听is a new anthology of essays, comics, and recipes that explores the dynamic and transformative relationship between queerness and food. Co-edited by historian Megan J. Elias and 每日探花 Arts professor Alex Ketchum,听Queers at the Table,听a fully illustrated guide highlights the important role food has in queer culture by guiding us through the history of lesbian and queer women-run feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffeehouses, recipes that have brought queer communities together and essays on topics like food security issues faced by LGBTQ2S+ folk.听
We spoke to Professor Ketchum about her latest book and what readers can expect in from her latest publication.听
What inspired Queers at the Table, and how did you come to work with Megan J. Elias on this anthology?
In 2024, Megan J. Elias and I co-organized the hybrid Queer Food Conference at Boston University. We did not want to have typical conference proceedings. I was inspired by Reo Evelth鈥檚 book Flash Forward, in which they worked with cartoonists to create comics to complement their essays. In 2023, I won a SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant to partner with Prism Comics, an organization that supports LGBTQIA+ cartoonists to explore how scholars and cartoonists could partner together for research knowledge mobilization. The resulting book is the product of that collaboration. It includes 10 essays, 10, 8-10 page comics, and 10 recipes, illustrated by the cartoonists, all speaking to the themes of the conference and the meaning of queer food.
I鈥檇 also like to note that the next hybrid Queer Food Conference will be in Montreal from May 1-3, 2026. See
What are you hoping for readers to learn about the dynamic and transformative relationship between queerness and food?
Queer food fosters connections, defies norms, honours legacies, and is by and for community. Food can be queer鈥攖hrough its production, through roles in fostering community, and symbolically. The book is divided into five sections that demonstrate the relationship:
- WE鈥橰E HERE, WE鈥橰E QUEER: Forerunners and History
- WE ARE EVERYWHERE: Community
- WE TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER: Health and Care
- WE BELONG TO THE LAND: Ecology, Seeds, and Farming
- COME TO THE TABLE!: Recipes
The recipe headnotes explore in more detail how the specific food items represent queer food.
How did your previous research and work for Ingredients for Revolution, evolve and influence Queers at the Table?
In Ingredients for Revolution I explored the history of the over 230 feminist restaurants in the United States from 1972-2022. Most of these restaurants were run by lesbians and queer women. I have been thinking about the meaning of feminist and queer food now for more than 15 years. Queers at the Table was an opportunity to bring together 38 contributors and showcase their reflections on the topic. It was an opportunity to make space for them at the table.
In her review, Alicia Kennedy mentions the 鈥減ossibilities food holds for community creation and self-definition.鈥� How do the essays and recipes in the book reflect the revolutionary and stead-fast character of queer communities?
Queer food is about the meals people make to comfort and celebrate those who have been marginalized. We have the ability to call others to the table and take care of them with food. For example, Indigenous artist bailey macabre鈥檚 comic demonstrates this connection between food and building intimacy in a queer relationship. Several of the pieces focus on chosen family and others focus on our relationship with the land.
Since we鈥檝e seen an increase in rhetoric and moral panic that threatens and targets the existence and well-being of queer communities in recent years, how can books like Queers at the Table, contribute to a better understanding and acceptance of queerness?
The book is first and foremost by and for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. It centres our histories, our resilience, our multiplicities, and our joy. However, the book also is for anyone interested in the ways that food can foster relationships, nourishment, and care across cultures and communities. The contributing writers and artists engage with themes that are important to queer life but are interesting to everyone, from our health to our history to agriculture and celebrations.
Of the many essays, comics and recipes in the book; which ones stood out to you the most, and what dialogues are you hoping they will facilitate?
Please don鈥檛 make me pick favourites. Each contributor reflects on the meaning of queer food either in historical context or within their own lives. Since the book can be read in any order, I have found that each reader is moved by different pieces, whether Dave Davenport鈥檚 comic about eating after his HIV diagnosis or Mihael Peralta鈥檚 comic about learning to cook after transitioning; Chris Keeve and K Greene鈥檚 essay on nonbinary botany and Bonnie J. Morris鈥檚 essay about cooking during lesbian music festivals; or Corrine DaCosta鈥檚 Kween/Quing Bread recipe and headnote, illustrated by Leah Spears. By reading through the essays, comics, and recipes, I hope you are inspired to think differently about the seeds you plant, the roots you water, the meals you prepare, and the feasts you share.
Discover upcoming events related to the book by consulting the full list of events for the upcoming .听