about us
Food brings people together, no matter where you are from. It’s a ritual, we gather with our friends and family around the table, not only feeding our bodies but feeding our souls, connecting with people we care about.
Mera Kitchen Collective is a community-driven food business in Baltimore, where we’re building our own worker-cooperative. We focus on the empowerment of chefs from around the world by celebrating our skills and talents in the kitchen, highlighting the value newcomers bring to the fabric of our society.
We love Baltimore. We also recognize that policies and systems can create structural barriers that make it harder for some individuals to gain access to resources and opportunities -- and easier for others. Our goal as a collective is to amplify our skills and talents.
Why 'Mera Kitchen'? We chose the name Mera Kitchen because it contains the Greek word meraki, which has no direct English translation. Both a verb and an adverb, it connotes that when someone is doing an activity — like cooking — with so much care, devotion, and attention to the task at hand, that they leave a piece of themselves in it. In a world where our attention is often divided, we believe that there is immeasurable beauty and power in the collective act of creating and sharing food made with love.
What we do: In October 2021 we opened our first restaurant, and now we have a space to call our own. We grew from hosting small pop-up dinners in our homes to a weekly booth at the Farmers Market…to opening a restaurant! We also offer catering services throughout Baltimore City. Our chefs and cooks come from all over the world; many are here seeking refuge, eager to put skills back to use to re-establish an independent, sustainable livelihood. We hope to connect you with our chefs and our chefs with their local community.
Our first restaurant! It was a dream of ours to have our own space that embodied our culture and values. We envision our new home as a place that represents our diverse cultures as a team at Mera, and the community that we integrated into Baltimore. It is a vehicle to share our cultures; the aroma of cardamom in a rice dish, the tangy spices of salsa verde, fruity, tropical baked goods, and the refreshing gingery mint juices of Burkina Faso. This space is an opportunity for our cooks and chefs to fully express themselves, re-invent their food, collaborate with one another, and most importantly take the Baltimore community on a culinary adventure around the world. We believe in the power of communing over food, on long tables, with shared plates, in conversation, and in pausing to connect with new and old friends.
Mera Kitchen Collective is a building a worker cooperative - we participate democratically as we build our business together. This allows for each of us to only strengthen our culinary expertise and have a voice in the operations. We hope to use the cooperative model as a successful tool for wealth generation and fostering empowerment.