 Hello Burlington, Vermont. I am Navarro Justino Dodge This you're with Olivia and this is change and we are right now at Community kitchen and we are interviewing local Burlingtonians About the value of the community kitchen Yes, so let's get ready right you ready chance. Okay. Yes. I am Make sure you lock it Like and subscribe on our YouTube down below. Let's go What is the community kitchen to you? Yeah, so the tiny community kitchen We're just a small business located at 156 North Wyniski and what we pretty much do is we bring in a bunch of chefs small home-cooked chefs and provide them an outlet for To cook in basically, you know, we understand that Burlington has quite a high reputation for high rent and so we kind of are Providing these local chefs with an outlet to cook their food and given Burlington a variety in itself What do you think the value of a community kitchen is just uh, yeah, I think the name Says it itself, you know, we're trying to build something here in the community I have a place not only where people can come gather, you know, but have good times have new food You know food really brings people together. So that's what we're trying to do here. Oh, you know, I think it means a lot I think that having in a state that you know Normally has a lot of big box businesses around and being able to look out for those who you know have the same dedication and and And you know have the same pride in the work that they do it's very important to be able to have access to these Kind of places. So yeah, it was great that you know that they were being that this space was actually being able to be offered For such a, you know, a wonderful thing such as Empress kitchen. So I think it's awesome I've only been here a couple times But I love that like different people in the community can come and share the food that they make and there's always Really yummy food here So yeah, I love it. Oh, baby. The first of all the food is Fantastic. Oh, I wasn't supposed to say that right and bleep it. Okay But the vegan ribs is my favorite the piss the potato salad is the BES T And everything else is good too, but those are my favorites and I love Community our community is blessed to have and firstly by so full because Nobody can't compete. Why? How is the bomb the best and if you didn't know now, you know Oh, that's my sister too, by the way, I Think it's so important because it gives an opportunity to People who are just starting out in the food industry or have been cooking for a very long time like Empress But don't have the same access to be able to you know, rent their own space. It's it's you know wait for that to pass the Rent here is so expensive. The landlords here are so greedy They charge so much rent and so the tiny community kitchen is pretty cool because it makes it more accessible for Incredible chefs like Empress to sell their food Why do you think do you think it's hard to create something like this in the community like Burlington? I think that opportunity is the biggest thing Right, so I believe if you got a passion for it all you need is the opportunity and I think that's one of the most important things Is here in Burlington how Burlington is a small, you know Knit community. I think that as long as there is passion behind the cooking and if there's a space for it I think that anything can be done if You were to change Like if you were in charge of this that this thing that is starting our community or something you would change like to improve To make it better in our community Hmm. Um Like I said, I've only been here a couple times. I'm not I don't only have anything that I would change. I guess maybe Just make it so that More people know I don't know. I don't know how many people come here But it seems like there's not always a ton of people. So maybe just making it Yeah, I can't I can't I live in this area, but even know about it So having a bigger space where more people can come and gather and cook and stuff And they can be more of like a staple in the community and so my last question Just what's your favorite food here, man? You know, I'm I can't wait to get my hands on these ribs Hey, you know, yeah, I've been I've been vegetarian now for about six years Growing up. I was a meat eater and I love barbecue But since that transition I haven't had a chance to you know to eat anything that is even close to barbecue So when I found out that I got ribs on a menu, I've been licking my lips and every all day all week long I've been waiting for this. So, you know, that's that's really that I might have to try that too soon I think you And then why do you think it was important to start the community the community kitchen? Come on. It's my second. It's my sister's second time being here It was fantastic the first time and everybody loves Empress Levi so food because it's all vegan and She worked very hard to cook this fantastic food for the community Everybody knows and loves her and this space is fantastic. It was started by a black woman You know, but she left the state and I'm so happy we still have a purpose for it Because everybody loves to eat vegan food It is so popular and it's good baby them ribs is everything if you haven't had them You need to try them Why do you think that landlords in Burlington, especially South Burlington charge such exorbitant rent prices? You know So there are a handful of landlords who maybe they're old Maybe you know, they can't really work anymore and they're just trying to get by That does happen sometimes But the vast majority of landlords are rich and greedy and they're competing with other landlords So even if you try to be a nice landlord the way that capitalism works is that if you're not a mean landlord You will get out competed by the other landlords So part of it is a choice like you choose to be a landlord and you choose to be greedy But once you're participating in the capitalist market for housing and rentals You are going to be competing against other people and so to out-compete others. You have to maximize your profit that's how capitalism works and so Landlords both choose to be greedy because they choose to be landlords and also as long as the system of capitalism is in place People are going to be competing against each against each other to essentially be as greedy as possible So because of this like capitalist system How does this allow for like a place like the community kitchen to show up which kind of goes against all the competitive Mindsets that capitalism breeds You know there are good people in Burlington who care about the community and they care about helping each other out And I think that that love will outlive greed How do you get involved with the community kitchen? Yeah, so you can Hit us up on Instagram at tiny community kitchen. We're active there pretty active there Just shoot us a direct message and we'll move from there. We got a pretty good operation going now Oh, you know, so I'm actually here local in a space, right? So I'm known and I feel like I do I do a lot of community work in this area So I'd normally you know try to support the community when I hear about things that come up such as this opportunity today Definitely I have multiple friends who are chefs in Burlington and You know, it's it's a struggle for all of them to be able to afford their own place and to have a place to be able to cook their food and Do you know to cook and sell their food and this place is um Like I said really like providing that access providing that venue and it has a name recognition too People hear the tiny community kitchen. They're like, okay, whatever it's here. It must be good And so people come here to hear about it on Instagram And so it provides like a promotional element too. So I think all those things are great. So what's the Instagram name? So people can follow you guys. So this is Empress Levi soul food and you can put it on the screen Make sure you follow that. Yeah. Well, I think we had a great day here And it was very nice to learn something that's happening in our community good thing in our community, right chance Yeah, it's we did and then I really love it and the food is so smell good That we're definitely gonna come back to try this new food right lover Yeah, yeah, we don't know wait for it was so good for no reason. You should definitely have them Yeah, yeah, um, thank you so much Burlington