FoodChain Founder and Executive Director Becca Self
FoodChain will officially open its new teaching and processing kitchen at The Bread Box building on West Sixth Street this week, with an open house and reception on Tuesday, October 24, from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The dual-purpose space will serve both as a teaching kitchen for local youth and families and as a processing facility to extend the shelf-life, convenience and appeal of locally grown “seconds,” or imperfect and excess fruits and vegetables. Rebecca Self, executive director of FoodChain, described the opening as “one of those rare watershed moments” for the organization, whose mission is to build closer connections between the community and its fresh food through education and demonstration of sustainable food systems. FoodChain was started in 2012 with the launch of its local hydroponic farm operation.
“This kitchen phase has been a part of our vision for Food Chain since its inception,” Self said. It does seem like a dream realized.”
The kitchen has already started its after-school classes for youth, Self said, and the first processing event is scheduled for Friday. An attached grocery space is reserved as the next phase of the project, to provide a future retail outlet for the kitchen’s lightly processed products. Self said at this point, however, the priority is to ensure the successful launch and operation of the kitchen, with products being made available to the public through small point-of-sale operations at the facility.
The kitchen has been funded with the support of multiple sponsors, including the Kenan Charitable Trust, the Knight Donor Advised Fund at the Bluegrass Community Foundation, the E.E. Murry Foundation, Traditional Bank, Kentucky Agricultural Development Funds and Crawford Builders.
To celebrate the opening, the new kitchen opened its doors on Tuesday with a Stock the Kitchen Open House and Reception, encouraging community members to experience the new space and contribute donations of new or lightly used home kitchen equipment for the cause.
More information on the organization is available on FoodChain’s website, www.foodchainlex.org, along with a “wishlist” of possible materials for donation. Those interested in volunteering with the Teaching and Processing Kitchen can contact the organization by e-mail at info@foodchainlex.org.