The site of a hundred independent food vendors across the grassy lawn of Flushing Meadow Park always makes my stomach growl in eager anticipation. This is the Queens Night Market, a cultural festival that offers food from over 90 countries through NY’s immigrant communities. John Wang is the Founder. Only six years old, it almost immediately became an icon of […]

Senator John Liu is a Democratic NY State Senator for District 11, covering Northeast Queens. He is also a long-time Queens resident, who immigrated at the age of 5 from Taiwan. We chatted via Zoom to discuss the amazing food cultures in his district, as well as ways to build both food security and community resilience going forward. Do you […]

Victor Dadras is an urban architect specializing in Main Street Downtown Revitalization Planning, a Partner at Dadras Architects and Adjunct Professor at the Parsons School of Design/The New School. He is also a longtime community leader in Queens, Founder of the Douglaston Local Development Corporation (DLDC) and impromptu organizer of food pantries in Northeast Queens. Victor and I sat 6 […]

Ruth Harrigan is a Queens-based beekeeper with hives across NYC. Her company HoneyGramz sells honey from her beehives in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island, while also donating a percentage of profits towards efforts to save bee populations. Ruth is also an avid gardener, both in her own yard and in community gardens across NYC. Ruth and I had a zoom […]

Antonio Cintorino was a long-time beloved family friend and original inspiration for my project idea. For as long as I can remember, summers meant this gentle, quiet man grew mountains of giant fruit and vegetables in his tiny Queens yard. He widely shared his produce with everyone – family, neighbors, mail carriers, dog walkers – really anyone who admired his […]