Meredith Nguyen and Brit Hutchison

SFMOMA’s Schwab Room was to the gills with representatives of San Francisco’s culinary pioneers this past Friday, May 31, for The Kitchen Sisters’ The Making of a Charitable Food Movement, coordinated by Mission Chinese Food and Sharetable.org, and featuring presentations and sample bites from La Cocina, Tartine, and Flour + Water, among other local favorites. Organized around the idea that food can be a powerful binding force in the community, the event benefited the Food Bank, whose mission is to end hunger and which serves food to over 200,000 people in need each year in San Francisco and Marin counties. I spoke to the Food Bank’s Brit Hutchison and Meredith Nguyen.

When you’re not working at the Food Bank, what do you make?

Brit Hutchison: I do a lot of cooking. The last thing I made was sugar-free strawberry-rhubarb pie. It turned out really well. I used agave syrup because I’m trying to do more sugar-free dessert recipes.

Meredith Nguyen: I have a lifestyle blog and I do a bit of crafting, sewing, and knitting.

Do you collect anything?

BH: Animals! [laughs] No, not really. I collect strange knickknacks from my family, who like to buy them for me.

MN: I collect green things. Green’s my favorite color.

If you could spend an afternoon with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?

BH: My grandmother on my dad’s side, because I never met her.

MN: Jorge Luis Borges. I love him, I’ve studied a lot of his work, and I think he’s fascinating.

What is in your refrigerator right now?

BH: Vegetables and cheese. I also save the tops of my carrots because I’m starting to learn how to make pesto with carrot tops. I try to use the whole vegetable.

MN: Wine, champagne, and pizza.

What is your favorite tool?

BH: Scissors! They’re useful for everything, even cutting pizza.

MN: My favorite tool is definitely knitting needles. You can make all kinds of things with them.