The Biscuit and The Charlotte Ledger have partnered up to present our new photo series, “Visions of the Not Normal” — offering views of neighborhoods and communities across the city through the eyes (and lenses) of local photographers during the COVID-19 outbreak.

This week, we’re seeing Charlotte through the eyes of Kriska Woods, a pharmacist, food Instagrammer and co-creator (with her brother Manny) of @clt.remedy. (We’re trying to get her to embrace the title “foodie-cist.”)

Kriska has been extremely active on Instagram over the past few weeks. Her feed has featured partnerships with other bloggers, love letters to Charlotte’s craft beer community and artistic explorations of her neighborhood, like creating chalk pathways for her son, Grayson.

To the casual eye, these may seem like typical foodie posts. But, Kriska and her collaborators show their love of Charlotte through their love of food. She feels a passion to do what she can to support the local hospitality community through her work. And, that HASN’T changed during COVID-19. It’s just taken on a new urgency. Kriska believes that food can be a powerful comfort right now … and it is necessary to keep alive a business ecosystem ravaged over the past two months.

“Nothing more important than to help our community during this crazy time! We allow our family one ‘adventure’ a week by picking an area where we can make 2-3 quick stops to support a local essential business by taking advantage of take-out and curbside programs.

Take-out is just a part of the “new normal” but it doesn’t mean that the foodies in us can’t take the time to toss the Styrofoam containers aside and ‘plate’ our meals so that we can have some ‘normalcy’ and feel like we are still eating out even when we aren’t.” – Kriska Woods

Next week will feature a different photographer and a different part of the Queen City. If you know of a photographer who would be interested in sharing images from their community in this time, please let us know.

Kriska Woods’ Gallery 

ABOUT PHOTO 1: “Finally putting to good use my arts and crafts stash that I have refused to get rid off ‘because one day I’ll finally have time to work on that project.’  Time spent with my little guy is even more fun with little projects like “Kindness Rocks”.  Grayson is so proud of his rock that he painted all by himself!”

ABOUT PHOTO 8: “Matthews Farmers Market trips have been our go-to for fresh produce over the past few weeks. It wasn’t always since it’s a bit of a drive for us, but our great friend, Chef Sam Diminich, of Upstream CLT opened up our eyes to what should have been very obvious.  With COVID-19 shutting and slowing down the restaurant industry, many of our local farms are in turn also hurting. There is no one spared in the food supply chain. So, we have tried to purchase local produce to do our part to support local—and honestly, we’ve been eating so much better because the quality of this produce is that much fresher.  [This haul features Tega Hills Farm greens, mushrooms from Urban Gourmet farms, UAV ricotta and goat cheese, Verdant Bread loaves, Dancing Bees honey, and Double Up Farm soap.]”

ABOUT PHOTO 9: “On this particular day, we stopped by Lincoln’s Haberdashery, then Futo Buta, and Pop the Top in South End. [Pictured is Pop The Top.]”

Walk Around the Neighborhood

One To Grow On

Kriska sent us one more picture she took this weekend. She didn’t make a comment, per se, so we will simply ask a question. Does this match your definition of “social distancing?” Let us know below.