It’s easy to go a year (or more!) without thinking about mushrooms as anything other than a highly optional pizza ingredient. But the fact that there is an entire sprawling kingdom of lifeforms sharing our planet - offering sustenance, wiping out under-cautious foragers, breaking down biological material, even serving as material for hats - is magical and dazzling when you put a bit of thought into it.

In college, I dated a guy who was appalled that I had never tried tofu. Determined to rectify the situation, he invited me over to his house and made me a tofu and vegetable stir fry with peanut sauced-noodles. I fell in love with both tofu and my now-husband, and nearly 15 years later, tofu remains a standby in our weekly meal plan.

Dale Flattum is the artist behind the incredible visuals for ALL TOGETHER NOW!: Eastside Food Co-op During Art-a-Whirl.

As with many great ideas throughout history, it all started in a bathroom. In 1996, long before the brewery scene, the bustling restaurants, and the big crowds, a small group of artists gathered in the Thorp Building at David and Lois Zabel Felker’s International Gallery of Contemporary Art to plan out an art crawl. The downtown Warehouse District scene was drying up, and artists had begun settling into cheap studio spaces in the abandoned factories in Northeast, creating a fledgling creative community in search of an audience.

I take a sip of the coffee that Folly Coffee co-founder Rob Bathe has put in front of me and pause to gather my disordered thoughts. The coffee is the first in Folly's Experimental Series, and it's a tornado of inputs that doesn't really clearly resolve into "coffee" as I know it. Blindfold me, and the complex lavender / floral / spice notes would let you lie me into thinking I'm drinking blended black tea, or even a rare beer.

A selection of new items all under $20

Inspired by a song by Canadian punk band Propagandhi (which was itself inspired by an escapee pig in the city of Red Deer in 1990), Francis is NE Minneapolis’ first vegan burger bar.

Of the many hundreds of staffers, board members, and volunteers that have come together to keep Eastside growing and thriving over the past 2+ decades, there’s one such person who we think deserves a little time in the limelight. We are talking about Eastside’s first General Manager, Amy Fields.

We are proud to feature lots of products by women-owned businesses here at Eastside. Read about them here:

Levittown on Long Island in New York State is regarded as America’s first modern planned suburb. Built to accommodate returning World War II veterans, Levittown opened its doors on October 1, 1947. When complete, Levittown had 17,447 homes with a population of over 50,000. Levittown became the posterchild of the postwar USA and was featured proudly and prominently in all the mainstream magazines such as Life, Look, and Fortune. To many among a war-weary public, Levittown exuded everything associated with living the American Dream. There was, however one American element nowhere to be found in any of the 17,447 homes in Levittown—a Black family.

Keeping sidewalks and parking lots safe and walkable is a top priority for Minnesotans during winter. But one thing I’ve learned as a Minnesota Water Steward is the toxic effects that road and sidewalk salt have on our lakes and streams. Did you know that 1 tsp of salt permanently contaminates 5 gallons of water? According to Mississippi Watershed Management Organization (MWMO), if you “do the math, you’ll find that a single 10-pound bag of salt is enough to permanently pollute 3,000 gallons of water.”

Following their mission, “Midwest Food Connection brings educational adventures in food, cooking, and gardening to children and their families.” They’re now teaching in over 50 schools! That means they’re deepening the connection to food with thousands of young people every year.

As the weather grows colder, the dreaded common cold starts to make a comeback. I don’t know about you, but one of the small gifts the pandemic offered me over the last few years was the longest stretch of time I didn’t have a common cold or flu virus. But lucky for us, there are plenty of ways to prepare for an unexpected cold with ingredients found right here at Eastside.

This season, as colder temperatures begin to nudge us indoors, we’re starting to dream up our perfect fall and winter gatherings. We asked Eastside’s resident cheese monger Ixchel Gillman to highlight some of the local cheeses we carry, because the key to any good gathering is a delightful cheese board, right!?

We recently spent a day visiting with our friends at the FOOD BUILDING to learn about what they do and the importance of local food production. We left feeling enlightened, inspired, and motivated. Read on to discover a little bit about the (food) magic happening right here in Northeast.

We recently spent a day visiting with our friends at the FOOD BUILDING to learn about what they do and the importance of local food production. We left feeling enlightened, inspired, and motivated. Read on to discover a little bit about the (food) magic happening right here in Northeast.

We recently spent a day visiting with our friends at the FOOD BUILDING to learn about what they do and the importance of local food production. We left feeling enlightened, inspired, and motivated. Read on to discover a little bit about the (food) magic happening right here in Northeast.

We recently spent a day visiting with our friends at the FOOD BUILDING to learn about what they do and the importance of local food production. We left feeling enlightened, inspired, and motivated. Read on to discover a little bit about the (food) magic happening right here in Northeast.

We recently spent a day visiting with our friends at the FOOD BUILDING to learn about what they do and the importance of local food production. We left feeling enlightened, inspired, and motivated. Read on to discover a little bit about the (food) magic happening right here in Northeast.