Tag Archives: Food

Community

Somali Chef and Writer Ifrah F. Ahmed Shares Her Culinary Tradition Through Pop-Ups

by Nura Ahmed

Somali chef and writer Ifrah F. Ahmed grew up cooking with her mother, knowing the recipes like the back of her hand. Cooking became her first love, and she continued doing it well into her adult years. As she went on, the memories of cooking alongside her mother, sharing recipes, and learning more about her Somali culture became incredibly important to her, thus the beginning of her traveling pop-up MILK & MYRRH was born. The name MILK & MYRRH was inspired by a vintage Somali cookbook Ahmed found that contained the names that Somalia was once called, which included “The Land of Milk and Myrrh.” Rooted in her Somaliness, the name called out to her and became not just an ode to her motherland but to her upbringing and all the memories she had of sharing her love for her Somali culinary tradition with the ones around her. 

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Community

Itsumono Celebrates Grand Opening in Seattle’s Historic Japantown

by Ronnie Estoque

On Jan. 24, Itsumono, a Japanese restaurant located in Seattle’s Historic Japantown, celebrated its grand opening. They had been softly opened since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, but finally removed their wooden boards outside and are currently accepting reservations for patrons.

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News

Anticipated Revenue Drop From Sweetened Beverage Tax May Disrupt Food Security and Early Childhood

by Lauryn Bray

On Feb. 1, the Finance and Housing Committee received an update on revenue generated from the Sweetened Beverage Tax from the Sweetened Beverage Tax Community Advisory Board (SBT CAB). Using data from its 2021 annual report, the CAB presented that over four years of implementation (2018 to 2021), the SBT has garnered more than $81 million total. 

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Community

Aloha in the South End: Super Six Reopens as Marination Columbia City

by Ronnie Estoque

Last August, Hawaiʻian restaurant Super Six closed permanently in Columbia City to pave the way for the creation of another Marination location. Super Six was part of the Marination family, co-owned by Kamala Saxton and Roz Edison. They celebrated the opening of their new Marination location in the old Super Six spot earlier this year on New Year’s Day. Since 2009, Marination has carved out a space for itself in the Seattle food scene by offering selections that reflect Hawaiʻian and Korean influences like kalua pork, kalbi beef, spam musubi, and pork katsu.

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Community

The Colored Girls Garden Club Provides Free Food for All in Rainier Beach

by Amanda Ong

“Kindness goes a long way. Every small act of kindness has a ripple effect. Do what you can with what you have, with where you are, and feel blessed doing it,” said Yvette Dinish, founder and executive director of the Colored Girls Garden Club, in an interview with the South Seattle Emerald. 

Dinish, who grew up in South Seattle, didn’t realize what she was creating when she started the Colored Girls Garden Club. Before the pandemic, Dinish and a friend had been taking a class on soil and water stewardship training, in which they were encouraged to come up with a project after the course. The friend, whom Dinish had known since childhood, coined the name “Colored Girls Garden Club” at the same time Dinish began renting a storefront close to Rainier Beach’s worker-owned restaurant Jude’s. With a spirit of generosity, Dinish called her storefront the “gathering space” and began to use it as a free food pantry every Thursday and Saturday. 

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Community

Good Food Kitchens Helps Fund Chefs Making Free Meals for South End Communities

Supporting local food economies, restaurants, and South Seattle neighbors, this program serves up more than just meals.

by Mark Van Streefkerk

In March 2020, restaurants were in trouble. Seattle was the U.S. epicenter of COVID-19, and a wave of shutdowns called for the immediate temporary closure of restaurants — some of which never reopened. Food scarcity was exacerbated as closures across all industries led to higher rates of unemployment. These disruptions also affected local farmers, many of whom lost half their major market channels instantly with the closures of schools and restaurants. In the South End, however, a handful of like-minded chefs made arguably one of the savviest pandemic pivots in the industry: They started the Seattle Kitchen Collective. 

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Community

Catching Up With Rainier Beach’s King Donuts

The beloved donut spot serves up ‘magic and excitement’ at its new location in the former Beach Bakery

by Amanda Ong

In September 2022, Rainier Beach landmark King Donuts moved into Beach Bakery’s former location at 7820 Rainier Ave. S. The beloved family business has been a longtime community favorite, easily memorable for its joint operation as a donut shop, laundromat, and teriyaki counter. Though it has been in existence for decades, the Chhuor family has run King Donuts since 2017. Reopening after a break in 2021, the family dropped teriyaki from the menu, and they haven’t had laundry service since 2019. The recent move also solidifies a new direction for King Donuts. 

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News

Living Well Kent Collaborative’s 70-Acre Commitment to Food Access and Affordable Housing

by Lauryn Bray

Living Well Kent Collaborative (LWKC), a community-driven coalition of residents, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and government leaders united to achieve health equity through policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change, was recently allotted 70 acres of land from the City of Auburn and Auburn School District. Plans for the 70 acres include community and technology centers, affordable housing, a botanical garden, more land for farming, a food hub, and more. The organization is now tasked with raising enough funds to begin developing the land. 

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News

Local Grocery Store Workers Protest Kroger-Albertsons Merger

by Ronnie Estoque

Sam Dancy has worked at the QFC in Westwood Village since the store opened in 1991. He is also a shop steward for UFCW 3000 and was involved in advocacy efforts on behalf of the union for grocery store worker hazard pay during the early part of the pandemic. Dancy, alongside other representatives of UFCW 3000 and other unions across various states, is currently protesting the possible merger between Kroger and Albertsons, which was announced last month.

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Arts & Culture

‘There Should Be Native American Restaurants Everywhere’

Chef Sean Sherman Talks Indigenous Foods and Culinary Revitalization at SPL

by Amanda Ong

This Friday, Nov. 4, Chef Sean Sherman will speak at the Seattle Central Library and online about his work highlighting Indigenous food systems in a modern culinary context. Author of The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, Sherman is CEO and founder of The Sioux Chef and North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS). Raised in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Sherman is Oglala Lakota Sioux. The event will take place from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

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