QNS+A: Sue Yacka of tastoriaqueens
We chatted with Sue Yacka, most people know her by her twitter handle and food blog with the same name tastoriaqueens. The tagline being “occasional musings on my favorite meals and snacks in Astoria, Queens” but we know Sue brings much more to the table than just that. Here, she opens about what she’ll miss in Astoria and Queens as a whole (she is moving out of this borough) and how she sees food as an extension of community and how food writing is "connected to everything: race, immigration, environment and ecology, legislation of all sorts and etc.”
More about Sue, the force behind tastoriqueens and her thoughts on the changing borough. As well as the foods and places she’ll miss dearly in Astoria, Queens after the jump!
We first met on Twitter and then IRL. In today’s world, how has social media channels like Twitter play a role in your life and for your food blog, tastoriaqueens?
As an exceedingly social person, Twitter is just an extension of that sociability. I’m as likely to talk to you in person as I am online, and relish both.
I was never really comfortable with blogging because it felt so one-sided: there was no back and forth conversation, and no listening involved. I think we are all better when we are in dialogue with one another, respectively and respectfully talking and listening, then when we are simply pushing out our own opinions into the world.
I would say when people need a suggestion for a good meal in Astoria, you are on the top of people's list to reach out to. When you moved to Astoria from Jersey, did you ever think your side passion project would lead to this?
I love talking with people about food. The joy that we express when talking about trying something new for the first time, a favorite restaurant, a beloved family recipe, or particular dish from where we were born or raised is one of the fundamental things that connects us to one another. I am so grateful that I found a forum in Astoria, in Queens, and in New York City where I can have those conversations with total strangers. Some of those strangers have become friends, which is even better. Wherever we strive for connection, we build community.
Now that you are moving away from Queens. What are some things you will miss about Astoria?
I said in an interview once that my favorite places in Astoria are the restaurants I went to with my girlfriend when we were first dating: Jerusalem Pita (Pita Hot), Vesta, and Gregory's 26 Corner Taverna. We split this year, which was hard, but those are still my favorite places, even if my memories of them are now a bit more complicated and somewhat harder to bear. For me, the maps of the people and the places we love are the same.
Below: Steamed PEI Mussels and Crispy Snap Peas with a Margherita Pizza from the Astoria restaurant Vesta.
Below: Kreatopita from the Astoria restaurant Ovelia
What have you learned since living in Queens as a whole?
Queens is an exceptional place, but all of our New York City neighborhoods were once exceptional in their own ways.
I hope Queens can fight off the monochromatic gentrification that is fast encroaching, and retain some of what makes it unique and special. And to anyone who reads this and thinks “oh, change is inevitable,” I’ll simply say that “change” is not actually change when it is a dull formula. If we don’t organize and mobilize, this city will be entirely glass box towers, banks, and a 24-hour CVS.
You work at New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP), can you tell us a little bit about what they do? What do you do there? You once said tastoriaqueens is your getaway space, from the heavy, emotional weight of your work. How do you balance the two?
I’m the Communications Director at AVP. It is an organization that empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and HIV-affected communities and allies to end all forms of violence through organizing and education, and supports survivors through counseling and advocacy.
It [AVP] is intense work, and I used to think about it as entirely separate from my writing and talking about food. More recently though, I’ve been seeing the similarities. If you can make a true connection with someone, whether talking about food, or talking about being a survivor of violence, well, that’s a starting place from which really anything is possible. Most of us love food. Most of us are survivors of something awful. Let’s talk.
Aside from writing about food, you also wrote about gentrification and talk about your opinion publicly via your social media. What are your feelings on the topic currently?
For one thing, I can see my own role in the gentrification of Astoria more clearly. We all want neighborhoods to stay exactly as they were when we moved into them—as I naively did when I moved to Astoria 7 years ago—but that’s not how the process of gentrification works. We need to be willing to interrogate and disrupt that process at every step if we want to have a city that is egalitarian, affordable, and humane for every one of our eight and a half million neighbors.
How has Astoria changed in those 7 years?
Astoria has changed a lot since I first moved here, and not necessarily in ways that I like. But since I have loved and still do love so much about Astoria, and as I’m about to leave, I’ll just list some of the places I will miss most, and hope you’ll always go.
Artopolis. Gregory’s 26 Corner Taverna. Sac’s. Arepas Café. Pita Hot. Vesta. Sorriso’s. YaYa’s Bakery. Il Bambino. Tu Laiko. Pao de Quiejo. Astor Bake Shop. Sunswick. King of Falafel and Shawarma. Duzan. MP Tavera. Mombar. Kabab Café. 60 Beans Café and Kitchen. Souvlaki King of Astoria. The Souvlaki Lady. El Rey Del Taco. Rosario’s. The Quays. Mundo. The Bohemian Beer Garden. Café Triskell. Zenon Tavena.
And more, I’m sure, that I'm forgetting, but will come back to me as beautiful memories. [FIN]
All photos courtesy of Sue Yacka of tastoriaqueens (the featured photo is of Corn Dog Buttons from the Astoria restaurant Ovelia.
Follow Sue: Website / Twitter
QNS+A is a short Q&A with a Queens, NY local—a spinoff of our longer format interviews, QNSMADE Profiles. A slice into the lives of Queens people doing cool things.
