The Southside Kitchen Collective is a place where families can come together to cook some food, share some stories, and recharge.
It’s a place where we’re into cooking from scratch – because it’s fun, because it’s economical, and because it’s good for body and soul.
We also love cooking with the seasons and supporting local farmers and food producers as much as possible, but there’s no manifesto here. We come from a lot of different cooking backgrounds. Our families are varied, and the time we can dedicate to preparing food is varied too. We hope that over time this website will house a rich catalog of cooking resources for all kinds of families.
Southside Virginia is a pretty great place to live, and we’re excited to welcome you into our kitchens. Things you might see here over time include recipes, food memories, cooking tips and tricks, kitchen tours, garden tours, cookbook reviews, interviews, and general musings on food and family.
Learn more about our contributors here.
We love guest contributors! Please get in touch if you’re interested! And don’t worry if you’re not a local. While we aim for most of the content here to come from Southside Virginia, we’re glad to be inspired by kitchens further afield. We’re especially interested in topics like:
- How do you cook from scratch with a limited budget or limited time?
- Who taught you to cook?
- What are your go-to recipes?
- How do you involve your kids in the kitchen?
We’re here online, of course, but please join us as well at these in-person gatherings:
Cookbook Club: Starting in January 2012, we’ll meet every other month for a potluck meal where all the food is from the same cookbook. This is a great way to get some fresh inspiration in the kitchen, to enjoy a night out, and to fill your fridge!
Food Buying Club: If enough families are interested, we’ll start a food buying club. This will require a significant investment of time and organization, but the idea here is pretty simple: we’ll use our collective buying power to get bulk discounts on hundreds of pantry and household items.
Food Swaps: A really fun way to fill your pantry with interesting food and to get to know new folks! We’ll gather quarterly (or at whatever pace suits us) to exchange homemade or homegrown foodstuffs like jams, jellies, eggs from backyard chicken flocks, fresh garden produce, home cured meats, frozen baked goods, pickles, home brews – as long as you made or grew it yourself, it’s fair game!
More details to follow on all of this. Please join us! There’s always room at the table.