Goodkind puts picnic food in baskets crocheted by Congolese women
The plastic baskets that Goodkind restaurant packs with sandwiches and other provisions are serving double duty.
The colorful baskets, an essential part of the Bay View restaurant’s Picnic & Provisions Community Baskets, also support the women whose expert crochet stitches created them — former refugees of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who are doing what they can to make a home in Wisconsin.
Katie Rose, one of Goodkind’s owners, helped collect used plastic bags for the women. She estimates she filled six to 10 contractor garbage bags. The women weave them into vibrant carryalls and mats.
“These are super functional pieces of art,” Rose said. The baskets are purchased directly from the artists and, from there, Goodkind put its own spin on what’s inside.
For example, the second basket from Goodkind, available Saturday, is the Spanish Tortas Community Basket featuring Tortilla Espanola, an oliveoil-poached potato omelet with pickled peppers and roasted garlic; charred farm vegetable salad with fennel vinaigrette and grilled Goodkind sourdough bread; a half-pound of garlic and sherry poached Gulf white shrimp; chilled spiced and sliced pork loin with summer greens; goat cheese flan with blueberries; and a 750-milliliter bottle of Spanish Roja.
The first basket, on July 11, included a porchetta sandwich with prosciutto, provolone and salsa verde on a homemade roll. Sorry you missed it.
Each basket also comes with a tomato plant from the locally owned Scales Family Farm. The filled baskets cost $85.
Goodkind hopes to have 12 baskets available each week. They would have a different theme each week as well. The timing is serendipitous. Any other summer, the women would sell the baskets at farmers markets or craft fairs, said Shannon Robak-Klein, who started the nonprofit
Yvone Chanja, left, and Bitisho Zainabo make colorful baskets out of used plastic shopping bags. Goodkind restaurant is using the baskets for a special picnic and provisions offer. SHANNON ROBAK-KLEIN
Why Not Now Missions Milwaukee.
The mission’s primary goal is “to serve the most vulnerable populations, both locally and internationally, by providing educational opportunities and promoting cultural awareness in the hopes of fostering a more peaceful global understanding.”
Providing a job for these women, some of whom stay home to raise children, helps meet that goal.
Since 2018, the women have produced 822 baskets and 21 mats. They have made $17,195, Robak-Klein said.
They have also saved 50,760 plastic bags from going into a landfill.
But mostly, it has helped the women — currently, there are five making baskets, although there have been more in the past — feel at home in their new home.
“It’s been so good,” Robak-Klein said. “It has introduced them into more of the American culture. They’re learning how to run their own business, and they love to contribute back to Milwaukee.”
The coronavirus pandemic means fewer, if any, craft fairs and smaller farmers markets. Now the baskets are sold mostly word of mouth and at the Why Not Now Mission’s Facebook page. They are available for curbside pickup.
The Goodkind Picnic and Provisions Community Basket (there are 12 available) can be purchased online at
Pickup time is between noon and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 2457 S. Wentworth Ave.