Community Dinner with Cooking Matters (First Seating)

A dinner with beer and wine available for sale. This is not a cooking class. This seating is limited to 40 guests. Review our registration and cancellation policies here.

If you’ve attended a cooking class at 18th St., you’ve heard us talk about our Cooking Matters program. This 6-week program combines hands-on cooking with nutrition education, offering grocery donations to adults, families, and kids in partnership with local organizations. However, you likely don’t know how Cooking Matters makes home cooking more affordable, approachable, and inspiring. This edition of Community Dinner, produced in collaboration with our Cooking Matters staff, gives our guests a deeper understanding of the program with a meal that embodies the core tenets of the program. 

Participants in our Cooking Matters program learn how accessible good food can be. We tailor our recipes to be approachable, flexible, and exciting for our participants. We collaborate with our participants to design menus that reflect their goals and interests. At this dinner, you’ll get to experience these elements in a seasonal, vibrant bowl of delectable ingredients made with love!

If you’re looking for a beautiful meal filled with nourishing, delicious foods and an opportunity to connect more deeply to your community and gain a deeper understanding of what 18 Reasons does outside of our 18th Street Kitchen, join us! Let us fill your belly and your heart!

This ticket page is for the first seating from 6-7 pm. We do not have reserved seating and dining will take place at communal tables. For our second seating at 7:30 pm, please click here.

MENU

Hibiscus Orange Agua Fresca 

Build Your Dream Bowl with Whole Grain Brown Rice, Rancho Gordo Beans, Lime Chili Glazed Roasted Carrots, Avocado, Cauliflower “Ceviche” plus your choice of:

• Adobo Mushrooms or 
• Chile Verde Chicken Thighs or
• Nopales

Family-Style Sauces and Garnishes:

• Cilantro Sauce
• Avocado Crema 
• Seasonal Fruit Salsa 
• Roasted Red Salsa 
• Cilantro
• Pickled Onion
• Queso Fresco 
• Pickled Jalapeno 

Chocolate Chili Date “Snickers” with Peanut Butter

This menu contains the following common allergens:  Dairy, Soy (in chocolate), Coconut, Peanuts. If you have allergies or dietary restrictions that concern your ability to attend, please e-mail info@18reasons.org before purchasing a ticket. Because we are cooking in large batches, we are very limited in accommodating allergens and dietary restrictions.

Gracie Schatz has been in the food industry for over fifteen years. In her career, Gracie has worked in a variety of places: as a baker and private chef in Eugene, OR, farming and cooking in Italy, raising pigs in the Sierra Foothills, butchering at the Fatted Calf in San Francisco, managing Avedano’s in Bernal Heights, cooking at Bay Area restaurants Molina and Cala and her own pop-up restaurant, Bread and Bones Supper. In Eugene, she started her own food justice nonprofit, Marigold Cooking Collective. After working with 18 Reasons as a guest instructor for the past 7 years, Gracie has decided to move from Eugene to San Francisco and join us as our head Chef. Her dream is to never stop learning about delicious food, to never stop exploring the many nuanced ways that food brings us joy, connection to culture, identity, seasons and community. 18 Reasons feels like the perfect place to explore this dream and she is so excited to be here!

Cooking Matters is a 6-week series that pairs hands-on cooking practice with culturally appropriate nutrition discussions and healthy grocery donations. Participants meet weekly to learn cooking skills, discuss nutrition topics, and prepare a meal together. As food choice is both cultural and deeply personal, classes choose their ingredients and recipes from a wide array of options. Our students thrive when they are learning new recipes and techniques for the types of food they love. In addition to hands-on practice, we integrate discussion and peer to peer problem solving to increase student confidence and engagement. Combined with practical food skills education, this confidence empowers many to make long lasting changes to the way they shop, cook, and eat. To learn more and volunteer, click here.