Grist for the Mill: Spring 2023
Dear Reader,
Living in the smallest state has its rewards, including one you can recognize throughout the articles in our Spring issue—the sense of community that binds Rhode Islanders together, particularly within Rhode Island’s close-knit food community. This issue is filled with inspiring examples of Rhode Islanders supporting one another in their work: teams working hard together to make a food business thrive, whether it’s in the kitchen or on the farm; or neighbors helping neighbors to get healthy foods where they’re needed most.
Be sure to read the story about the mobile food pantry and other programs engineered by the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center in Newport to improve access to healthy foods for their clients. It also illustrates how higher food costs and the March 2023 end of Covid emergency allotments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s (SNAP) benefits will impact individuals and families with children across Rhode Island. There’s information there, too, on what you can do to help your neighbors in need.
Giving back to the community was top of mind for Paul and Lori Kettelle, the owners of PVDonuts who opened Oak Bakeshop in Providence late last year. In their story, you’ll also learn how their team works together to create the unique menu they call “a little bit Jew-ish, a little bit not,” but one that seeks to celebrate Jewish baking traditions, both sweet and savory.
Adena “Bean” Marcelino of Black Beans PVD can’t wait to open her 25-seat café so she can cook for the community in which she was raised and to give back by offering cooking classes to the youth in her neighborhood. She wants them to learn how to grow food and to cook it. Hers will be one of three food businesses set to open in 2023 within Southside Community Land Trust’s new Healthy Food Hub on Broad Street in Providence.
The sense of community pride is palpable at the new Hope & Main Downtown Makers Marketplace, where food items from over 100 local “foodpreneurs” are available for purchase from the café menu or the adjacent shelves and refrigerated cases. Many of the products made by Hope & Main’s maker members stem from generational family recipes, which offer a delicious sampling of Rhode Island’s diverse foodways.
Spring is finally upon us—the season for one of the most anticipated native foods of the year: the strawberry, which plays a key role in traditional foodways of Native American communities. I hope it brings you food for thought as we welcome the change in seasons with longer days and brighter, juicier flavors.
