The Soup Doula Nourishing New Parents in NYC
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Loading... - Brigitte Martin
- 02 Mar 2023
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Marisa Mendez Marthaller ladles up postpartum care and pozole
On a recent Sunday afternoon at Nightmoves, the nightclub owned by neighboring restaurant Four Horsemen, children run back and forth, and chant “Ring Around the Rosie,” as they pile on top of each other on the light-up dance floor. It’s not too dissimilar from late-night, drunken shenanigans adults regularly get into at the Williamsburg hot spot. But the daytime scene is here for Soup Doula, a pop-up and soup delivery service, operated by, yes, an actual doula.
Marisa Mendez Marthaller has set up with her several Crock-Pots, ladling up the warm soup to customers, while her husband, Duane Harriott, DJs. By day, Mendez Marthaller is what’s known as a postpartum doula: There’s a spectrum of doulas from birth-focused ones to death doulas, a profession, she says, is largely misunderstood. In her case, it means she focuses on the period after birth or adoption when parents are thrust into uncharted territory and may find it hard to make time to take care of themselves. Her daily work can incorporate emotional and physical support, as well as cooking for her clients in a time of overwhelming transition — particularly for those who often have found themselves in “caregiver roles and rarely prioritize their own needs,” she says.
Mendez Marthaller sees her work as a doula as connected to her experience working in hospitality, because “you’re being of service.” She grew up on an island off the Pacific Northwest, starting off as a dishwasher during the summertime tourist high season. Eventually, by 2005, she moved to New York and was working front-of-house for Anita Lo’s Annisa; she’s been a bartender at Gramercy Tavern, a wine buyer and manager at Marlow & Sons and Diner, and then the service director for the Wythe Hotel for five years before leaving to become a first-time mother.
“When I had my baby, I was really shocked by how hard the postpartum time is,” she says. “Coming from hospitality, I was very lucky that I had all these good cooks around me; I was really touched, but I was also like, ‘Wow, what do people do who don’t have this kind of support?’” she says, of friends who brought her food care packages for weeks. “In my manager hospitality brain, I was like, ‘I think I can help people do this.’” Read More…
