01
Curiosity before verdict
You would rather ask than assume. A dish you cannot name is an invitation rather than a problem, and a person whose story you don't know is the best seat at the table.
(a) · Board of directors
Governance at the head of the table.
A nonprofit is only as good as the people who keep it honest. Our board sets direction, watches the finances, and makes sure the mission stays the last word in every decision. Right now we are looking for new directors: people who share how we see the world, and who will carry this message further than we can on our own.
(b) · Who we're looking for
Not a name for a page. A person for the work.
We are looking for directors aligned with our worldview and our vision. We believe a shared meal is a real way to meet the people you live beside, that the traditions on someone's plate deserve the same seriousness as any policy paper, and that a city of arrivals like Boston is the right place to prove all of it.
The directors we want will amplify our message and our impact. They will say the thing we would say, in rooms we cannot get into, to people who already trust them. Then they will come back and help us do the work properly: the budget, the policies, the long-range plan, the hard questions asked early.
You do not need to be a chef, a food writer, or a Boston native. You do need to believe this work matters enough to give it your judgment and your hours.
Where we'd love more depth
- Nonprofit finance and treasury
- Law and governance
- Research and the university world
- Food writing, journalism, and media
- Farming, markets, and food supply
- Marketing, design, and brand
We are a majority women- and minority-owned and operated organization, and we want a board that looks like the community we serve rather than a list of familiar names.
(c) · Values
Six things we are not flexible about
Skills can be learned and networks can be built. These six are harder to teach, so we would rather find them in a person than ask for them later.
02
Hospitality, practiced
You treat welcome as a discipline rather than a mood. It shows in how a board treats its staff, its partners, and each other, long after the event ends.
03
Listening first
You have sat in rooms where the point was not to be heard. You know the difference between speaking for a community and making room for one.
04
Amplify, not overshadow
You will carry our message into rooms we cannot reach, lend your name to open a door, and then step back so the work stays the subject.
05
Rigor with warmth
You can read a budget line and a grandmother's recipe with the same care. Stories deserve evidence, and evidence deserves a story.
06
The table is wider than ours
You carry a network and you spend it generously: funders, farmers, cooks, journalists, professors, and the neighbors who have done this work for years without a grant.
One honest caveat
A board seat here is real work on a small organization's schedule. If the title is what you are after, this chair will disappoint you, and we would rather say so now than a year in.
(d) · What the board does
Four jobs, one table
Stewardship
Hold the mission steady, making sure every program, partnership, and dollar stays pointed at cultural understanding.
Fiduciary oversight
Approve the budget, review the finances, and keep our 501(c)(3) obligations in good order.
Program guidance
Bring perspective from education, food, media, and the neighborhood to the work our team proposes.
Opening doors
Introduce us to the funders, institutions, and community leaders who should be at this table.
Board members
We're finalizing this page. The directors' names, roles, and short biographies will be listed here as soon as they're confirmed for publication, with a portrait for each, in the same format as the rest of our team. If you're a director who should appear, or you'd like the current roster published, send it over and we'll add it.
(e) · Serving on the board
What we ask, what we offer
Directors give a few hours a month, serve on a committee, and bring a network. In return they sit close to the work: the story nights, the kitchens, the partnerships. And they help decide what the table looks like next.
Good to know
- A registered 501(c)(3) public charity in Massachusetts
- Board meetings on a regular cadence, minutes published
- Committees for programs, finance, and development
- Giving expected of every director, alongside governance
(f) · Board interest
Think this is you?
Tell us how you see the world and what you would do with a seat at this table. A paragraph is enough to start, and we read every one.