About Common Table
founded by
CHef emmet moeller
Common Table is a queer & flexible food space in Kingston, NY. We offer custom personal chef services, a weekly meal subscription, boutique catering, and the best damn bone broth you’ve likely ever tasted.
Our food is locally-sourced, organically-grown, plant-forward, seasonally-aligned and health-supportive.
We know, it’s a lot of hyphens. To us, “health supportive food” is food that makes you feel well — and we want to help people feel well! To that end: we cook using little-to-no refined sugars, additives, or commercially processed products. We use heart healthy fats, a diversity of plant-based proteins, whole grains, and sustainably-raised animal products. Health supportive food is also food that was made by people working under good conditions, which we factor into our sourcing and employment practices as best we can. We work hard to make our kitchen a good place to be. In short, our food tastes good because it is good.
Principles that Guide Us
Start with the farms.
When possible, we plan our menus based on what is coming out of the local small farmers’ fields each week. We believe this is one of the best ways to support our local farmers, our bodies, and local economies.
“Healthy food” is just food that makes you feel good.
All bodies are good bodies, no matter what size or ability or gender or race or class. All bodies are different and need different things. When we find ways to feed ourselves with intention and care, we are giving ourselves a very big gift.
Food justice is racial justice is economic justice is…
Our (very unjust) food system relies on the labor of immigrants, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, low-income workers and LGBTQ+ people. We are grateful for (and understand the incredible value of) every single berry picked, every onion chopped, every dish washed. We acknowledge and celebrate those who have been fighting for equity, and work to stand in solidarity with justice movements, locally and around the world.
Sustainability as practice.
We shoot for sustainability for all - the environment, our employees, our community, our clients, and the farmers we buy from.
Giving to our community is a joyful obligation.
Because we most often prepare food for people who have robust food access, we are committed to contributing food, resources and money to support those in our community who experience food insecurity.
Food is queer!
It just is. Trust us.
About Chef Emmet
I was born and raised in NY’s Mohawk Valley, forged in the fire of Brooklyn’s queer feminist music scene, and I am currently deepening my roots in the Hudson Valley. I’m trans and queer and committed to fighting for all kinds of justice, in my community and beyond.
I cook because I care about how people feel, and I know that there are many unjust systems and barriers in place that can make it difficult for us to eat in ways that make us feel well. I love to offer support in the form of good food, prepared with care and intention.
I am honored to have learned from countless cooks and eaters — many who came before me and so many who are cooking and creating now — through witnessing their traditions, reading their words, and eating their food. I also had the great privilege of training at Natural Gourmet Institute’s Chef’s Training Program, cooking under the guidance of Chef Ken Wiss at Marlow & Sons and Chef Jack Tracy at Hyssop, and studying fermentation in residency with the one and only Sandor Katz, at his home in the wilds of Tennessee.
