Your kitchen’s favorite workhorse.
At The Table With: Ann Ogden Gaffney, Founder of Cook for Your LIFE
Instagram: @ann_ogden_gaffney Pronouns: She/Her *** When chemotherapy changed the way food tasted, Ann Ogden Gaffney found comfort in the kitchen. “When I was going through cancer treatment, I realized that I was dealing with the inevitable side effects better than most in my...
At The Table With: Janet Becerra and the Ancestral Craft Behind Every Tortilla at Pancita
Instagram: @yani_se | @pancitaseattle Pronouns: She/Her *** Janet Becerra did not want to start a pop-up. In fact, she was even shy about sharing her food with the world. It was 2020 and Janet had been cooking professionally for more than a decade. During the pandemic Janet...
At The Table With: Miles Platt, MasterChef Junior Competitor & Cooking Instructor
Instagram: @miles_platt Miles Platt (He/Him) *** When people tell Miles Platt he can't do something because he has a limb difference, he has a standard response: "Oh yeah, watch me." Miles is thirteen years old and lives in College Station, Texas. He has competed on...
At The Table With: Nat Stratton-Clarke, Owner of the Flora Restaurant Group
Instagram: @cafefloraveg Nat Stratton-Clarke (He/Him) *** Inside Cafe Flora, Nat Stratton-Clarke's beloved Madison Valley restaurant, a slow-cooked risotto with foraged mushrooms and earthy nettle pesto is on the menu. It’s exactly the kind of dish that belongs at Cafe...
At The Table With: Aaron Israel & Sawako Okochi of Shalom Japan
Instagram: @shalomjapannyc Aaron Israel (he/him) & Sawako Okochi (she/her) *** Aaron Israel and Sawako Okochi were at the Brooklyn Public Library doing research, flipping through a paperback guide of New York written in the 1980s. Somewhere in the Lower East...
At The Table With: Reem Assil and the Food That Carries a People Forward
Instagram: @reemassilPronouns: She/Her *** There's a particular kind of place Reem Assil has always been drawn to—not the hushed fine dining room, not the trendy pop-up, but the corner bakery. The kind of spot where the door opens to the smell of fresh bread and the hum of...
At The Table With: Chelcea Dressler-Crowley and Kirsten Dressler Wilson of Messermeister
Chelcea Dressler-Crowley and Kirsten Dressler Wilson grew up in Ojai, California, where their days moved between two worlds: a working orange orchard and their family’s knife business. The orchard was hands-on: mowing between trees, fixing irrigation, feeding animals. The...
At The Table With: Efrem Fesaha, Founder of Boon Boona Coffee
Name: Efrem Fesaha Pronouns: He/Him/His Pronunciation: F-Rum Fi-sa-ha *** Before coffee was a to-go cup or a morning routine, it was a ceremony. For many East African communities, coffee is not simply consumed. It is roasted in front of guests, brewed slowly, poured in small...
At the Table With: Shawn Tibbitts, Founder of Tibbitts@FernHill
Name: Shawn Tibbitts Pronouns: he/him *** In Tacoma’s Fern Hill neighborhood—where history, Native stewardship, and a deep sense of community shape every block—Chef Shawn Tibbitts has built far more than a destination brunch spot. He’s created a gathering place rooted in...
At The Table With: Ann Ogden Gaffney, Founder of Cook for Your LIFE
Instagram: @ann_ogden_gaffney Pronouns: She/Her *** When chemotherapy changed the way food tasted, Ann Ogden Gaffney found comfort in the kitchen. “When I was going through cancer treatment, I realized that I was dealing with the inevitable side effects better than most in my...
At The Table With: Janet Becerra and the Ancestral Craft Behind Every Tortilla at Pancita
Instagram: @yani_se | @pancitaseattle Pronouns: She/Her *** Janet Becerra did not want to start a pop-up. In fact, she was even shy about sharing her food with the world. It was 2020 and Janet had been cooking professionally for more than a decade. During the pandemic Janet...
At The Table With: Miles Platt, MasterChef Junior Competitor & Cooking Instructor
Instagram: @miles_platt Miles Platt (He/Him) *** When people tell Miles Platt he can't do something because he has a limb difference, he has a standard response: "Oh yeah, watch me." Miles is thirteen years old and lives in College Station, Texas. He has competed on...
At The Table With: Nat Stratton-Clarke, Owner of the Flora Restaurant Group
Instagram: @cafefloraveg Nat Stratton-Clarke (He/Him) *** Inside Cafe Flora, Nat Stratton-Clarke's beloved Madison Valley restaurant, a slow-cooked risotto with foraged mushrooms and earthy nettle pesto is on the menu. It’s exactly the kind of dish that belongs at Cafe...