It was the summer of 2020 when Vanessa Parish banded together with some of her queer friends to form the Queer Food Foundation (QFF). In the midst of a global pandemic, the food industry plummeted, and with it fell large groups of marginalized people who were fired or furloughed. Thus the Queer Food Foundation was born, starting as a mutual aid group that helped support queer and trans people of color in the food industry.
Today, the Queer Food Foundation is both a resource and a community. One of the most effective initiatives Parish and her team have instituted has been their directory — an ever-growing database of queer folk that is used to bring communities together in various regions. More than 100 people have inputted their information into the directory, and all in a safe way.
“We are a very compromised community,” Parish said. “So, we wanted to offer folks autonomy in how their information is presented.” As such, anyone inputting information into the directory form can choose what information gets put out into the public and what information is for the QFF team’s eyes only.
This form of community is important in a queer world that is constantly under attack. Especially during the holiday season, the Queer Food Foundation is prepared to support LGBTQIA+ people nationwide, whether you are in need of a gift recommendation or just a person to talk to.
What Parish calls her “baby” is the organization’s Holiday Gift Guide, a 57-page virtual document that highlights myriad queer-owned businesses, chefs, products, recipes, and more. Last year, the guide had more than 45 queer entrepreneurs and businesses featured; this year, that number more than doubled, with over 90 food-related queer businesses getting a platform. Many of the businesses are from Latinx, trans, or AAPI members of the community, so queer folks who have intersectional identities can find themselves represented in the organization’s resources.
“We literally do not have to shop outside our community,” Parish said.
Since the holidays are all about coming together, QFF has also put in place what they are calling a “virtual village.” Each month, there is a forum open to any LGBTQIA+ people who’d like to join, each time with a different overarching topic ranging from conversations about safe spaces to employment opportunities.
“We’re doing this for folks who may not have a space to celebrate, but they can have an hour with their community to talk and engage,” said Parish.
Most QFF events, if not all, are free. The organization often finds sponsorships in an effort to ensure that socioeconomic status in no way affects whether or not any given queer person is able to join the community. One of the most exciting partnerships for Parish has been QFF’s ongoing collaboration with The Infatuation, a periodical that specializes in restaurant recommendations.
During Pride — which QFF starts planning events for months in advance — The Infatuation helps QFF put on a queer bake sale. The event highlights small queer-owned businesses nationwide. The Infatuation pays the businesses to make Pride-related treats to sell, which puts money back into the businesses, on top of the sales they make and the national platform they glean. Plus, The Infatuation provides a donation to QFF, which helps the organization stay up and running to be able to put on more events like this.
Coming into the new year, though, Parish is anticipating some difficulties maintaining QFF’s funding.
“We’re in a very volatile time in the country right now. We started in 2020 for almost the same reason that we are worried about 2025,” said Parish. “We need the funding to keep our efforts going.”
In 2025, Parish and the QFF team have plans to focus their efforts on partnerships with non-profit organizations and small businesses that will bring more support to the people of the queer food and hospitality world, as well as to educate more people about how to implement inclusivity in various spaces.
Parish has planned workshops, both in-person and virtual, that are dedicated to teaching those who want to host events or run businesses how to be inclusive — not just of queer people, but also of those with disabilities or impairments, neurodivergence, and more. These workshops will feature talks from queer experts in the Human Resources field who will be educating the group on how to operate an ethical business that is a safe space. The goal, in the end, is to provide toolkits for entrepreneurs.
And they will. If nothing else, the Queer Food Foundation has a team of people who are dedicated to fulfilling their mission to promote, protect, and fund queer food spaces. The organization has raised around $40,000 for Black queer and trans people experiencing food insecurity, and it has put $10,000 toward grants for work in the queer community that serves to educate and push for equity.
“No more excuses. No more ‘I don’t know how to make a gender-inclusive space’ or ‘I don’t know how to create equity,’” said Parish. “We will tell you.”
