
Inspired by personal loss and a higher calling, Jonathan Tate focuses on the next course in his drive to bring healthy eating to the fire service
By Leah Sobon

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2024 issue. View the full issue here.
Do it scared.
This is the mantra Jonathan Tate lives by. Tate, a firefighter by profession, is the owner of Food on the Stove, a non-profit organization committed to the health and wellness of firefighters, with a focus on their nutrition.
Food on the Stove – aptly named after a fire term that points to where most kitchen fires begin – understands the risks to firefighters. In 2018, a study showed that 44 per cent of all firefighters who died in the line of duty had a heart attack. And firefighting is one of the few occupations in which workers sometimes cook and eat three meals a day at work. While many delicious meals are prepared in a firehouse, not all are good for you.
As he recalls, “I would respond to calls and hear someone over the radio say ‘slow your response; it’s just food on the stove.’ I said I’m going to take that phrase and have firefighters pay more attention to food on their stoves, something I believe that’s ultimately killing them. So that day, God gave me this big vision, and I wanted to do something to change the culture of health and wellness in the fire service. I told my wife that God has given me this vision to help firefighters, and I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do, but I know I’m supposed to feed them. I had this huge vision where I saw the ending before the beginning.”
To date, Food on the Stove has served more than 70,000 meals.
“If we’re going to change the health and wellness culture in the fire service, we need to start with the next generation,” Tate says. “I often say to firefighters, ‘If I were to give you the keys to my Lamborghini (figuratively speaking) and tell them, Hey, you can keep it for a day; you just have to bring it back to me with a full tank of gas. What type of fuel would you put in?’”
He says that everyone responds the same way, insisting they would fill it up with the best fuel possible. When Tate challenges them about why they made that choice, they explain that they want it to run properly and not break down, given that it is a high-performance vehicle.
“So my response is, why don’t we treat our bodies the same way? Would you agree that food is fuel? Would you agree that you’re a high-performance vehicle with a body pushed to the limits? To have longevity and not break down, you have to give your body the right fuel that it needs.”
People don’t usually look at food as fuel. We see it a feel-good substance and a unifier. The most important thing is that we begin to view food differently, especially when we’re working in a job that depends so much on your heart operating correctly.
The Origin of Food on the Stove
In Tate’s words, the beginnings of Food on the Stove are humble and God-given.
“I’m so passionate about Food on the Stove because I’m a second-generation firefighter. My father worked for DC Fire and EMS and retired at the rank of deputy fire chief. Unfortunately, he passed away nine years after he retired. After I became a firefighter 13 years ago and saw how they were eating in the firehouse, I said to myself, this is probably why my father was so sick. I wanted to do something to change that, so I started Food on the Stove.”
Tate explains that he often hears the same feedback from those he interacts with or feeds. Older firefighters say they haven’t seen anything like it, and wish they’d had it 30 to 40 years ago.
“I always tell people the fire service doesn’t have a health and wellness problem as much as we have a culture problem. We eat big meals, and we have three things that affect us: sleep deprivation, hazardous environments, and the stress of the job. These are the things that affect us most, so the best way to combat them is through diet and exercise.
“But sometimes you just grab the closest thing when you’re running call after call, and you don’t have lunch breaks or dinner breaks. Sometimes, you’re just not trained to make healthy meal decisions. Food is a great unifier, and it’s the one time that we all sit down at the table and everything goes out the window. It’s the one time during the day when food is also a feel-good type of thing. The most important thing to learn is that food is fuel for your body.”
Lessons Learned
Tate’s journey with Food on the Stove has led to some remarkable experiences and teachings.
“You need to be resilient. Some things never pan out the way you want them to, but I’m a man of faith, and I know I didn’t come up with this idea alone. It’s near and dear to my heart because of what I went through. I often tell people that Food on the Stove was started by a 15-year-old boy who missed his dad. It wasn’t until I became a firefighter that I realized how much I saw him struggle for so long with his health. But at 15, I suppressed a lot of things because I was waiting for my dad to die – he was so sick. He went from the strongest to the weakest man I knew.”
Tate continues, “When I got to the academy and had a rough day, at 30 years old, that was the first time I said I missed my dad. That hurt, and pain I’d suppressed for so long created a purpose.”
He explains that sometimes, it takes a while for trees to bear fruit.
“While I was trying to grow this thing, there were people who were watering, there’s a pruning process that’s taking place, and I was also learning more about myself. Even when I felt like giving up, God sent someone to encourage me.
“I always tell people this: there’s a difference between a good idea and a God idea. A good idea will impact you and your financials; a God idea will impact everyone around you. But it will also impact you in terms of growth, and that’s what I’ve learned in this process. This isn’t just a good idea. It’s a God idea, because of who will feel the impact in the long run. It isn’t about me when I tell you that a 15-year-old boy started this. I’m not just fighting for firefighters; I’m fighting for their children who don’t even know they will need their mom or dad.”
In July, Tate held his second annual Dress Blue fundraising event.
Tate explains, “As you know, we call our Class A uniforms our dress blues. This event is an opportunity for firefighters and EMS personnel to get dressed up with the difference being that you don’t wear your dress blues but something else that’s blue instead.
“Often, these events are set aside for corporations, but we want firefighters and EMS personnel to feel good dressed up, to hear different stories about themselves, and to invite those corporate people into their space to learn more about our occupation. It’s a beautiful event; You don’t know who is a firefighter and who isn’t.”
This year’s event was attended by 357 people and highlighted the DC Fire and EMS Cadet program and its economic impact on young men and women from Washington, D.C. – arguably one of the most impactful programs for people coming out of high school. About 400 people have come through the program, generating a documentary and a moderated discussion at the event, and raising money for Food on the Stove.
The Growth of Food on the Stove
Food on the Stove continues to grow with programs like Farm to Firehouse. With the help of donors, Tate saw an opportunity to scale the program nationally, so with the support of Amazon, an app was developed that allows firehouses to order Food on the Stove’s meal boxes, which are then delivered.
The app, which will be available in January 2025, has a couple of valuable components: The Farm to Firehouse (Food on the Stove’s pantry component for ordering groceries), and a new initiative called EMS or “Eat More Salad”, designed to increase the greens that firefighters eat while at work. The plan is to adopt one firehouse and provide it with food for every shift, every day for a year.
“What we seek to do is help firefighters and EMS personnel to be more proactive about their health by educating them and putting healthier meals on the table,” Tate says. “One of the general public’s biggest misconceptions is that tax dollars fund firefighters’ meals. It’s quite the opposite, with firefighters chipping in every day and buying their food, which often leads to them buying the cheapest thing possible, making it affordable for everybody to eat that day. We want to help supplement the cost of meals in the firehouse.”
Food on the Stove Partnerships
Amazon has been one of Food on the Stove’s most prominent partners to date. And during the pandemic, when it was tough for firehouses to get food, Food on the Stove also partnered with 28 different restaurants, thereby feeding firefighters every day for a year and a half.
“At that moment, it wasn’t so much about our health and wellness message as it was about servicing immediate needs. So our partners stepped up and were able to donate generously – like the company Ruth’s Chris, which gave 400 steaks,” Tate smiles, saying he was everyone’s best friend that day.
“I’m learning, and I hope that I get it right at some point. If my dad had known how it would have affected his children, he would have invested as much in his health as he did in other things,” says Tate. “He would have known that to maximize his pension, he needed to stay alive, but also that his kids needed him. There are no guarantees in life, but we do all we can for our families and kids. Part of taking care of them is taking care of ourselves.”
Study on the Influence of Food
Two years ago, with the help of one of its board members, Michelle Johnson, Food on the Stove conducted a study that looked at how what we eat influences key biomarkers. They took six D.C. firefighters and gave them three meals daily for 30 days to see how food would affect their bodies. The focus was on both portion control and increasing leafy green intake by eating daily salads. Those two things gave them the results they were looking for.
At the end of those 30 days, they found every participant lost between three and 20 pounds, their blood pressure went down, their A1C levels dropped, and – most significantly – their cholesterol dropped by 15 points.
Has the seven-year growth of his non-profit changed Tate’s mission?
“Our mission is still the same. The heart of it is to serve those who serve us. Our mission statement is that we provide tools and resources for firefighters to live a healthier lifestyle. We have also realized that while we are primarily firefighter-focused, our resources can be shared with our partners in public safety.”

Tate’s support system is large and growing, but he attributes his growth to something greater.
“I’m learning constantly, and I’m not perfect. I think there’s a difference between running a business and having a calling, and it goes without saying that my family is the most important thing to me. But Food on the Stove is like a child to me. It’s something that I couldn’t part ways with, even if I wanted to. I wake up every morning with a need to serve firefighters. I would do that whether or not I made a dime. Why it’s like that, I can’t tell you. I’m learning it’s a balancing act of ensuring that my wife is cared for, my kids are cared for, and that there is a calling that God has given me. I’m a good steward of that as well.”
“One thing that I do realize,” says Tate, “Is that people will have an idea and sit on it.” He recalls the saying that the one place most full of great ideas is a graveyard — ideas that people might have wanted to do but never did.
“I’m seeing this through, and if God had shown me how hard it would be to get to this point, I’d have never started. As Food on the Stove grows, I’m growing too. It’s allowed me to learn how to be a better husband, to be intentional, and to be a better friend without losing sight of what’s important. I don’t think there will ever be perfection, but I’m learning, and that’s the humanity in it all. Some things will be a priority, and some won’t.”
His advice for would-be entrepreneurs?
“Two things. If it’s God-given and it’s on your heart, where there’s vision, He’ll give you provision, but you’ve got to start with whatever is in your hand. Sometimes, we look for all the resources because we’re trying to find the big vision. I took what I had instead and got started.”
“The second thing is to do it scared. One thing about a vision or doing something that God has called you to do, is that you know you can’t do it on your own. In everything that I’ve done with Food on the Stove, God has opened the door for me – even if that means not knowing where your funds will come from. So my advice is to do it scared. You think your name is on the line, but I know a name greater than mine. I’m willing to look crazy if He will get the glory.”
This article originally appeared within the Fall 2024 issue. View the full issue here, or browse all back issues in the CRACKYL Library.