GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Juneteenth is the perfect day to celebrate soul food, a tradition for the African-American community that goes back generations.
RCK Soul Food stepped into the KARE 11 Kitchen to showcase how soul food in the north is flourishing.
Orneary Conley is the owner of RCK Soul Food. For the past 13 years, she's been bringing the community together through her cooking.
There are plenty of soul food restaurants in the Twin Cities, but one thing sets Mrs. O apart:
"When you hire Mrs. O, we're always gonna go above and beyond," said Conley.
Going above and beyond is all she knows.
"Even at 8, 9, 10 years old, I was at home with my brothers, and part of the responsibility that I had was to prepare dinner for them," Conley said.
The need to go above and beyond doesn't stop with her family. RCK also partners with nonprofits and local schools, too, to ensure no one goes hungry.
"Let's just say you order food for 50, but I know that you are catering to low-income families or you're dealing with children that may only eat this particular meal once a day," said Conley. "We're going to make sure that everybody's good."
And to think Mrs. O was reluctant to start this cooking journey.
"I was like, cook for people? No, I'm good," she recalled. "My pastors really challenged me to believe God for a restaurant of my own."
Something of her own that's brought so many together.
"You get to sit down and be with the people you love the most, and you're doing it all over food," said Conley.
It's also brought many back to their roots.
"People would say to me all the time, man, this reminds me of growing up in the house with my mama and daddy," said Conley.
Teaching people that they can't run from your passion, and that they can't go above and beyond if you're not passionate.
"I know that it's my purpose. I know that's a God-given gift, and I'm walking in that," she said.
The RCK Soul Food brick-and-mortar is temporarily closed, but there's catering multiple days a week.
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