From Budget Analyst to Hunger Hero: An ICE Alum’s Inspired Career Pivot
For James Durazzo, the pursuit of professional culinary training began after more than a decade in New York City government, where he worked in budget and financial planning. The work was steady — but he found himself pulled toward something else.
That pull started in his youth. Saturday mornings with his father meant fried eggs or omelets with crisp Italian sausage. Sundays were for sauce — passing tomatoes through a food mill, learning by doing. Over time, those memories and moments of satisfaction became hard to ignore.
By day, Durazzo managed city operations. At night, he stepped into the kitchen at Mile End Delicatessen in Brooklyn — learning a different kind of system, built on timing, teamwork and instinct.
The contrast between structured office work and the immediacy of the kitchen helped clarify what he wanted long term.
From Pop-Ups to Purpose
Durazzo didn’t begin his career in kitchens, but food has always been there. In 2013, he launched Durazzo and Friends pop-up in Gowanus, an industrial-residential area of Brooklyn that, at the time, wasn’t yet on Instagram’s “hot new neighborhoods” radar. The raw, high-energy pop-up was held in a vacant property — customers lined up day and night.
Durazzo trained friends and family to work the line. It was an early introduction to the teaching and mentorship that would later define his career, and a crash course in consistency, timing and presentation.
The pop-up’s menu reflected the venture’s mix of ambition and accessibility. Among its bestsellers were "elevated classics” like grilled sweet potatoes with blue cheese cream from a whipped dispenser and rib-eye steak sandwiches with heirloom tomatoes, arugula and salsa verde.
Prior to this, Durazzo had cooked at the James Beard House, working alongside chefs from several of New York City’s most revered kitchens. Watching them meticulously plate their creations left a lasting impression and reinforced his respect for the craft.
“The experience is rooted in my DNA,” Durazzo said. “It transformed cooking from a hobby into something I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life.”
“I’ve always found a sense of purpose in sharing food with others,” he said. “Whether it’s introducing someone to a new ingredient or showing them a different way to experience a dish, it’s about creating connection.”
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Feeding Thousands, Leading Teams
Today, Durazzo works as a Training Manager with the New York City Department of Education’s Office of Food & Nutrition Services. In this role, he supports kitchen staff across multiple school sites, training teams on food safety, service standards and daily operations.
On any given day, that can mean confirming deliveries, adjusting orders, reviewing recipes with staff or guiding new managers through the realities of running a school kitchen. That mindset carries into his work today.
“I enjoy helping others learn and grow in the kitchen,” he said, “and seeing that confidence build over time.”
The scale is significant: thousands of meals served each day by teams that rely on coordination, consistency and strong leadership.
Sometimes, his impact shows up in simple ways — like a sesame noodle dish that unexpectedly becomes a student favorite, drawing excitement from kids who didn’t expect much from school lunch.
Other times, the rewards are more public. In 2025, Durazzo was recognized as a New York City Hunger Hero.
A Career Built on Connection
Across each stage of his career, Durazzo has focused less on titles and more on how teams communicate, problem-solve and execute under pressure.
He credits his culinary training at the Institute of Culinary Education, alongside his early kitchen experience, with shaping how he approaches leadership today — listening, understanding individual strengths and building trust in fast-paced environments.
That mindset carries through his work training new managers and strengthening kitchen teams across the city, and it often starts with a simple step: getting to know the people he’s working with.
Durazzo’s career reflects a broader reality of working in the food world: there is no single “right” path within it.
Culinary training can lead to restaurants, entrepreneurship, large-scale operations or public service, often moving between them over time. For many alumni, those paths don’t follow a straight line; rather, they continue to evolve with experience.
* Experience varies by student, with outcomes contingent on factors including graduate aptitude, job market, place of residence and work history, among others.
