National Geographic USA 08.2021

amphitheater on the east side of town, the hangers-on waited in the wings, or even shared
brooding bulk of Mount Vesuvius visible from the arena floor. Musicians warmed up the crowd
the upper rows of seats. Faded advertisements as the gladiators took their places, and perhaps
in the city center plug upcoming fights. Mosaics added dramatic flourishes during the fights.
and frescoes capture highlights of past matches. Helmets and weapons were carried into the
Just outside the city’s theater, I stoop to check ring during a prefight parade led by the editor,
out stick-figure fighters scratched into faded red or sponsor of the games.
plaster at a child’s eye level.
Key figures were the referees, who were
In 1766 early excavators uncovered a trove of responsible for enforcing a strict sense of fair
gladiator armor at a site on the edge of town that play. In one depiction, captured on a small pot
had been turned into a training facility and resi- found in the Netherlands, a referee holds up his
dence for fighters after an earthquake damaged staff to halt a fight as an assistant runs in with a
the local gladiator school. It’s safe to assume that replacement sword.
even their practice sessions drew crowds.
“You don’t lose the fight because you lose
“They were like sexy rock stars,” says Kath- your weapon,” Genot says. “When you imagine
erine Welch, an art historian at New York gladiator fights as a sporting event, you cannot
University. Take Celadus the Thracian, a prom- imagine there are no rules.”
ising newcomer to Pompeii with three wins
under his helmet who was “the sigh of the Most important, inscriptions promising
girls,” according to an admiring graffito—or his “fights without reprieve”—in other words, to the
trident-wielding compatriot Crescens, “netter death—and “fights with sharp weapons” suggest
of young girls by night.” life-threatening clashes were unusual enough to
be worthy of special mention.
Inscriptions found at Pompeii suggest gladi-
ator troupes traveled from town to town, often And like any good sporting event, there were
followed by loyal fans, as part of a sword-wielding stats aplenty for fans to obsess over. Across the
road show. One advertisement discovered just Roman world, gladiator wins, losses, and draws
outside the city walls encouraged locals to head to are scratched on walls and chiseled onto tomb-
Nola, a 20-mile hike due north, to catch 20 pairs of stones. The results of many matchups will never
gladiators facing off over the course of three days. be known. But imagine the knot in the stomach
of Valerius—who a scratched graffito at Pom-
Even after three centuries of excavations, peii reports survived 25 combats—as he faced
archaeologists continue to uncover fresh evi- off against Viriotas, a veteran of 150.
dence at Pompeii. In 2019 archaeologists working
in a narrow alley on the north side of town came Gladiators were more than mere entertain-
upon a fresco of two gladiators with what look ment. Literary accounts make it clear that
like ostrich plumes adorning their bronze hel- by fighting—and sometimes dying—bravely,
mets painted on the wall of a small tavern. Alain gladiators reinforced Roman concepts of
Genot, an archaeologist at the museum of antiq- manliness and virtue. (Except, that is, for the
uity in Arles, says it includes unprecedented net-wielding retiarius, whose tricky tactics and
detail: One of the fighters is wearing pants under long-distance trident attacks made him the are-
his leg protectors. And after my close escape in na’s designated baddie.) “Gladiators, whether
Arles, I’m pleased to learn that cords hanging ruined men or barbarians, what wounds they
below his chin may represent straps used to keep endure!” the Roman orator Cicero wrote around
his heavy helmet firmly in place. 50 B.C. “When condemned men fight with
swords, there could be no sturdier training for
Bloody wounds on the bodies of both men the eye against pain and death.”
show the fight has taken a toll. But there is a
clear loser: One of the fighters, who is bleeding E V E N A S T H E Y W E R E A D O R E D by many fans, glad-
from a gash on his exposed chest and seems to iators ranked at the bottom of ancient Rome’s
be doubled over in pain, has dropped his shield rigidly hierarchical society, along with prosti-
and raised his forefinger. The gesture, repeated tutes, pimps, and actors. By law, gladiators were
in many gladiator depictions, is the ancient considered property, not people. They could be
equivalent of “tapping out” of a fight. killed at the whim of whoever was paying for
their fight. “That’s fundamental to understand-
Other artwork from around the Roman world ing how the Romans could sit in the stands and
suggests that a colorful cast of helpers and

A N C I E N T R O M E ’ S F I G H T C L U B 51



By A.D. 150, the cost of decree is preserved on swords (top), as well as
gladiator fights was spi- a bronze plaque (left) elaborately decorated
raling out of control as that may have hung leg protectors and
political hopefuls spon- outside an amphithe- shields (above). Such
sored ever more spec- ater near Seville, Spain. protective gear helped
tacular games to outdo A trove of gladiator prevent lethal wounds
their rivals. To rein armor and weapons while guaranteeing the
in spending, Roman uncovered at Pompeii exciting, unpredictable
emperor Marcus Aure- in 1766 includes full- bouts Roman specta-
lius set price limits. His face helmets and short tors loved to see.

MUSEO ARQUEOLÓGICO NACIONAL, MADRID (LEFT); MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE DI NAPOLI, ITALY (FOUR, ABOVE)



Losing your weapon
didn’t mean losing the
fight—or your life. On
this pot found in the
Netherlands, a heavily
armored gladiator
(center) shows a referee
his broken sword as an
assistant runs in with a
new weapon (right).

MUSEUM HET VALKHOF, NIJMEGEN,
NETHERLANDS



Some scholars believe Coleman. Gladiators (top right) and a griffin
this bronze figure (left) were a favorite subject (above). Fanciful tintin-
depicts a victorious for Roman artists. A nabulum chimes (above
female gladiator holding muscular statuette (top left), uncovered at Her-
her curved dagger aloft. left) found in France is culaneum and meant to
Others disagree. “No just under eight inches keep away evil spirits,
gladiator is depicted tall. Armor from Pompeii show a gladiator doing
with so little protective is decorated with myth- combat with his own
clothing,” says Harvard ological figures such as phallus, which has trans-
University’s Kathleen the goddess Minerva formed into a wild beast.

MUSEUM FÜR KUNST UND GEWERBE HAMBURG, GERMANY (LEFT); MUSÉE DÉPARTEMENTAL ARLES ANTIQUE, FRANCE (TOP LEFT);
MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE DI NAPOLI, ITALY (THREE)

A FEW GLADIATORS WERE CRIMINALS amphitheater’s earthen foundations
OR PRISONERS OF WAR CONDEMNED TO COMBAT, found the outlines of a whole neighb
to serve fans, including taverns, sou
BUT MOST WERE PROFESSIONAL FIGHTERS. even a bakery where spectators coul
before taking their seats.
watch this happening,” says Harvard University proud of it,” Coleman says. “It doesn’t sound like
classicist Kathleen Coleman. they’re treated like criminals. Gladiators saw In 2010 archaeologists reported
themselves as professionals.” special: a gladiator school, or lud
In the early days of gladiator fights—likely walk from the crumbling ruins of C
staged as part of funeral rituals as long ago as CHAPTER amphitheater. From Roman accoun
300 B.C.—the combatants probably were prison- mer says, we know there must have b
ers of war or condemned criminals. But as the III like it across the empire. They were
games evolved into a central feature of life across by emperors and local dignitarie
the empire in the first century B.C., they became CARNUNTUM, AUSTRIA run by trainers called lanistae, som
more organized, and audience expectations rose. were former gladiators. There were
Dozens of gladiator schools popped up to meet P RO F E S S I O N A L F I G H T E R S needed professional gladiator schools in the center of R
the demand for well-trained volunteer fighters. training. A discovery made a few years ago at a gladiator training complex in th
an ancient Roman site in Austria known as Car- the Colosseum. But the dirt under o
Because Roman citizens couldn’t be executed nuntum shows where they got it. the first complete example ever fou
without a trial, some aspiring fighters signed away
their citizenship and became enslaved as a high- On a blustery day in early spring, Eduard Poll- Without lifting a shovel, researche
risk way to pay off debts or escape poverty. Others hammer, the scientific director of Carnuntum, a large room with a raised floor th
were criminals sentenced to serve as gladiators—a leads me into the middle of a freshly sown farm heated with warm air from below.
lighter punishment than execution, because there field on the banks of the Danube River, 25 miles been used as a training gym in the c
was a chance of being set free someday. east of Vienna. The heavy gray clouds begin to winters. Along the edge of an ope
spit cold rain, reminding me just how far we are L-shaped section of the building wi
Still, slavery meant something different in from the sun-soaked ruins of Pompeii and Arles. cells. Thick walls are a sign that part
Rome than it did centuries later in the American ity had two stories. There were even
South. For one, it had nothing to do with race, In the winter, temperatures here plunge below water pipes, basins, and hot and co
and some experts believe gladiators were rarely freezing, and the wheat fields are covered with the center of it all was a circular tra
chained or shackled. And despite their lowly sta- snow. But even here, on what was the edge of the 62 feet across. “We think about 70
tus in society, successful fighters could earn a empire, the Roman appetite for gladiator spec- ators lived here,” Pollhammer says
lot of money. Some may even have moonlighted tacles was such that Carnuntum boasted two whole infrastructure for big specta
as bodyguards for rich patrons. “Do your time,” amphitheaters: one for its thousands of active-
says French historian Méryl Ducros, “and when duty soldiers, and another to entertain civilians CHAPTER
it’s over, you can take your money and your wife from the bustling town next door.
and your kids and go back to your life.” IV
Around A.D. 200, the rolling hills here were
Tombstones—often commissioned by fellow home to one of the Roman frontier’s biggest mili- ROME, ITALY
fighters or loved ones left behind—suggest that tary bases, Pollhammer explains. More than 7,000
many gladiators were family men. “Pompeius soldiers stationed here patrolled the empire’s W H AT D ROV E T H E RO M A N S to de
the retiarius, winner of nine crowns, born in northern reaches. Carnuntum is so big that more resources to gladiators? What kept f
Vienna, 25 years of age,” reads one such monu- than 150 years of excavations have uncovered back, year after year, for nearly six
ment excavated in France. “His wife put this up only 15 percent of its four-square-mile area. Recent excavations at the Colosseu
with her own money for her wonderful spouse.” offer clues. Under the floor of the ar
Twenty years ago, concerned that intensive a huge space extending about 20
Such memorials also are evidence that glad- plowing would destroy undiscovered parts of the ground level. Today visitors can tou
iators were proud of their work. Grave markers site, archaeologists turned to ground-penetrating labyrinth of columns, crumbled bric
often included their records in the ring and radar to try to map the buried remains of build- and shadowy chambers.
depictions of weapons and armor, the tools of ings. Between the town walls and the municipal
their trade. “It’s just the same as being a baker During a major restoration effor
or shoemaker—you say what you did, and you’re in 2000, German Archaeologica
researcher Heinz Beste spent fou
umenting the stonework under
He revealed traces of an ingeni

58 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

s, researchers of platforms, elevators, winches, and ramps, BLOOD SPORT OF
borhood built manned by hundreds of stage technicians and
uvenir shops, animal handlers. Through dozens of trapdoors The Roman elite staged gladiatorial games both to display the
ld grab a bite in the arena floor, handlers could release ani-
mals directly into the ring for staged hunts, WEAPONS AND
d something called venationes, that typically served as the EQUIPMENT
dus, a short appetizer for gladiator fights. Elaborate, painted
Carnuntum’s sets would lift straight out of the arena floor, and Roman soldiers and gladiators
nts, Pollham- elevators might have popped gladiators directly fought to win and survive,
been dozens into the ring. “Spectators didn’t know what but the battles they fought
e bankrolled would open when, or where,” Beste says. had different purposes. Their
es and often equipment reflected that.
me of whom The system, found on a simpler scale at dozens
at least four of provincial amphitheaters across the empire, Gladiator Roman
Rome, part of epitomized the draw of the games. From animal 15-45 lb legionary
e shadow of hunts to gladiator fights, everything about the
ur feet hides events was calculated to keep fans on the edge 55 lb
und. of their stone seats. Suspense, not brutality, was
ers identified the lifeblood of the games. Gladiators typically
hat could be fought one-on-one
It may have To ensure exciting contests, fighting styles
old Austrian were carefully balanced. A nimble, near-naked in roughly 10- to
en yard is an fighter armed with only a net, trident, and small 15-minute bouts.
ith rooms or knife might face off against a lumbering warrior Armor—or the lack
s of the facil- wearing 45 pounds of protective gear. The rare
n baths, with appearance of sword-wielding women, recorded of it—made the
old pools. At in historical accounts and a stone relief, would combat more thrill-
aining arena, have been a thrill for Romans, who thought
0 or 75 gladi- women belonged at home. ing and outcomes
s. “There’s a less predictable.
cles.” Experienced gladiators were matched against
other veterans, leaving new recruits to fight each Many gladiators
evote such other. The longer your career, the better your wore greaves to
fans coming chances of survival, as each experienced glad- protect their legs.
x centuries? iator represented years of investment. “There The length varied,
um in Rome are hours and man-years going through all the depending on the
rena, there’s fencing moves, building up the musculature, size of their shield.
0 feet below training for speed, strength, and endurance,”
ur part of the says Jon Coulston, an archaeologist at the Uni- Hoplomachus
ck staircases, versity of St. Andrews. “Like modern football, it This type of
becomes a hugely capital-intensive enterprise.”
t that began gladiator car-
al Institute Renting gladiators was a “you break it, you ried a long spear
r years doc- buy it” type of arrangement. If a fighter was and round shield
r the arena. killed, whether intentionally or not, the spon-
ous system sor of the fight paid full price to the gladiator’s similar to the
owner. “These people were so valuable because classical Greek
they were so highly trained. You don’t want to
squander that,” says NYU’s Welch. “Out of 10 infantry’s.
pairs, there would be one death, possibly two.”
GLADIATORIAL PROGRAM MORNING Venationes
As amphitheaters proliferated across the empire
and political hopefuls spent lavishly on specta- The most lavish Pompa Animals were hunted
cles, the costs of gladiatorial games spiraled out spectacles were A procession of partici- or pitted against other
of control. By the second century A.D., the pres- in the Colosseum. pants as well as political beasts or fighters.
sure to put on ever more impressive events made and religious figures
the games prohibitively expensive, threatening
their existence. A massive (Continued on page 71)

A N C I E N T R O M E ’ S F I G H T C L U B 59

CENTURIES OF SPECTACLE Originally part of elite funerals, gladiatorial contests grew into extravagant events.
Arenas and amphitheaters became integral to social and political life, with gladiators at
center stage, employing distinct fighting styles and weapons to maximize the spectacle.

ROMAN FORUM, mid to late first century B.C. 100 Top view POMPEII, first century A.D. 22,000
yards
During the Republican era, most contests took place 10,000 As the games’ popularity grew, stone amphitheaters 73 yd spectators
in wooden structures temporarily erected in the like this one in Pompeii were built across the empire.
Roman Forum, the city’s civic center. Combatants 73 yd spectators Gladiators became more specialized, their gear more
often were outfitted to evoke the empire’s enemies. elaborate, and their training more structured.

American Point Shields were used
football field of view in defense and as

weapons. During gladiatorial The velarium, or
games, only one pair extendable awning,
would fight at a time. provided shade.

Temple of Basilica
Castor and Pollux Julia

The gladius, a
Roman infan-
try sword, was
used to thrust
at opponents.
(Actual size
shown below)

Fighters bearing weapons Provocator 31-33 lb equipment weight Referees, sometimes working Murmillo 35-40 lb Musicians played during
and armor of various in pairs, used rods to enforce the opening procession, as
weights met in the ring. Unlike other types of gladiators, provocatores— rules, which remain unknown. This type of gladiator, perhaps named for a fish well as during the games.
or “challengers”—wore metal breastplates and that decorated his helmet, fought gladiators
Light Medium Heavy usually fought members of their own category. such as the Thraex (right) and the hoplomachus. Thraex 35-40 lb
Armed with a short shield and a curved sword
called a sica, the gladiators modeled on Thra-
cian warriors were known to be especially swift.

COMBAT IN THE ARENA 264 B.C. 216 B.C. 200 B.C. 183 B.C. 174 B.C. 70 B.C. 65 B.C. 27 B.C. to A.D. 14
First recorded 120 74 Reign of Augustus
Selection of recorded contests First known in Amphitheater Julius Caesar’s 10,000 (several games)

in Rome the Roman Forum built at Pompeii games A.D. 1

Number of gladiators 6 44 50 640

300 B.C. 200 100

COLOSSEUM, second century A.D. 87 yd 50,000+ Women,
spectators slaves, and
The contests reached their peak—in cost, size, foreigners
and scope—after the construction of the Colos-
seum, a monumental architectural feat that set Roman
the standard for future Roman amphitheaters. citizens

Stones A galerus, or shoul-
der guard, gave
Sometimes one retiarius would partial protection to
take on two secutores. A plat- the head and neck.

form with stones to hurl Roman
evened the odds. citizens

A gladiator indicated Records of gladiatri-
surrender by extend- ces are limited; only
ing an index finger. one image of their
combat survives.

Nets more than Other
six feet tall pro- elites
tected spectators
from the action Senators
in the arena. and vestal
priestesses

Secutor 35-40 lb Retiarius 15-18 lb Gladiatrix 35-40 lb Eques 22-26 lb
Quick and nimble, the retiarius fought with a
The secutor donned a smooth helmet with trident, weighted net, and dagger. His only Though the vast majority of gladiators were These horsemen began their bouts on
small eyeholes to protect against the retiarius’s defense was an arm and shoulder guard. men, particularly lavish games might have horseback with a spear, then dismounted
trident and avoid being ensnared in his net. featured a rare bout with female combatants. to finish the fight on foot with a sword.
200
A.D. 80 A.D. 98 to 117 A.D. 248 A.D. 281 A.D. 325 A.D. 404
Flavian Amphitheater Reign of Trajan, the peak 2,000 600 Constantine bans Honorius bans
(Colosseum) dedicated of gladiatorial spectacles sentencing criminals
to gladiatorial schools. gladiatorial
20,000 (several games) combat.
300
100 400

THE ANCIENTS ASSEMBLY HALL BATH COMPLEX

empire’s dominance and to vie for power and influence. This large room may Four interconnected
have served as a
multipurpose gath- rooms made up the bath
ering space with long
tables and chairs. complex, which helped

gladiators recover from Apodyterium

their rigorous training. (changing room)

Storage
room

Roman Face guard
legionary
Murmillo
4.5 lb 9 lb

.04 in Thickness .08 in

Soldiers and glad- TRAINING ARENA
iators wore richly Viewing stands
decorated helmets, enclosed an arena
but the gladiators’ where instruction and
provided more pro- practice could be seen
tection for the face, by a fighter’s owner and
making them heavier potential investors.
and limiting vision
and hearing. LIVING QUARTERS
Two wings of the school
Armguards made held rooms of varying
of textiles often size and ornamentation
were covered with that housed up to 75
metal plates or gladiators and trainers.
scales for added
protection. FERNANDO G. BAPTISTA, TAYLOR MAGGIACOMO,
AND RACHEL HARTIGAN, NGM STAFF; AMANDA
Thraex HOBBS; ROCÍO ESPÍN PIÑAR
SOURCES: JON COULSTON, UNIVERSITY OF ST.
AFTERNOON Munera ANDREWS; HAZEL DODGE, TRINITY COLLEGE CARE A
Combat between DUBLIN; ALISON FUTRELL, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA;
Meridiani gladiators selected ALAIN GENOT, MUSÉE DÉPARTEMENTAL ARLES Gladiato
The midday execu- to heighten drama ANTIQUE; KATHERINE E. WELCH, NEW YORK regular
tions of criminals UNIVERSITY. CARNUNTUM: KLAUS LÖCKER, LUDWIG high in b
in the arena BOLTZMANN INSTITUTE; EDUARD POLLHAMMER, were ma
ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK CARNUNTUM

A GLADIATOR’S CAREER

ASSIGNMENT AND TRAINING
A new arrival, or novicus, was
assigned a specialty and trained
with double-weight wooden swords
and shields against wooden posts.

Frigidarium Tepidarium Caldarium TRAINING ROOM ADMINISTRATION
(cold bath) (warm room) (hot bath)
A hypocaust—the Roman The owner, or lanista, lived and
system for under-floor worked in the buildings at the
heating—would have school’s entrance. He had the power
allowed training to con- of life and death over the gladiators,
tinue in the winter months. who had no rights under Roman law.

Fire Subfloor
Hot air

Furnace to Additional
heat water training arena
and rooms
The main gate
controlled access
into the school.

FIGHT SCHOOL

Across the empire, schools known as ludi trained prisoners of war,
criminals, volunteers, and enslaved people to be professional gladiators.
A recently discovered ludus at Carnuntum, a Roman city and military
base in eastern Austria, reveals how gladiators lived and trained.

ND COMFORT COMBAT Pompeii INJURY AND DEATH
graffiti
ors were kept healthy with Protecting their investments, own- Injuries were common, but most
medical care and a diet ers limited gladiators to a few fights weren’t lethal. Even so, many gladi-
barley and beans. Some each year. Fighting style and skill ators died young. Only skilled or espe-
arried and had families. level determined arena pairings. cially lucky fighters had long careers.



Mixed martial arts
fighter Conor McGregor
is extremely fit, highly
trained, and idolized
by enthusiastic fans—
much like the gladiators
that Chris Vernel (facing
page) and his fellow
reenactors in France
seek to portray.

MIKE ROACH, ZUFFA LLC VIA GETTY
IMAGES (MCGREGOR)

70 N A T I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

Gladiators surrounded bronze tablet discovered more than a century ago
by horn players and in the ruins of Italica, a Roman town on the out-
cheering fans clash skirts of modern-day Seville, Spain, reveals how
below a staff-wielding Romans tried to get things back under control.
referee. Carved in
the first century on a Known as the Tabula Gladiatoria, it’s inscribed
gemstone the size of with a decree issued in A.D. 177 that limited what
a thumbnail, the scene sponsors could spend on games. It even includes
captures the spectacle a detailed table of fees. A gladiator “of the high-
of the ancient games. est and best-looking grade” could earn up to
15,000 sesterces, more than enough to pay the
ANTIKENSAMMLUNG, STAATLICHE annual wages of a typical Roman soldier. Up to
MUSEEN ZU BERLIN a quarter of that sum went to the gladiator—and
was payable in advance.
ACTUAL SIZE
D E AT H WA S U N C O M M O N , but it was still an ever
present risk, either in the ring or as a result of
infections afterward. Audiences appreciated and
rewarded the extra expense a dead gladiator rep-
resented. One Roman writer describes a partic-
ularly expensive show thrown by a young noble
who recently had inherited a fortune. A stagger-
ing 400,000 sesterces bought him “the best steel,
no running away, with the butchery done in the
middle so the whole amphitheater can see.”

It’s easy to dismiss such sentiments as a thing
of the distant past, and the Romans as funda-
mentally different from us. This was, after all, a
civilization that built one of the largest empires
the world had ever known using relentless mil-
itary force to subdue all its neighbors.

But that would be letting ourselves off the
hook too easily. When it comes to a taste for vio-
lent spectacle, we’re closer to the Romans than
we like to imagine. The most popular sport in the
United States is football, which regularly leaves
players too seriously injured to walk off the field.

Meanwhile, athletes who engage in violent
sports—from football to boxing to mixed martial
arts—are idolized as exemplars of discipline,
toughness, and grit. Their bouts attract millions
of spectators, even as the long-lasting damage
to athletes has become widely known.

“Life isn’t Candy Land and puppies. Life is hard.
We need to yell, to cry, to scream about some-
thing,” Ducros says. “We need to see a little bit of
violence to externalize the violence we feel inside.
We can’t judge the Romans for organizing that.” j

Berlin-based Andrew Curry wrote about the first
Europeans for the August 2019 issue. Rémi Bénali
lives near Arles, France, where he photographed a
Roman boat for the April 2014 magazine. National
Geographic senior artist Fernando G. Baptista
specializes in reconstructing the past.

A N C I E N T R O M E ’ S F I G H T C L U B 71

The eggs of a
female sun glass frog
(Hyalinobatrachium
aureoguttatum)
are visible through
her stomach. This
image was taken in
a mobile studio.

Glass frogs, the tiny,
translucent amphibians of
Central and South America,
are full of surprises.

Perfectly

BY ANGELA
P O S A DA- S WA F F O R D
PHOTOGRAPHS BY
JAIME CULEBRAS

Clear

73



A male reticulated glass
frog (Hyalinobatrachium
valerioi) hangs upside
down on a leaf next to
its eggs in Costa Rica’s
Caribbean rainforest.
One theory suggests
that the spotted
pattern on the frog’s
back mimics the eggs,
confusing predators.

On a moonless This newly discovered
summer night in glass frog in the
Ecuador’s Andean Hyalinobatrachium
foothills, a tiny genus measures less
bachelor glass than an inch long.
The amphibian is
frog sits on a unique because
leaf overhanging of its high-pitched
whistle and the black
a stream. dots covering its
body, which could
H E H A S C H O S E N the best real estate to try to act as camouflage
impress a female, advertising his presence with in its rainforest
a high-pitched call. environment.

The problem is that location alone isn’t going
to cut it. The yellowish green amphibian has
been watching what mated male frogs do, so
when he spots an abandoned clutch of eggs, he
stays next to it for hours, pretending to guard
it. Then a remarkable thing happens: He begins
to attract female voyeurs, who apparently are
tricked into thinking he’s an experienced father.

“It is the first time we report such behavior for
frogs and toads,” says Anyelet Valencia-Aguilar,
a behavioral ecologist at Switzerland’s University
of Bern. She has recorded what appears to be
male deception in one glass frog species in Brazil

76 N A T I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

and believes that the same may be happening in important, a never-ending, job,” he says. “These
at least two species in Ecuador. tiny wonders keep surprising us.”

Valencia-Aguilar’s research is one of several S C I E N T I ST S H AV E D I S C OV E R E D, for example, that
new findings about the biology of these alluring male glass frogs in some species are stellar par-
amphibians, named for their translucent skin. ents—a rare trait among vertebrates. Males of at
least 24 species not only protect their eggs from
There are 156 known species of glass frogs predators but also actively care for them—some-
living throughout the neotropics, mainly in the times for weeks.
northern Andes and Central America. Recent
advancements in optics, genetics, and molecular After the female deposits her clutch of 20 to
biology are giving researchers a revealing look more than 100 eggs, depending on the species,
into the lives of these tiny tree dwellers, some of the male fertilizes them with his sperm. While
which are smaller than a paper clip. the embryos develop, males of some species,
such as the sun glass frog (Hyalinobatrachium
Juan Manuel Guayasamin, an evolutionary aureoguttatum) and the northern glass frog
biologist at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in (Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni), sit atop
Ecuador, has described 56 species of amphibians
in recent years, including 14 glass frogs. “It’s an

P E R F E C T LY C L E A R 77

Embryos of the
Wiley’s glass frog
(Nymphargus wileyi),
endemic to Ecuador’s
western Andes,
hang from the tip
of a fern leaf. When
the eggs hatch into
tadpoles, they’ll
fall into the stream
below to continue
their development.



An arachnid eats
eggs of the emerald
glass frog (Espadarana
prosoblepon) in north-
western Ecuador’s Río
Manduriacu Reserve.
Parents of this species
do not care for their
young, leaving the eggs
vulnerable to predation.



The Manduriacu glass
frog (Nymphargus
manduriacu) was scien-
tifically described just
a few years ago. The
rare yellow-spotted
frog is an opportunistic
hunter, waiting until
its prey—a small insect
or spider—walks by,
and then pouncing.



their egg clutch “like a chicken,” keeping the
eggs hydrated until they hatch into tadpoles,
says Jesse Delia, a biologist at the American
Museum of Natural History in New York City.

“The father searches for dew on leaves, sucks
it up into his urinary bladder through a highly
vascularized region of the belly, and then trans-
ports it to the babies,” he says. “We don’t know
if they transfer water via pee or through their
belly skin.”

Some 25 million to 35 million years ago, when
the first glass frogs evolved, mothers likely did
all the work, Delia says. Then, about eight mil-
lion to 25 million years ago, some males took
over parenting, though why is a mystery.

“Every time it switched to fathers, care got
longer and behaviorally more diverse compared
to females, who abandon eggs well before they
are ready to hatch,” he says—perhaps because
females were focused on making more eggs for
their next clutch.

M E A N W H I L E , N E W R E S E A RC H is shedding light A female Magdalena
on how the glass frog’s fabled see-through belly giant glass frog (Ikakogi
forms. Carlos Taboada, a biologist at Duke Uni- tayrona) covers her
versity in North Carolina who works with Delia, eggs in the Sierra
suspects that young glass frogs physically re- Nevada de Santa Marta
arrange the insides of their cells and tissues to region of northeastern
become transparent adults. Colombia. This one-
inch-long species is
“It’s not just skin and its lack of pigments. unusual in that mothers
You need transparent muscles and internal care for their embryos.
structures that scatter light in as few angles as
possible,” Taboada says. Fluid between the
tissue cells also may contain a substance that
allows light to travel in a straight trajectory,
reducing opacity, he says.

Taboada is studying another mechanism that
may allow glass frogs to blend into the green
leaves on which they doze during the day.

He calls it “a biological mirror: a kind of
shield or covering of crystals in many of their
tissues which reflects up to 50 percent of the
light that normally reaches them. Those crys-
tals amplify the [light] signal, and the frog’s
green looks brighter.”

The glass frog’s transparency has another ben-
efit: It disguises its familiar shape to would-be
predators, such as birds, spiders, and snakes.

“We call this type of camouflage edge dif-
fusion,” says Justin Yeager, an evolutionary
biologist at Universidad de las Américas in
Quito. “We made accurate replicas of these frogs
out of gelatin, some of them really opaque and

84 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

some of them really translucent. And it turns out “As soon as they are discovered, many species
the opaque ones get eaten more.” are declared endangered,” Guayasamin says.

M A N Y S C I E N T I ST S ST U DY I N G glass frogs are Yet there could be an advantage in conserv-
motivated by the fact that some of their subjects ing such isolated populations, he says. He hopes
are disappearing—and fast. that governments, private companies, and non-
profits could be inspired to work together to set
Agriculture, cattle grazing, and mining aside these frog-rich patches of land as reserves,
projects in the Andes are taking over the frogs’ ensuring that these delicate creatures have a
already fractured forest homes. The ranges of solid chance at survival.
some species, such as the Manduriacu glass
frog (Nymphargus manduriacu), are down to “Ranas de cristal is how they are called in
a single river basin. Spanish,” Guayasamin says, “which is great,
because it conjures fragility and beauty in one.” j
The International Union for Conservation
of Nature lists 10 glass frog species as critically Angela Posada-Swafford is a Colombian American
endangered, 28 as endangered, and 21 as vulner- journalist based in Miami Beach, Florida. Jaime
able to extinction. Culebras is based in Ecuador; his photography
highlights at-risk reptile and amphibian species.

P E R F E C T LY C L E A R 85

86

America’s
Hunger Crisis

THE PANDEMIC LEFT RECORD NUMBERS OF PEOPLE
W I T H O U T E N O U G H F O O D. F O R M A N Y, C H A R I T I E S
AND NEIGHBORS HAVE BECOME LIFELINES.

BY C AS SA NDRA SP RATLING

Houston, Tex.

Meals
for the
‘forgotten’

Kimberline Rivas (at
right) and Lawrence

Walker, members
of the Lucille’s 1913
kitchen staff, prepare
meals to be distrib-
uted for free across
Houston. Lucille’s 1913
is a nonprofit run by
Chris Williams, owner
of the popular restau-
rant Lucille’s. Williams
targets “forgotten
people” in retirement
facilities and other
places. Lucille’s 1913
now serves up to 800
meals a day for those
in need. Neighbor-
hoods receiving meals
include one where
Williams’s extended

family resides.

GRAHAM DICKIE

PREVIOUS PHOTO

Queens, N.Y.

María Quinteres, 84,
wearing an American
flag face mask, waits

with hundreds of
others at Latinos
Unidos, a group that
hands out free food
boxes each Friday.
Food insecurity may
have affected about
45 million Americans
in 2020, according
to Feeding America,

the country’s
largest hunger-
relief organization.

NATALIE KEYSSAR

A M E R I C A’ S H U N G E R C R I S I S 89

Maysel, W. Va.

School and
friends help

ease the
burden

Autumn (at left) and
Sydney King unpack

food sent home
with them from Clay

Elementary School
as their mother,

Jennifer, reviews their
homework. Jennifer
attended the school
and had the same

speech therapist as her
daughters. The thera-

pist, Kathi Linkinogger,
often drops off food for
the Kings, and Jennifer

considers her “practi-
cally like family.” The
Kings do not have a car
and rely on others for

rides to a grocery
store. With a two-

million-dollar
federal grant, the

school district is
developing innovative

ways to encourage
self-resilience and
confidence, to equip
students to handle
life’s challenges. It has
designed a curriculum
that teaches skills
such as cooking basic

meals, growing
vegetables, and house-

hold budgeting.

MADDIE MCGARVEY

A M E R I C A’ S H U N G E R C R I S I S 91

It’s early for most people. dunlow, w. va.
5:30 a.m. But not for Bessie
Brooks, who’s heading out A long wait
her door to help get food at the local
to people who need it in food pantry
Lowndes County, Alabama.

To hear her tell it, though, that’s not early at
all. “When I was working, I’d be at my patient’s
house by 5 a.m.,” Mrs. Brooks says.

Journalistic standards suggest I call her by
her last name, Brooks. My manners suggest
otherwise. I respect her by adding Mrs., as I was
raised to do by my mother, who spent part of her
growing-up years in Lowndes County. Mrs.
Brooks is 87, after all. She worked 30 years as
a home health worker for the county. The job
required her to give personal care: Get them
up, bathed, brush their teeth, give them their
meds. But Bessie Brooks went beyond that and
did whatever needed doing.

“I don’t see no sense in a person getting up
and bathed, and they hungry,” she says.

So she’d cook for her patients and clean house.
If they didn’t have running water, she’d fetch
some from a neighboring home. Running water
wasn’t a given in every house in Lowndes County,
which Feeding America, the nation’s leading
organization of food banks, identified as the 16th

92 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

Willard Marcum, grandchildren. He picks number of families
a veteran firefighter, up food for them and served by the food
drives the 725th and for elderly neighbors pantry grew from
final vehicle through who don’t have cars. 300 in 2019 to 900 in
the Dunlow Community November 2020, its
Center food pantry in Bill Likens, who busiest month because
Dunlow, West Virginia, opened the food pan- of pandemic-related
nearly 12 hours after try in 2003, has seen job losses and height-
the first volunteers the local need increase ened food insecurity
arrived that morning. since several pantries around the holidays.
Laid off from his coal in neighboring towns Volunteers provide
mining job in 2019, Mar- closed, leading many each family with about
cum now works up to people to travel 130 pounds of food
90 hours a week to sup- to Dunlow and even and other necessities.
port his wife and seven spend the night in
line in their cars. The MADDIE MCGARVEY



Clay County, W. Va.

Relying on
nature to
get by

LEFT

Alex McBee (at left),
Jen Lively, and Chris
Lively hold their dogs
outside their home in
Clay County. They live
miles from the nearest
grocery store and
have been receiving
deliveries of food from
Amanda Shelton, a
teacher at Clay County
High School, since
the beginning of the
pandemic. “If it wasn’t
for them,” Chris says,
“we’d probably starve.”

TOP RIGHT

Chris searches for roots
on a hillside near his
home. He met his wife,
Jen, when they were
in junior high in Ohio.
They’ve lived in West
Virginia since 2016;
selling roots that they
find is their only source
of income.

BOTTOM RIGHT

Brian Lively, 18, helps
his parents dig for wild
roots such as black
cohosh, bloodroot, and
ginseng during warm
seasons when he’s not
in school. The roots,
when dried, are sold
for use in homeopathic
medicines. It’s grueling
work, and Brian takes
pride in it. “It’s hard to
take help from some-
one else when you
could do it yourself,”
he says.

MADDIE MCGARVEY

A M E R I C A’ S H U N G E R C R I S I S 95

most food insecure county in the United States in and early childhood programs.
2020. Almost a third—29.5 percent—of the people The paradox is that rural residents often live
in Lowndes County do not have sufficient food.
in areas where the very food they need is grow-
Record numbers of Americans needed more ing. “So if you’re in a land of plenty, why would
food in 2020, reversing what had been a down- you, if you’re driving past fields of food, why
ward trend. One in seven people in the U.S. may would you have food insecurity?” Henchy asks.
have been food insecure, meaning a lack of access “It seems counterintuitive,” she says, “but the
to sufficient, nutritious food. The numbers are thing is that because of the ways that the sup-
only slightly better this year, according to projec- ply chain works for food, the people who live in
tions released in March. Feeding America expects areas that produce food, generally speaking, are
42 million people—one in eight Americans—to not having access to that food.”
experience food insecurity in 2021. That includes
13 million children, or one in six, who may be Lowndes County, AL: Aiding those in need
short of food this year. The sorrowful images
of rows of cars lined up for food across the U.S. IT’S IN A STRETCH of Alabama once known
during the pandemic illuminated a long-standing as the black belt because of the rich soil that
problem, one that the coronavirus didn’t create delivered an abundance of cotton and other
but made worse, says Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, crops, tended by enslaved labor. Now Lowndes
Feeding America’s chief executive officer. County is part of a region people think of as the
black belt because of the number of Black people
“I think there’s a heightened awareness that who live there.
hunger was here to begin with,” she says. “For so
long, people in America didn’t think that Amer- Snow Hill Christian Church is one of the main
ica has a hunger problem.” places people here turn to for help to put food
on the table when cupboards run low. It was
Babineaux-Fontenot hopes renewed attention that way long before COVID-19 coursed through
to food insecurity puts to rest the fallacy that America’s veins, shuttering businesses, closing
those who line up for food giveaways are either schools, and landing people in food lines.
lazy or unwilling to work. “It’s never been true,”
she says. “So many people who turn to us for “There were already a lot of people who didn’t
help are working-class people who have jobs. know where their next meal was coming from, so
Some of them have more than one. They’re the pandemic didn’t do us any favors,” says the
working really, really hard. They work as hard Reverend Dale Braxton, Sr., pastor of the place
as anyone else works, if not harder than most known as “the little friendly church on the hill.”
people do. And they still can’t make ends meet.”
Mrs. Brooks retired in 1998, but she didn’t retire
Food insecurity is especially high in rural from helping others. She is one of the key peo-
America, according to reports from Feeding ple Braxton counts on to help distribute food to
America and the Food Research and Action those who need it. While she used to go it alone—
Center, a nonprofit dedicated to ending organizing and packaging food for people in
poverty-related hunger and undernutrition. need—she now depends on one of her five chil-
Some 16.5 percent of rural households with chil- dren to drive her to the church, where volunteers
dren faced food insecurity in 2018, compared with pack her car with food, and her daughter drives
13.5 percent of households in metropolitan areas, her to homes of those she knows need food.
according to a FRAC report. The differences are
attributed to higher rates of poverty related to “She’s short in stature but a giant when it
fewer and lower-paying jobs, longer distances comes to giving,” says Braxton, who leads the
to travel to get to large grocery stores with rea- food distribution efforts in the county of 9,726
sonably priced and plentiful foods, lack of trans- people, more than a quarter of them (26.6 per-
portation, cost of gas, weather, and often greater cent) living in poverty, according to the U.S.
challenges accessing federal nutrition programs. Census Bureau. A May 2020 report said Lown-
des had the state’s highest unemployment rate
“Less employment, lower income, transporta- and its highest COVID-19 infection rate. As of
tion issues, lack of access to healthy, affordable this May, the county led the state in COVID-19
food without having to go a long distance, that vaccinations; more than half of eligible people
pushes more people into food insecurity,” says had received at least one dose.
Geri Henchy, FRAC’s director of nutrition policy
Braxton, who has managed food distribution

96 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

through the Montgomery Area Food Bank for at The jump in
least 30 years, didn’t think twice when he was Americans
asked to distribute weekly food boxes delivered who didn’t
from June through December, a part of the U.S. have access
Agriculture Department’s Farmers to Families to enough
program. “It is our mission to feed the hungry, food in
clothe the naked,” Braxton says. “I don’t want 2020 reversed
anybody to be hungry. I’ve always had a passion what had been
to seeing that people, especially children, are a downward
well fed as well as well educated.” trend.

Neither is easy in Lowndes County, where Hunger rises again
people have to drive up to 30 miles to a city U.S. food insecurity declined consis-
such as Selma or Montgomery to shop at a major tently in the decade after the Great
grocery store. Recession of 2007-09. By 2019, it had
reached its lowest point in more than
“We’re a very poor county,” Braxton says. a decade. But then the pandemic
For Ritha Luckie, 61, a single parent who cares upset this progress.
for two adult children with special needs, the food People in the U.S. living
boxes have been a great help. In March 2020, the in food-insecure households
pandemic closed the adult day-care center her 50 million
sons attended five days a week while she worked
as a lab assistant in a health clinic. A van used to 25
pick her sons up before she went to work. Once
the center closed, she had to pay someone to SOURCES: USDA (2000-2019); FEEDING AMERICA (2020-2021)
come to her home before she could go to work.
That’s when she started getting the food boxes. 97
Both sons receive disability payments, but those 2000
aren’t enough to keep two grown men fed. “It’s 2010
been a blessing for me, and I know it’s been a 2020
blessing for a whole lot of people around here,”
Luckie says. Usually the boxes contain milk, PROJECTED
juice, and fresh fruits and vegetables, includ-
ing a big bag of white potatoes. “I can do a lot
with a bag of potatoes,” she says. “I can make hash
browns, mashed potatoes, and boiled potatoes. I
know how to make it stretch.”
Across the U.S., free grocery stores and com-
munity refrigerators are filling a void. Doctors
and nurse practitioners are writing prescriptions
for healthy food, and prominent chefs are priori-
tizing serving the community over profit. Volun-
teers and entrepreneurs are feeding the hungry.

Los Angeles, CA: Help for immigrants

JUAN MARTÍNEZ, 5 0, who came to the U.S.
from Mexico in 1998, worked two full-time jobs to
help support his wife, Elizabeth, and their three
sons, ages 17, 15, and eight. He’d work 10 a.m. to
4 p.m., five days a week, at one restaurant. Then
he’d go directly to the other, working 4:30 p.m.
to 11:30 p.m., six days a week. Most weekdays it
was well past midnight before he’d get home.
At the restaurants he’d do whatever needed to

Where hunger WA S H I N G T O N
spiked in the U.S.
M O N TA N A

When COVID-19 hit, many in the United OREGON
States already on the verge of food insecu-
rity were plunged into even deeper crisis. IDAHO
According to the hunger-relief organization
Feeding America, an estimated 45 million N E VA D A U TA H WYOMING
people may have lacked sufficient access
to food in 2020. The pandemic—erasing CALIFORNIA COLORADO
years of gains in the battle against hunger—
appears to have caused food insecurity NEW
to rise in nearly every U.S. county. MEXICO

Food insecurity is defined by the U.S. Depart- Clark Co., NV
ment of Agriculture as a lack of consistent
access to enough food for a healthy life. (Las Vegas)
18.3%
+6.5%

Food-insecurity Change in food- ARIZONA
rate projected insecurity rate,
for 2020* 2019 to 2020*

29.6% (max.) +8% Los Angeles County, CA
25% 1.6 million food-insecure people
+4% Percentage (Highest number for U.S. county)
20% +2% point
15% increase 16.2% food insecurity rate (2020*)
+5.5% change in rate (2019 to 2020*)
10% +1%

4.2% (min.) No significant change

Maui County, HI Presidio County, TX
Highest increase in rate Second highest rate
19.1% +8.8%
29.4% +5.2%

ALASKA AND ALASKA HAWAII Troubled tourism sector
HAWAII NOT Projected food insecurity spiked in
TO SCALE places that rely heavily on service
and tourism industries, such as Hawaii;
Las Vegas, NV; and Atlantic City, NJ.

Unequal access People in food-insecure households, 2019

Communities of color were at a dis- Native Food insecure
proportionately higher risk of food American 1 in 4 people
insecurity well before COVID-19,
and the pandemic has exacerbated Black 1 in 5 FOOD-INSECURITY RATES BY
long-standing inequities linked to (Non-Hispanic) RACE OR ETHNICITY ARE NOT
factors including discrimination and YET AVAILABLE FOR 2020.
systemic racism. Of the 25 counties
with the highest projected food- Latino/Hispanic 1 in 6
insecurity rates for 2020, 68 percent
had majority Black, Latino, or Native White 1 in 12
American populations—even though (Non-Hispanic)
only 12 percent of U.S. counties have
a majority nonwhite population. All people 1 in 9

*THE FOOD-INSECURITY RATE FOR 2020 IS PROJECTED BASED ON AN ANNUAL
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE OF 9.2 PERCENT AND A POVERTY RATE OF 11.1 PERCENT.

Oglala Lakota Co., SD Steele County, ND South Dakota disparities
Third highest rate Lowest rate Nine of its counties, including
29.3% +1.6% 4.2% +1.3% Oglala Lakota, have majority
Native American populations
and projected food-insecurity MAINE
rates above 20 percent.
NORTH
DA K O TA VT. N.H.

SOUTH M I N N E S O TA
DA K O TA
WISCONSIN NEW YORK MASSACHUSETTS

MICHIGAN RHODE ISLAND
CONNECTICUT

P E N N S Y LVA N I A NEW JERSEY

I OWA

NEBRASKA OHIO DEL. Atlantic County, NJ
KANSAS MD. (Atlantic City)
OKLAHOMA ILLINOIS INDIANA D.C. 18.0% +7.4%
MISSOURI
W. VA. VIRGINIA

KENTUCKY

NORTH
CAROLINA

TENNESSEE

ARKANSAS ALABAMA SOUTH Harlan County, KY
MISS. CAROLINA Fourth highest rate
29.1% +2.5%
GEORGIA

TEXAS Appalachian hardship
Seven of the 15 most food-
LOUISIANA FLORIDA insecure counties have a
majority white, non-Hispanic
Holmes County, MS population. All seven of the
Highest rate counties are in Kentucky.
29.6% +3.4%
PROJECTED FOOD-INSECURITY
Severe southern rates RATES ARE UNAVAILABLE FOR
Southern states historically have had PUERTO RICO AND OTHER U.S.
high levels of hunger. Mississippi, Arkansas, TERRITORIES. FEEDING AMERICA
Alabama, and Louisiana had the highest ESTIMATES THAT FOOD-INSECURITY
rates of food insecurity in 2019 and 2020. RATES IN 2020 WERE LIKELY HIGHER
IN PUERTO RICO THAN ELSEWHERE
IN THE UNITED STATES.

Drivers of insecurity Unemployment Poverty Food Insecurity
13.9
Unemployment and poverty have U.S. average annual rates (percent) 12.9
a substantial effect on the risk of
household hunger. One job loss or 12.0 10.9
one health-care bill can drive a family 10.5 11.1
with low income into poverty and 99
make groceries unaffordable. At the 9.2
start of the pandemic, four in 10 people
visiting food banks were there for the 6.7
first time. Food insecurity is expected
to decline in 2021—and rates could drop 3.7 PROJECTED PROJECTED PROJECTED
even further than expected if economic
conditions continue to improve—but 2019 2019 2019
a slow recovery is likely. 2020 2020 2020
2021 2021 2021

RILEY D. CHAMPINE AND IRENE BERMAN-VAPORIS, NGM STAFF. SOURCES: MONICA HAKE, EMILY ENGELHARD,
AND ZUANI VILLARREAL, FEEDING AMERICA; “HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN THE UNITED STATES IN 2019,” USDA

100 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

DETROIT, Mich.

Community
kitchen
solutions

LEFT

Chef Ederique Goudia
stands in the kitchen at
the Jefferson Avenue
Presbyterian Church.
Goudia uses rescued
food donated to the
Make Food Not Waste
organization to create
healthy meals each
week for local commu-
nity members.

RIGHT

The Detroit Commu-
nity Fridge on the city’s
east side was founded
by two Wayne State
University students
in August 2020 and
gives people access to
free fresh and frozen
foods and other nec-
essary supplies such
as diapers, feminine
products, and clothes.
Additional fridges are
planned across Detroit
this year.

SYLVIA JARRUS

102 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

Queens, N.Y.

Many
helping
hands

On Tuesday mornings,
CENTI Queens, a
church and community
organization, passes
out free groceries
to those in need.
Volunteers create an
assembly line for food
distribution as the
trucks arrive. Many
people who pick up
groceries say they
lost jobs because of
COVID-19 and are
struggling to feed
their families. People
start lining up at
about 9 a.m., and the
food is distributed
around noon.

NATALIE KEYSSAR

The National
Geographic Society,
committed to illuminat-
ing and protecting the
wonder of our world,
funded Natalie Keyssar’s
storytelling about faith
in the American South
in 2020-21.

ILLUSTRATION BY JOE MCKENDRY

be done: wash dishes, take food to tables, do 30 eggs, six pounds of beans, six pounds of rice, a
janitorial work. variety of fruits and vegetables, and tortillas made
from organic, non-genetically modified corn from
When the pandemic hit and closed both a local company called Kernel of Truth Organics.
restaurants, he went from working up to 70
hours a week to none. The pandemic has been “It’s a huge, huge help. It feeds me and my
especially devastating to undocumented work- family,” says Martínez. “I can’t imagine what life
ers such as Martínez because although they pay would be like without this program.”
taxes, they were ineligible for stimulus checks,
food stamps, and unemployment compensa- Not everyone celebrates No Us Without You
tion. Martínez doesn’t know how he’d have fed LA. Nolasco says the nonprofit group occasion-
his family without No Us Without You LA. The ally gets hate emails or calls from people opposed
initiative was launched in March 2020, when to undocumented workers getting assistance.
the nation’s economy came to a screeching halt, Such backlash pains the group and those it helps.
closing restaurants nationwide and leaving mil- Merced Sánchez, a 59-year-old licensed street
lions without work. vendor who came to the U.S. from Mexico in
2001, calls the volunteers “professional servants
“No Us Without You LA was born out of frus- for the community.” She and her husband, José,
tration and anger,” co-founder Othón Nolasco both worked two jobs before the pandemic.
says. When the pandemic hit, he and his busi-
ness partner, Damián Diaz, watched as people “We work hard. The majority pay taxes and
reached out to help chefs, waitstaff, and other don’t commit crimes. Still, we are all labeled as
visible faces of the restaurant industry. They saw criminals and dirty people. We are not bad peo-
nothing being done for dishwashers, cleaning ple,” Sánchez says.
crews, and others often described as the back-
bone of the restaurant business. Many of those Houston, TX: ‘Meals with dignity’
workers in Los Angeles are undocumented, they
say, and therefore not eligible for federal aid. WHEN THE PANDEMIC shut down restau-
rants in Texas, chef Chris Williams pivoted from
Nolasco and Diaz know the importance of the serving customers at his popular Houston restau-
less visible workers because they started their rant to serving the community in a city that led
careers as dishwashers themselves, learning the the state in COVID-19 infections and deaths.
business from the back to the front of the house,
and eventually starting a restaurant- and bar- Initially he and the team at Lucille’s, well
consulting business, Va’La Hospitality. known for its southern cuisine spiced with
international flavor, served frontline workers,
“Both Damián and I began our illustrious focusing on sometimes overlooked night shift
careers as dishwashers,” Nolasco says. “We ran workers. Lucille’s served 3,000 meals in the first
food, bused tables, and expedited orders as 20 days of the pandemic. Then Williams thought
young college-age kids. This is where our deep of another group he feared was being over-
respect for back-of-house staff comes from.” looked: senior citizens living in nursing homes
in impoverished, mostly Black communities.
After 14- to 16-hour days running a bar, the only
time they got to sit down for a decent meal was “They’ve been uniquely affected; cut off from
at the end of the day after closing, when the crew their families. Their families can’t come check
prepared a plate for them to share a “family meal.” on them,” Williams says. And he suspected the
meals they were receiving weren’t prepared with
“Very simple dishes often made with the the care and consideration he knew he could
lesser cuts or scraps of what’s left over from the provide. His goal, he says, was to offer “nutri-
day’s prep, the meals were definitely made with tious, delicious meals that they will be excited
lots of love,” Nolasco says. about. You know, meals with dignity.”

Initially the pair used their own money to feed With assistance from World Central
10 families they know. They soon were buying Kitchen—chef José Andrés’s NGO dedicated to
more food and feeding more families, aided by providing meals in the wake of natural disasters—
donations as word spread of their efforts. Now Williams’s efforts grew into a nonprofit he
No Us Without You LA is a nonprofit organiza- named Lucille’s 1913. It honors Williams’s great-
tion that feeds over 1,600 families a week. grandmother Lucille B. Smith, a pioneering
entrepreneur in Fort Worth. In 1913 she started
Each family gets a 100-pound box of food
weekly. Generally it contains a gallon of milk,