Experience: Harvest Kitchen’s Local Foods Cafe

The award-winning Harvest Kitchen, run by Farm Fresh RI, doubles as a tasty cafe and a youth training facility that originally launched as a mobile program in 2009, obtaining their Local Foods Cafe location in Pawtucket in 2017. When farms are faced with surplus and gleaned produce that would otherwise go to waste, the nimble staff use it to whip up tasty solutions that not only benefit growers but also community youth. 

My first lunch at Harvest Kitchen was both illuminating and delicious. Inside the spacious cafe, I was greeted by smiling faces and a chalkboard scrawled with inspirational quotes. A fridge held an array of locally made beverages to choose from, and a mini library housed cookbooks. While exploring, I spoke to AmeriCorps volunteer Frank Jollifer about the kitchen’s mission.

“It gives youth a reset,” Jollifer said of the programming, explaining that youth involved with the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) and juvenile centers in Rhode Island are provided this much-needed sustainable outlet as they transition into adulthood. Program director Sean Kontos shared that students attend summer, morning, or after-school cohorts to learn hands-on skills of pickling and jarring leftover fruits and vegetables, meal prep, and catering. The kitchen gives youth a home-base for finding their footing in the culinary world while serving affordable, fresh meals to the surrounding community.

Harvest Kitchen partners with Tides Family Services, Community Action Program and Health Services, and over nine farms – which benefit from the relationship by selling value-added items packed using donated produce and recipes under the farms’ own labels. Of the more than 300 students who have gone through culinary training since 2009, some continue to work with Market Mobile, the food distribution branch of Farm Fresh RI, and many others move on to work for various restaurants, often expressing their thanks for the leg up Harvest Kitchen provides.

I was excited for the opportunity to taste the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor, settling in for a cozy cup of herbal tea produced by Sanctuary Herbs of Providence, a brand that partners with immigrant and refugee farmers. The relaxing blend of holy basil and lavender complemented an appetizer known as the Power Bowl: a healthy mix of greens, kale, roasted chickpeas, quinoa, cucumbers, and Narragansett Creamery feta cheese with falafel and tahini dressing.

Next, I had the Ocean State Melt. The bread was toasted to just the right level of crispness with gooey cheese inside with pickles and morning-caught cod salad. I dipped my sandwich in a light and creamy curry soup special, a hearty blend of mixed vegetables and chickpeas. For dessert, a soft oatmeal cranberry cookie loaded with dried cranberries was the perfect sweet note to end on.

After my meal, Kontos shared with me some of the ways he hopes to see Harvest Kitchen continue to grow, from expanding hands-on experiences for youth to hosting events in the space catered by students. Additionally, a school meal program, which currently makes lunch for a pilot school, was built to provide fresh meals in the communities where the youth they serve live.

A farm-to-table cafe with a mission, Harvest Kitchen checks all the boxes for a delicious lunch or grab-and-go snack, and diners can feel good about where they spend their money, as proceeds go back into the training program.

Harvest Kitchen – Local Foods Cafe

2 Bayley Street, Pawtucket

401-335-3766

FarmFreshRI.org/programs/harvest-kitchen