Page 2 of 11
Fill your plates with a heaping side of good karma.
By AMANDA ROCK
comments@cityweekly.net
Whether you're looking for a caterer for your next work meeting, in need of a new spot for lunch or just wanting to get your hands dirty by volunteering in a garden, supporting these local businesses and charities goes a long way for your taste buds, as well as our community.
Spice Kitchen Incubator brings together refugees and other community members interested in starting a full or part-time food business.Spice Kitchen Incubator
Refugees interested in starting a food business are helped by Spice Kitchen Incubator (385-229-4484, SpiceKitchenIncubator.org), sponsored by the International Rescue Committee and Salt Lake County. Spice Kitchen Incubator provides technical assistance, training and an ample commercial kitchen. You can find menus from its burgeoning catering business on its website and learn how you can get involved. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for their booths (such as Mother of All Sudanese cuisine, pictured) at area farmers markets and at World Refugee Day on June 4 at Liberty Park. Follow Spice Kitchen Incubator on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with its many entrepreneurs and to find out about opportunities to sample its delicious, authentic food.
Yardbarkin Hot Sauces
Deb Nahvi and Mindy Bridges are the enthusiastic couple behind Yardbarkin hot sauces. Turning their hobby into a business, they donate a portion of their earnings to animal organizations like Best Friends Animal Society and Ching Farm Rescue and Sanctuary. If you've been to the Wasatch Front Farmers Market at Wheeler's Farm in Murray or Gardner Village in South Jordan, you've noticed them peddling their six flavorful hot sauces amid a crowd of customers and friendly dogs. You can also find their tasty hot sauces on Yardbarkin.com or at Urban Farm & Feed.
The Green Urban
Lunch Box
Donate your time, your fruit trees or even your backyard. The Green Urban Lunch Box (801-318-1745, TheGreenUrbanLunchBox.com) provides hands-on training for urban agriculture through creative programs. Kids are taught about growing food with the aid of an actual school bus turned into a mobile greenhouse. In the FruitShare Program, participants register their fruit trees for extra help with care and harvesting. What they don't want will go to feed the hungry. Elderly community members turn their back yards into urban farms in the Back-Farm Program. The vegetables are divided between the homeowner, the volunteers and hunger-relief organizations.
3 Squares
Food education for underserved children is the heart of 3 Squares (801-696-5044, 3SquaresInc.org). Through an after-school program, kids work with local chefs to learn about healthy food choices and making their own meals. Taste of the Wasatch (Sunday, Aug. 7) is the fundraiser behind this nonprofit. Each year, more than 50 chefs, restaurants and bakeries, boutique wineries and craft breweries (alongside hundreds of volunteers) come together to throw a party to raise funds to fight hunger. Guests can enjoy live music, a silent auction and the best food and drink in the state at Solitude Mountain Resort. Get your tickets at TasteOfTheWasatch.org.
Even Stevens
Even Stevens (EvenStevens.com) has earned a reputation as the foremost philanthropic restaurant around by selling craveable sandwiches with the simple concept of donating a sandwich for each one sold. Partnering with local nonprofits, Even Stevens makes sure everybody gets fed. Between its four locations in Utah (downtown Salt Lake City, Sugar House, Draper and St. George), it donated 247,031 sandwiches in 2015 and shows no signs of slowing down. Look for other Even Stevens locations popping up in Intermountain cities like Ogden, Logan and Boise.
