... Money is one of the biggest concerns for Walker, who has been attending the lecture series and will apply to be in the first FEASTS cohort. “I wanted to open my business ten years ago but life got in the way and I stopped,” she told me. A longtime resident of St. Albans, Queens, Walker hopes to open a bakeshop in nearby Jamaica. She’s already hard at work fine-tuning her menu, which includes nutty brownie bites and tamarind balls. Walker is especially looking forward to trying her recipes in the library’s commercial kitchen. “I make fresh, quality foods,” she said. “I want to contribute to the growth of my neighborhood.”

As attendees filed out of the lecture, they took samples of Walker’s nutty brownies and oatmeal cookies, as well as another participant’s banana tartlets and fig bread. The brownie bites disappeared too quickly for me to try them, but this eater believes that the cookies deserve a place in bakeries and grocery stores all over the city...