About Us

Brainfood is a non-profit youth development organization based in Washington, DC. Brainfood has been a community presence in the Columbia Heights neighborhood for several years, and in the fall of 2006, a second Brainfood site was established in Chinatown. The Brainfood kitchen is a place where young people come to have creative, constructive fun. We believe that supervised, fun activities are a young person's right, not a privilege, and we have found that most of our students do not have access to such opportunities.

In keeping with these beliefs, we have created after school and summer programs that allow kids to be kids, while also challenging them to develop new skills and raise self-expectations. Brainfood is a safe place for teens to try new things, make mistakes, and grow. We reach young people through a positive approach based on one of the oldest and most universal of human traditions: food. Through listening, reading, shopping, measuring, chopping, whisking, roasting, cooling, collaborating, presenting, eating, cleaning and volunteering, Brainfood students learn life skills and have fun.

Brainfood is a program where high school aged youth can learn about food, nutrition, cooking, and jobs in the food industry through activities, games, restaurant visits, cooking in our kitchen, and working with guest chefs. Brainfood uses food as a tool to build life skills with youth in a fun and creative setting.  Through culinary-related activities, we promote active learning, self-reliance and healthy living to empower youth as resources in their own community.