This meal was created with love and intention, it took years to prepare, months to grow, and hours and hours to harvest. As I plated each course and set them in front of our friends that gathered at the table underneath the pines on our farm, I felt fulfilled and proud of my role as a farmer, of the community that I am a part of, and the willingness of my friends to trust us with feeding them and theirs.

“Who puts people in dirt in white?” jokes Celeste Shaw, community staple and owner of Chaps, as she stands in a bare field where a 300-foot-long communal table will pop-up and play host to 275 guests just two days later. Beginning in 2019, the farm and family has hosted Terrain Table here, a fundraiser for Terrain, the Spokane-based non-profit.

Sniff, swirl, sniff, sip, swish, swallow, close eyes in pleasure, repeat. These eight actions can allow one to enjoy a wine on their own, but when performed alongside others, they open the door to a communal experience. By sharing a toast, taste or bottle, wine can be a conduit for deeply rooted community connections.

Nothing against your average grocery store—I’m grateful to have so many options in one place, something that would baffle my ancestors—but going to the farmer’s market has brought me so much closer to the natural world. I’m aware of the seasons in a way that I never was when I blindly bought zucchini all year. I know what it’s like to wait patiently for those first perfect blueberries, and to jump on the rhubarb before it’s gone. I can taste the difference when produce is in season.

Spokane author Kate Lebo is known for her love of pie, whiskey, and the local arts community. In The Book of Difficult Fruit, Lebo explores a variety of tasty but troublesome items. This exploration of produce ranging from the mundane to exotic is sure to teach you something new make you think twice next time you’re offered fruit salad!

After honing their coffee craft in Portland, Jamie Kay Christianson and Hope Hines return to Spokane with Espuma Coffee. Now the pair plan to build a brand that can make an impact on both a local and global level.

Bolstad studied pastry at New York’s French Culinary Institute, but it is the memories of cooking with her father as he imitated the Swedish Chef and enjoying Scandinavian sweets with her grandparents that influenced her nostalgia-inducing treats as much as her work in a Michelin-starred kitchen and with Seattle’s Relay restaurant group.

In 2017, Katy and Ethan Bean decided to start baking pies with as many local ingredients as possible. Now, Bean & Pie is a mainstay at locals farmers markets and has their own shop in Downtown Coeur d'Alene.

You won’t find Snickers or birthday cake flavors at Spokane Cheesecakes, with chef-owner Thomas Speight opting for real, natural ingredients like berries and citrus at his outpost on Sprague, just east of Downtown. Spokane Cheesecakes instead showcase the simplicity and authenticity of what a good cheesecake can be without compromising flavor or quality.

At The Rusty Mug, you can enjoy decadent chocolates, ice cream, sodas, and freshly brewed coffee in Spokane's Sprague Union District. But unlike most coffee shops, this place also serves nostalgic trips down memory lane. Grab a cup of locally roasted coffee or a tasty truffle and wander around their collection of vintage wares and kitschy gifts.

Founded during the pandemic, Gage Lang and his team started out by delivering their cookies straight to customers around Spokane and the Valley. Breaüxdoo has expanded their offerings from just cookies, now selling full-sized slices of cake and even cookie dough and cake pops.

MiFlavour's flagship store takes its cues from contemporary French retailers, with mirrored surfaces and video screens that tempt you with all of the bakery's sweet desserts. The aroma of coffee and chocolate greets customers as they peruse the carefully curated display cases, full of locally-crafted pastries, gelato, macarons and more!

Every Sunday at 9am outside of the Main Market Co-Op, you can find volunteers with Spokane Community Against Racism distributing free coffee and breakfast burritos provided by local restaurants Boots and Ruins to anyone looking for a warm breakfast as a way to foster community and fight hunger.

Stacie Kearney never expect her bread-making hobby to go any further than the confines of her home kitchen. But when COVID-19 shut down businesses and yeast flew off store shelves, Kearney sprung into action selling loaves of her Lucky Lady Bread and sharing her beloved sourdough starter “Carl" with those in the community in need of a little lift.

As the owner of Chaps and Lucky Vintage & Pretty Things, Celeste Shaw is one of the most recognizable personalities around Spokane. While all her outward achievements are enough to keep her busy 24/7, Shaw’s benevolent work behind the scenes doesn’t get as much attention. So it should come as no surprise that in the days following the COVID-19 shutdown, Shaw devised a plan to benefit others. The message being spread was simple, but universal: “food is Love.”

Barely an acre in size and nestled on a hillside in Davenport, Washington, Renegade Farm exemplifies a unique way of growing crops that relies mostly on the self-sustaining nature of its terrain.

If you have visited any of Spokane’s local farmers markets recently, you have likely heard Jared Kuck of K2 Greens asking passersby “Have you ever tried a microgreen?”

What started out as just a first job at age 16 quickly became a passion for Chef Austin Conklin, head chef at Inland Pacific Kitchen in Spokane’s historic Washington Cracker Co. Building. After harvesting nettles at Urban Eden Farm, Conklin returns to the kitchen to whip up an avant garde dessert.

For many immigrants, finding the flavors, ingredients and dishes they were raised on in their adopted home countries can be difficult. But the Inland Northwest offers Almaz Ainuu, owner of Spokane’s Queen of Sheba, a unique link to her native Ethiopia: teff.

Between Au Croissant and Fery's Catering and Take-Out, Fery Haghighi has been an icon of Spokane's local culinary landscape since arriving in the Inland Northwest after fleeing her native Iran in the late 1970's.

Mirak Kazanjian launched the Skewers Food Truck because he missed the flavors he grew up with as part of Los Angeles’ large Armenian community. As part of his ongoing desire to help those in need on the other side of the world from Spokane, Kazanjian has been using his truck as a vehicle for change.

Chad White answers questions about his work with The Spokane Hospitality Coalition and speaks on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since launching Revival Tea at local farmers markets in 2019, Drew and Cerina Henry have opened a Downtown tasting room, a second production facility, and can be found on retail shelves and menus around town, fueling Spokane’s tea scene.

Tucked into a prime spot in downtown Spokane’s historic Liberty Building, Gander & Ryegrass offers refined, unhurried, multi-coursed dinners, which chef-owner Peter Froese describes as “Italian-inspired long-course meals.”