Which musical genres sound best with wild-mushroom bruschetta or agave-glazed spareribs? What creative, seasonal meal might complement the vocal harmonies of Lucius or the indie-rock chords of Tame Impala? Just ask Kasey and Matthew A. Hickey, owners of Turntable Kitchen, a curated website and subscription service that introduces food lovers to new music and music lovers to good food.
The concept evolved alongside Matthew and Kasey’s relationship. When the couple met, more than a decade ago, Kasey was a food blogger, photographer, home cook, and professional content creator. She was interested in exploring the world of music, but wasn’t sure where to start. Matthew was an avid music lover and writer (and attorney by trade) with a growing curiosity about food culture. Matthew—who, it must be noted, is not that Matt Hickey—began hand-selecting playlists to enhance Kasey’s kitchen escapades, and the two creatives started learning from each other. Ultimately, the two became partners in life and business, and their shared passions led to a fully realized vision—to create meaningful music/food pairings for others to experience in their own homes.
Now, many explorative years later, Kasey and Matthew’s Turntable Kitchen Pairings Boxes are flying out the door of their thriving business, to people of all ages and across every continent. Equal parts recipe-of-the-month club and vinyl-record subscription service, the Pairings Boxes cater to those who don’t have the time or resources to explore new music or new culinary dishes on their own. Monthly mailings include a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl record by a featured artist; a digital mixtape; three seasonal recipes; one or two premium ingredients; and tasting notes. For example, one recent mailing combined music by Local Natives; recipes for simple tomato sauce, pizza with fennel pollen, and pizza with clams, pancetta, and arugula; and ample chili flakes and fennel pollen to encourage experimentation beyond the box.
For the Hickeys, establishing Turntable Kitchen and putting down roots in Seattle have meant constantly adjusting their lifestyle while maintaining a sense of urban life. “We’re in our 30s. We have [three] young kids. We are less focused on going out at night and we are really focused on … setting up our home so that it feels warm and inviting and cozy … a place where we can have friends over and entertain,” Kasey explains. “We still really care about staying up on hip things. We care about food; we care about music; we care about entertaining. But we’re doing a lot of these things at home.”
It’s precisely this homegrown passion that propels Turntable Kitchen’s success, as Kasey and Matt delve into the Seattle food and music scene for inspiration and new partnerships. In fact, Turntable Kitchen recently developed a curated coffee-and-vinyl pairings box featuring a sample from Seattle’s own Slate Coffee Roasters. “We are a super-small company,” Kasey says. “It feels like a very community-oriented effort.”
A unique and interactive gift idea for any lifestyle, age, or taste, Turntable Kitchen Pairings Box Subscriptions run $25/month, with one-month, three-month, or six-month packages.
