edibleportland.com | 25 Cappuccino, TPK Brewing, Siam Umami, Hungry Heart Bakery, Whits Pizza Pies, and Kann. There’s even an entire wine festival, Queer Wine Fest, dedicated to LGBTQIA+ folks in wine. Of course, this list is far from complete and defining “queer food” itself is complex–there is no singular definition. There’s queerowned, queer-operated, and queer-friendly (though shouldn’t every restaurant be a welcoming space for all identities?). What unites these businesses is their shared commitment to building something larger than just a restaurant. They’re building queer third spaces: places for mutual support, connection, and visibility, often offering daytime and familyinclusive alternatives to clubs and bars. In many cultures, third spaces provide a community outlet that extends beyond work and home. To be clear: opening and running a food business is hard enough. Doing so as a queer or trans person while navigating systemic barriers and focusing on community requires care and incredible persistence. But that’s what makes these spaces so remarkable. I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing four food-focused spaces that are quietly reshaping what it means to gather with purpose: Friendship Kitchen, a restaurant that feels like your family home; Coffee Beer, a coffee-beer hybrid built on the golden rule of kindness; Side Yard Farm and Kitchen, a regenerative farm tucked into the city’s backyard; and Tzimmy, a plant-based, low waste, community minded pop-up. These places are rooted in more than just food; they're about making space for people to breathe easier, to belong, and to build something better together. “We’re not a coffee or beer snob spot,” says Philip Stewart of Coffee Beer. “We’re geeking out about the stuff around it.” The same could be said of Side Yard Farm, spearheaded by Stacey Givens, where the harvests aren’t just about feeding people, but creating a space that blurs the lines between farm, gathering place, mutual-aid hub, and queer utopia. She collaborates with primarily queer women makers like Landmass and Sandy River Studio Ceramics, employs equity pricing for events, and donates (just as Coffee Beer) to Equitable Giving Circle. “I'm very transparent about [equity pricing]. First, it's a lot of hard work. But also, it’s full circle. It gives back to our community, and I hire other queer and BIPOC makers to create that experience,” says Givens. For Stacey, who has grown Side Yard over the last 17 years, food is a form of healing, particularly for the queer community and chosen families who’ve found refuge among her rows of produce. Opposite page: Jenny Nguyen of The Sports Bra, the country’s first sports bar dedicated to women’s sports. Queer Plants Cafe partners Ernest and Ross Koh, a classically trained chef and an avid gardener. Left: A pint at TPK Brewing. Below: Owner, Chef and Cancer Survivor Whit Higuera of Whit's Pizza.
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