While the queer community thrives in Brooklyn, there still isn’t a lot of options for people who do not want to meet or mingle at LGBTQ+ bars and nightlife parties. “I wanted to create a community and networking space to meet queer people surrounded by food,” said Gabrielle Lenart, founder of This Queer Kitchen, a new project she launched in East Williamsburg just last year.

This Queer Kitchen’s mission is to facilitate connections in the queer community through food. They hope to foster a safe and inclusive environment, especially for those in the womxn, trans, non-binary, and QTPOC communities. “We focus on highlighting the importance of food as a community-building agent and roundtable for discussion, skill-building, and networking,” their website states.

While pursuing her masters in Food Studies at NYU, Lenart had to create a website in a food media class. Her professor prompted her to create something connecting queerness and food, “I got really passionate about it. I started to see the need for this content, and I thought this was my calling.”