Community Work

Community is the foundation of food, and food is the foundation of community. Often we gather around food to celebrate, mourn, support, teach, grow, heal, survive, show love, nurture, connect with nature, and so much more. It’s only natural that a chef would want to serve their community using their skill set!

Below you will find ways in which Chef Maria been working with both the local and national community. This community work is based on the principle that every human being should have the right to afford and access safe, healthy, sustainable food and environments.

Mary’s Place

During the COVID-19 outbreak, Maria’s restaurant Tilth partnered with Mary’s Place, donating and helping families maintain bare essentials as they go through the hardest time in their lives. Mary’s Place provides safe, inclusive shelter and services that support women, children, and families on their journey out of homelessness. Since 1999, Mary's Place has helped hundreds of women and families move out of homelessness and into more stable situations.

American Chef Corps

On September 7, 2012, Chef Maria became part of the American Chef Corps. Less than 100 chefs across the nation were chosen for this honor. The Diplomatic Culinary Partnership was initiated by Hillary Rodham Clinton with the mission to incorporate food, hospitality, and the dining experience into Clinton’s “smart power” approach to diplomacy. This approach encourages the use of every diplomatic tool available to share our values, promote mutual understanding, and create conditions for a peaceful, stable, and prosperous world. The partnership strengthens the Department of State’s formal diplomatic engagements with foreign leaders and fosters cross-cultural exchange between our nation and the world. 

The American Chef Corps is a network of chefs from across the country who have agreed to serve as resources to the Department of State in its efforts to incorporate culinary engagement into its ongoing public diplomacy efforts.

In 2012, chef Maria did her first assignment in Sicily working with the U.S. embassy in Naples to promote a Sicilian-American cross-cultural exchange through a cooking demonstration of a traditional American thanksgiving dish inspired by Sicilian ingredients. It was aired on a local Sicilian television channel.

James Beard Foundation Chef Advocacy Program

Chef Maria attended the pilot Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change and was then invited back by the James Beard Foundation as the representing alumni to mentor the following year’s campers. The Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change provides a unique opportunity for civically and politically minded chefs to become more effective leaders for food-system change. During thematic retreats around the country, participants receive advocacy and media training while learning about important issues, challenges, and opportunities facing the industry. The goal is to build a growing network of like-minded chefs to provide support for personal interests and passions, and give tools and guidance that help them act as influential advocates.

Chef Maria has also become an advisor to the Chef Action Network (CAN) that is supported by the James Beard Foundation. This up-and-coming nonprofit organization connects chefs to the experts, tools, and resources they need to create lasting change in their communities, the country, and the world. CAN is focused on harnessing the power of America’s preeminent chefs to help create awareness about and inspire people to take action in support of a strong, just, and healthy food system.

Chef Maria was so inspired by the chef boot camp, that she invited the James Beard Foundation to facilitate a Seattle salon in July of 2013.  The salon consisted of 12 Seattle chefs and 12 local food advocacy and policy representatives. The goal was to allow chefs to engage, learn, collaborate, network, and take action in their effort to heal our city’s, our nation’s, and our planet's broken food system. The James Beard Foundation was so pleased by the outcome that they use the James Beard Seattle salon as a pilot to reproduce in other local communities.

Mountaineers

Since 2016, Maria has been on the advisory council for this nonprofit outdoor community of 14,000 active members in the Pacific Northwest. The Mountaineers believe it's important to introduce people to the outdoors early and often, and work to protect the outdoor experience for future generations.

Superchefs Against Superbugs

Superchefs Against Superbugs is a movement of chefs who aim to stop the overuse of antibiotics in the production of chickens, cows, and pigs. The program was initiated by a Pew Charitable Trust campaign on human health and industrial farming. Chef Maria has signed on as a ‘Superchef’ for the program, along with other celebrity chefs such as Hugh Acheson, Sam Talbot, Tom Colicchio, Suzanne Goin, Mary Sue Milliken, and more.

GMO Labeling

In August of 2013, Chef Maira worked to promote and pass legislation to ensure that genetically engineered foods are labeled properly in Washington State. She is also partnering with local Seattle chocolate company, Theo’s Chocolate, on other the Yes on 522 Campaign to continue to work on the issue.

Fresh Bucks

Chef Maria has been working on fundraising, educational outreach, and lending support to the Seattle based program, Fresh Bucks. Fresh Bucks is a nutrition incentive program that launched in 2012 that doubles the purchasing power for low-income Seattle residents who use their federal food stamp benefits (now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets. Fresh Bucks helps low-income families afford healthy foods, diversifies the customer base of farmers markets, and keeps food dollars in our regional economy. Many low-income individuals find that cost is a primary barrier to eating recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, and Fresh Bucks helps them to afford these foods.

PCC Farmland Trust

Chef Maria has been a board member of the nonprofit, PCC Farmland Trust from 2009-2015. The trust’s mission is to secure, preserve, and steward threatened farmland in the Northwest, ensuring that generations of local farmers continue productive farming using sustainable, organic growing methods.

The Farmland Trust takes its mission one step further by working to place farmers on rescued property, actively producing food for the local community. Some of the farmland the trust has saved include Full Circle, Growing Things Farm, Nash’s Organic Produce, Bennington Place, Jubilee Farm, 20 Acres Farm, and Tahoma Farm.

Seattle Restaurant Week

Chef Maria is the co-founder and co-chair of Seattle Restaurant Week. There are over 150 restaurants that benefit from this promotion in the greater Seattle area. It’s a fantastic time for Seattle diners to receive a special discount during select weeks throughout the year. 

United States Consulate

Chef Maria participated in the 2020 World Expo, held in Milan, Italy. She was one of the chefs representing the United States for the World Expo that was focused on United to Feed the Planet.

Local Farmers & Producers

Chef Maria has had long term relationships with the farmers, ranchers, and fishers from whom she sources the food. Some of her favorite farmers, due to their amazing product, commitment to sustainability, and just being all around amazing human beings are Skagit River Ranch, St. Jude’s Fishing Vessel, Loki Fish, Holmquist Hazelnut Orchard, Fairhaven Mill, Aspen Hollow Sheep Station, Bluebird Grain Farms, Taylor Shellfish Farms, Tonnemaker Farms, Kings Gardens, Billy's Gardens, Fresh Breeze Organic Dairy, and Foraged and Found Edibles, just to name a few.