Seattle's U-District Food Bank: Fighting Hunger & Inspiring Chefs

August 22, 2010

On Seattle’s University Avenue, an area where college students grab coffee, hang out at trendy bars, and frequent hip clothing stores, there quietly exists an organization that caters to another demographic entirely.

The University District Food Bank, each week, serves more than 1,000 families in Northeast Seattle, allowing them to choose groceries from stocked shelves to meet their nutritional needs. In 2008, the food bank had more than 46,500 customer visits and distributed over 1.8 million pounds of food—an astounding feat for a physically tiny organization. Nationally, the need for food banks is growing. According to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data from 2008, 17.3 million people live in households that are considered to have "very low food security," a USDA term that means one or more people in the household were hungry over the course of the year because of the inability to afford enough food. This number has increased from 11.9 million in 2007 and 8.5 million in 2000.

The University District Food Bank, one of the most successful nonprofits in North Seattle, not only fills an important service niche, it also participates in unique outreach events.

Last Saturday, I had the privilege to attend Ready Set Go Cook, a live, Iron Chef-style competition between local chefs Zephyr Paquette (of Elliott Bay Café) and Justin Newstrum (of Portage Bay Café). The chefs’ challenge: to make, on the spot, a dish using fresh ingredients from the morning’s farmers’ market, as well as ingredients sourced from whatever was on the shelves at the University Food Bank. Local, ethical, low-cost ingredients were combined in delicious and creative ways before the audience’s eyes.