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SERVICE WITH A SMILE


Sister Alicia Torres wowed audiences on the Food Network, but a simple life of serving the community is the young nun’s true recipe for happiness • BY SCOTT ALESSI


One afternoon last November, Sister Alicia Torres (BA ’07) set out for a routine walk through her neighborhood to hand out sandwiches alongside members of a visiting youth group from Indiana. Providing food to her neighbors in Chicago’s West Humboldt Park community is a regular activity for the 31-year-old nun, but on this day, something was different. Each person who saw Torres was buzzing with excitement, and not just because of the free sandwiches. “Oh my gosh, we saw you on TV!” someone


shouted. “Sister Alicia, you’ve made us all celebri- ties!” called another. One by one, local residents beaming with pride


came to greet Torres. For the past six years, she’s been an integral part of the community along with six other sisters and one priest—members of the Franciscans of the Eucharist of Chicago—at the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels on Chicago’s West Side. But days earlier, her friends and neigh- bors watched along with viewers around the coun- try as Torres competed on a Thanksgiving-themed episode of the Food Network series Chopped. By outlasting three other cooks whose culinary


skills are also normally reserved for soup kitchens and shelters, Torres was crowned the winner and


earned a $10,000 prize to aid her ministry. But the monetary reward was almost secondary. The feel- good story of the “cooking nun” garnered wide- spread media attention, shining a positive light on a community that is often plagued by poverty, gang violence, and drug trafficking. And Torres, the cheerful Catholic sister whose youthful face is framed by the traditional Franciscan veil, found herself suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Though her poise and confidence shine


through on screen, Torres humbly blushes when talking about all the attention she’s received since her television appearance. “I’m a lot more introverted than I look,” she says. But still, she wel- comed the opportunity to highlight the struggles she sees in her community on a daily basis. “It wasn’t about me becoming famous,” Torres says. “It was about how I can use that platform to raise awareness about the epic crisis of hunger in our country and how each of us can respond to that.” The seeds were planted early on for Torres to


lead a life of service, though she never expected it would come in the form of a religious vocation. Raised in a military family, she had dreamed of serving her country as a naval officer. But faith was also a big part of her upbringing, from saying


Opposite: Sister Alicia Torres (BA ‘07) stands in the kitchen at the Mission of our Lady of the Angels in Chicago’s West Humboldt Park neighborhood, where she puts her culinary skills to work prepar- ing meals for the community.


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