Spreading the love: Culinary partnershi­p builds relationsh­ips

Just over a year ago, Cúrate co-owner Liz Button introduced an initiative to bring a fine-dining experience to the city’s homeless and food insecure. Once each month since last June, Button has brought some of Asheville’s most prominent chefs into the basement kitchen of the Haywood Street Congregation’s Welcome Table program to share their cuisine with the homeless ministry’s guests. Click through for a story and slide show from August’s Welcome Table meal with The Junction and King James Public House.

Together we grow: How gardens are raising food and creating community

Feeding America estimates that 100,000 people in Western North Carolina are experiencing food insecurity. Winter heating bills, new restrictions to food stamp eligibility and rising medical costs may be increasing situational poverty.  But if a lack of access to food is a growing problem, some across the region are working on a growing solution. Read more in part two of our series looking at how community gardens are fighting hunger — from the ground up.