Kristi Brown and Damon Bomar
The city says that a Central District program that started with a handful of restaurants has grown into a partnership of 29 restaurants and caterers, sourcing from 10 local farms, and 21 different community organizations, with 97% of restaurant partners and 81% of local farms BIPOC-owned.
The Good Food Kitchens program served its 13,000th meal last month and has a goal to serve nearly 40,000 more.
“Good Food Kitchens was created to address the needs of the entire local food system,” Mariah DeLeo, Good Food Economy Program Manager, said in the announcement from the city’s Human Services Department. “It is not just a food assistance program – one that importantly ensures people in need receive fresh, nutritious, culturally relevant meals – but it is also an economic assistance program, an employment assistance program, and a local food system resilience program.”
Good Food Kitchens describes itself as a food assistance, economic development, and local food resilience program that provides funds directly to restaurants “to prepare meals for those in need, helping to keep their doors open and workers employed safely, while purchasing from local farms and producers and creating long-term local supply chain relationships.”
While it began during the pandemic as a collective led by four local chefs and businesses including Kristi Brown of 23rd and Union’s Communion and That Brown Girl Cooks!, Musang, Feed the People, and Guerilla Pizza Kitchen, its ranks have now swelled to nearly 30 providers:
Restaurant/Caterers:
• That Brown Girl Cooks!
• Musang
• Mojito
• Pancita
• Ayako & Family
• Frank’s Oyster House
• Feed the People
• Project Feast
• Taku
• Salare
• SCIDpda (Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority)
o Gourmet Noodle Bowl
o Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant
o Ton Kiang Barbeque Noodle House
o Dim Sum King
o A Plus Hong Kong Kitchen
o Gan Bei
o Henry’s Taiwan
• Neighborly Needs (a program of Wasat)
o Musang
o Mugi’s kitchen
o Masakan
o Phresh Eats
o Andrew Hype
• FIN (a program of Global to Local)
o Jazze Afghani Fusion
o Taste of Congo
o Afella Jollof Catering
o WUHA
o Wengay’s Kitchen
o Monique’s Hot Kitchen
o Moyo Kitchen
o Theary Cambodian Foods
Meal Recipients:
• Southeast Seattle Senior Center
• YouthCare
• Wa Na Wari
• South Park Community Center
• Seattle Housing Authority
• Food Intentions
• Real Change
• Cham Refugees Community Center
• Nickelsville
• Tiny House Village
• SCIDpda Residents
• FamilyWorks
• Catholic Community Services
• Partners In Employment
• SHAG residents
• International Rescue Committee
• SNAP Customers at Tukwila Village Farmers Market
• Communities in School – Kent
• UGM KentHope
• Iraqi Community Center of WA
• Direct delivery to community partner
Farms:
• 21 Acres
• Oxbow Farms
• Namuna Garden
• Lee’s Fresh Produce
• Friendly Hmong Farms
• Sariwa Farm
• Wakulima USA
• Black Farmers Collective / Yes Farm
• Nurturing Roots
• Clean Greens
• Black Star Farmers
Meals purchased through program help to support the economic recovery of the involved restaurants and caterers while providing high quality meals to community organizations and programs across the county.
You can help support the effort by donating a meal. Learn more at seattlegood.org.
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