Bored and craving connection during the pandemic, Seattle’s Lanne Rosebrook Stauffer created the country’s first Little Free Bakery, filling a latched box in Magnolia with homemade treats for her neighbors to enjoy each week. Not long after, she convinced her friend, food writer Jill Lightner, to open her own Little Free Bakery in Columbia City. Three years later, what started as a stress-baking experiment continues to be a joyful way to create community, one cookie, cupcake and muffin at a time.
At the Ballard Food Bank, programs are built on the values of dignity and kindness. Instead of picking up a bag of random dry goods, clients get to “shop” for their own food in a grocery store-like setting, and they created the country’s first cafe within a food bank, where more than a thousand home-cooked meals are served every day. Host Rachel Belle stopped by to check out a free monthly cooking class, where clients learn how to cook healthful meals using groceries available at the food bank. Some folks are newly housed and have a kitchen for the first time in years, and for some this is the only opportunity they have to cook.
Support for The Nosh with Rachel Belle is provided by Alaska Airlines.
