Verveine Café and Bakery’s Monica Glass on Gluten-Freedom
When The Crimson sat down with chef and café-owner Monica Glass, Verveine Café and Bakery was already deep into another bustling morning. As Glass stepped out of the kitchen, the operation continued churning through the glass behind her as bakers shaped dough into an array of globally-inspired baked goods: piña colada galettes, red velvet rose cookies, and vibrant ube brownies that have become a near-permanent fixture on Verveine’s menu.
Verveine is a small, inviting space with 24 prized seats, and at the heart of it all is a tantalizing display case of those baked goods — all gluten-free, though you wouldn’t know it if no one told you. The ethos is simple and heartfelt:
“I create a community or space where people can dine together safely and feel included at the table,” Glass said in an interview with The Crimson.
Jolin Chan ’25 on Food as Art, Scholarship, and Vocation
Jolin Chan ’25 wears many hats in food and hospitality. By day, she works in social media for a fine dining restaurant in New York City. Beyond that, she develops recipes for brands and businesses and is a rising influencer and blogger behind @jolinfromscratch on Instagram.
Chan’s recipes — including her ice cream flavors alone — showcase a remarkable inventiveness: Think unexpected combinations of cherry with Sichuan peppercorn, and osmanthus with sweet rice wine. Equally impressive is the fact that many inventions are a site for learning. A recipe for apricot kernel cheesecake, for instance, unfolds into one mini-lesson on the chemistry of cyanide poisoning, and another on Mandarin linguistics.
Most intimate, perhaps, is her engagement with food as an art form itself. In a recent post, she transforms Rachel Ruysch’s “Fruit and Insects” into a matcha-soaked, peach-filled mugwort sponge cake with hojicha Swiss meringue buttercream. Presenting her creation on TikTok, she reflects on the social commentary embedded within the painting, saying that Ruysch’s work “should make us question not only how to grapple with the ephemeral, but also the violence behind beauty and abundance in art.”
Keonté Henson on Finding Home in Boston’s Food Scene
Keonté “Key” Henson — who can be found on social media @wannabeastayathomedad and is better known as “Boston’s food grader” — probably loves this city’s dining scene more than you do. In the span of three years (as of February 2026), he has amassed 108k followers on TikTok and 98k on Instagram, growth that culminated in his decision to become a full-time content creator in August.
In hindsight, it seems logical that he would end up in food: Food has long been part of the fabric of his life. His mother is a chef, and other members of his family similarly work in the industry. Yet Henson is professionally trained as a civil engineer and, until recently, worked in project consulting. That began to change in January 2023 when he posted his first food video. It only garnered a few hundred views, but the response signaled a current of resonance that he’s followed ever since.