etc.
I stood up against this as I knew it was wrong. I knew the vendors only sold food, that they cleaned, that they even paid “maintenance” fees to the leagues who didn’t charge to maintain the park in any way, but simply for the right of the vendors to sell there. I decided to take the bull by the horn and speak up against organizational bullying and denounce it to Parks, police, whoever would listen. My message was simple: for every group that shared a common space to share common responsibility and take common action to tag the problems that allegedly affected the park and threatened eviction for all—vendors and leagues. NYC Parks wanted to permanently shut down vendors and soccer in Red Hook, but Julius Spieguel, the Brooklyn Parks Commissioner at the time, agreed to give us one last chance if we proved we could change, with one caveat—he wanted me to take charge. I accepted the challenge and the vendors unanimously accepted me. That was the only chance to save my family, the vendors, and ironically, the soccer ligas. I met the challenge. That was the beginning…
What is the biggest lesson you have you learned in your time as executive director?
That you have to be intimately involved and passionate about the cause you lead. To be a stakeholder you can’t simply be sympathetic to the cause, you have to empathize with your organization’s vision, mission, goals, etc. I grew into the position of executive director of the RHFV through hard work and (pardon the cliché) sweat and tears. But it was a labor of love, really.
What are some difficulties you’ve faced as director?
When I accepted my first challenge as leader of the RHFV, it was about putting on the gloves and cleaning the park with my bare hands. My next challenge was detachment—mainly, from my family at RHFV. To earn respect and build a reputation on fairness to all vendors & members of a group I represent, it was important to be clear on this. Next difficulty was to incorporate the RHFV into an organized structure. We became a 501c6 nonprofit organization around 2006 and I formally became executive director then. The RHFV became board members with voting rights, full decision on the organizations’ destiny, etc. Last and most intense was our second fight for survival—this time against gentrification, around 2007-2008. This is well documented. There is even an entire chapter in Dr. Sharon Zukin’s book “Naked City, the Death & Life of Authentic Urban Spaces” that relates our struggles. In short, we are still here, but politics and compromise forever changed the face of our marketplace.
What differentiates the food at RHFV from offerings at other vendor sites around the city?
Every market, every vendor site is different. Even though food may be similar, the environment has an intrinsic interaction with its food offerings. At face value, our marketplace’s reputation is intrinsically associated with soccer, with nature, even with the gritty industrial nature of one of Brooklyn’s oldest, most particular neighborhoods.
But the RHFV food offerings are unique indeed. We are recognized by several names: Ball Field Vendors; Red Hook Vendors; Home of the Soccertaco, etc. At the end of the day, the quality of food and ambiance associated with our marketplace is what differentiates the RHFV experience as a unique and relished experience in NYC. Similarly, you can go to any Nathan’s franchise for a hotdog, but only one will truly offer you the unique experience associated with the original.
What’s the future of RHFV? How would you like to see it grow or change, if at all?
The RHFV will exist as long as there are people who continue to support and value who we are and what we do. The original RHFV marketplace is long gone, forced out by gentrification and changing trends. Still, the foundations are still strong, and the marketplace is continually changing. There are new generations of RHFV—like myself—who have evolved into specialized positions. Others have expanded into different markets and developed brands (like Solber Pupusas, Country Boys, El Olomega, Piaztlan BK). In fact, while our marketplace is minute in comparison to giants like Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg, we are the most awarded market per capita in New York City. Four out of six Red Hook Food Vendors are the best of NYC in their respective categories, while three are ranked amongst the best in the Nation. It almost seems improbable, but good thing Google can always help remind you of these things when you need it most. The future is uncertain, but change and growth is almost certainly on the horizon.
Red Hook has undergone some demographic shifts in recent years, as retail like IKEA and Fairway have come in, and warehouses get renovated into expensive lofts. RHFV and the Ballfields harken back to an older era of Red Hook. What role does the RHFV marketplace play in the neighborhood’s sense of community and character amidst all these changes?
After 40 years of operation (our market celebrates its 40th anniversary this year!) I believe the RHFV marketplace has rightfully earned its place as one of the neighborhood’s cultural institutions. This is no small feat, as Red Hook itself is a historic neighborhood filled with cultural gems that bear equal appreciation and respect. We are embraced by the Red Hook community through and through. We have been together in worse and better times—when the neighborhood was coined the “crack capital of America,” and when it was coined the next Williamsburg.
Now, an era of megalopolises, of expansion and reclamation, and of impersonal individualities, it is hard to find neighborhoods with a sense of community and character. We are fortunate to have survived most changes, but are truly blessed to have been able to retain our market identity and add to the character of the neighborhood we call home.