Ni-Ciao!
Alyssa (Lyss) Kingman (she/they/we)
Alyssa has been working in food justice and mutual aid for over a decade, weaving together farming, hospitality, food policy, and community organizing. Born in Australia and rooted in the Hudson Valley since 2019, she found her home in a region where farmers, cooks, and neighbors still know each other by name.
She holds degrees in Law and Media, along with a diploma in Food Business, but her real education has come from farms, kitchens, and community tables across Australia, Denmark, Italy, and the US. She has trained at the Farm of Ideas in Denmark and at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and has spent years creating on-farm education and cooking experiences that bring people closer to their food.
Alyssa founded Top Soil, a regional food festival bringing farmers, processors, chefs, policy folks, and eaters into one shared space. She co-founded Lunchbar as a way to bring chemical-free, nourishing food into everyday reach, without shame or gatekeeping. Her work is about access, dignity, and the belief that good food belongs to everyone.
JJ’s journey has moved through fashion, music, and finally into the kitchen, where he spent ten years in New York City as a chef and General Manager. He has opened four food businesses, steered restaurants back into the black, and knows how to keep both a kitchen and a budget steady.
When two of his restaurants closed during the pandemic, something unexpected opened. JJ began volunteering at La Morada in the South Bronx, cooking in a mutual aid context for a year. That experience shifted his center of gravity toward food as community care.
Since 2012, JJ has organized and mentored in community spaces. He now leads food justice programs in the Hudson Valley, has managed a food justice team in Columbia County, co-founded Lunchbar, and launched pantry staples like his beloved chili oil. At Lunchbar, he bridges kitchen skill, financial clarity, and a deep love for the community he serves.
JJ Kingman (he/him/wu-tang)
Our teachers, mentors and beloveds.
We honor our beloved teachers and mentors:
The La Morada Family, Anita Di Pietro, Larry Walker, Ida Pearl, Robert Turner, Ma Badila, Earl Palmer, Jalal Sabur, Palisa Anderson, Jon Kasza, Maria Pia, Alexina Cather, Char Kasza, Sabrina Hayeem-Ladani, Nkem Ndefo, Meenadchi, Lisa Fazio, Patrick Franzon Lewis, Bridgit Dengel-Gaspard, Eddie Huang, Phil Parker, Todd/Tee/ Smith, Zien Hodge, Katiushka & Zuri Melo, Jay Marinis, Frederick & Marlene Burns, Sis Olivia & Melissa, Elaine Kingman, Dong Kingman Jr. and Sr. and all those who exchange love and learning with us.
Thank you Susan Burns for teaching Lyss how to show up to this work though the establishment of the Swallowcliffe School free breakfast program.
We also honor the teachers whose work has shaped me through songs, pages, podcasts, and dreams:
Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Bryant Terry, Prentis Hemphill, Tu-Pac Shakur, Fannie Lou Hamer, Staci Haines, Wu-Tang Clan, Resmaa Menakem, adrienne maree brown, Allison Russell, Bayo Akomolafe, Mary Beth Bonfiglio, Massimo Bottura, and the living teachers in between the words; Venus, Benedicta, the Mountains, the Ocean, the Whales, and more.
To accompany our mutual aid and village building work, we encourage you to pick up (or borrow from us) these transformative texts:
Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals (AK Press)
The Serviceberry
The Politics of Trauma (North Atlantic Books)
Farming While Black
What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World
My Grandmother’s Hands (Ingram Academic)
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
