All across New York City, queer spaces are taking on ever-evolving forms. In the queer community, social spaces have historically revolved around bars, clubs and speakeasies. In NYC, there’s no shortage of clubs or parties for queer people to find community, but what about beyond the bar?
New School student and chef Jessie YuChen used cooking as a tool to bring together members of the queer community on Sept. 22 with a booth at House of Yes’s annual block party in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
This Queer Kitchen, a business run by YuChen and New York University student and chef Gabrielle Lenart, blends queer community-building with food, creating environments of acceptance through cooking, conversation and collaboration.
YuChen and Lenart are both Food Studies students. YuChen is This Queer Kitchen’s Operations and Logistics Manager and a second-year undergraduate student at the New School. Lenart is its founder and CEO, and a second-year graduate student at New York University (NYU). YuChen and Lenart shared details of This Queer Kitchen’s origin with the Free Press, and how they met at a food industry event at NYU.
“We have very similar interests in terms of food and queer culture, so she was like, ‘would you like to help me with This Queer Kitchen?’” YuChen said. This Queer Kitchen is YuChen and Lenart’s brainchild, a product of a deep love for both food and queer spaces.
“It was kind of like a food porn blog on Instagram at first,” said YuChen. “We turned that into a business and started doing pop-up events in the queer community.” Just a few months later, This Queer Kitchen hosted their first event in April 2019. Now, almost a year after they first met, through joint events with organizations and brands like The Phluid Project and the Museum of Food and Drink, This Queer Kitchen has established its importance in NYC’s queer community as a safe space.
Their most recent collaborator was House of Yes, a popular artistic venue located on Wyckoff Avenue in Bushwick. On Sept. 22, Jefferson Avenue was transformed into a rainbow-covered block party. This year, in collaboration with bedding company Brooklinen, dozens of booths and vendors were set up on the block from 12-6 p.m., including Brooklyn Film Camera, Pendulum People and This Queer Kitchen.
At the event, This Queer Kitchen found itself surrounded by countless queer artists, creators and attendees. “Having an event like this is so important and empowering to the queer community,” said Lenart. “To have a space like this within Bushwick is just really incredible.”
The team of This Queer Kitchen sat under a blue tent, joined by drag queen and pastry chef, Trisha Bordeaux. Families and groups of friends wandered by, lured in by the smell of cookies and a welcoming “Hello!” from Lenart.
Blank sugar cookies covered a table, with bags of multicolored icing and sprinkles to match. Wearing unicorn-print leggings, Bordeaux guided children in decorating their own unicorn cookies while parents snapped photos. “Everything revolves around the kitchen in a home. In a home, you have your own space, your own safety. Gathering in the kitchen is something that does wonders for community,” said Bordeaux.
As Bordeaux shared with the Free Press, the need for sober queer spaces is increasingly important, and their value in the community is crucial. “We need more sober queer spaces,” said Bordeaux. “My partner and I are both sober, and there is a real need for community that doesn’t revolve around alcohol. That’s why This Queer Kitchen is so great, because it shows that food can unite people in a safe way.”
YuChen and Lenart shared that the relationship between queer identites and food is foundational to This Queer Kitchen. Upon visiting their website, their mission statement is shown on the home screen: “Facilitating connections in the queer community through food.”
“I think that food is something that is universal for everyone, no matter what your background is. I think that it’s a very natural thing that the presence of food brings people together and they start talking, whether it’s over food or beverages,” said YuChen.
As the sun set on the block party, bubbles floated through the air and children danced with their parents as they descended into the subway. With them, they took home swag, food and, perhaps, some new perspectives. Thanks to YuChen, Lenart, dozens of unicorn cookies and the colors of the rainbow, Jefferson Avenue became a bit more magical.
Video by Gabriella De Gracia