Page 8 - C.A.L.L. #28 - Spring 2007

Cooking in Community

Here we publish correspondence from the ‘living in community’ listserve about cooking in
quantities - for a variety of tastes.
Hi Raven - Carol from Kindlehome here -
Hello, I'm new... Sat Oct 7, 2006 welcome. Tue Oct 10, 2006
Posted by: "Erica (Raven) Branch-Butler" Posted by: "TheDukster" ruccha@hotmail.com
golanv1@yahoo.com
I agree that meals can be a challenge, especially
Hi there, I'm Raven, and I'm new to your list,
but not necessarily to community living. I when various diets are involved. Add the
live in a ten person household consisting of changing food preferences of adults, not to
three couples, one 11 year old, one 2 month mention kids, and the mix can get pretty
old, three single people, a cat and a rosy boa. confusing.

One of my foci has been to figure out how to At our weekly meeting, one of the agenda items
cook for so many people, and I'm also here to is weekly meals and groceries. During this time
try to learn about interpersonal (usually brief -- 10 to 20 minutes) we talk about
relationships, how to make things go more things culinary -- fixing the days when we will
smoothly. have community meals that week (this means

Anyway, I look forward to leaning and meals where we all sit down together to eat at
sharing here. the same time -- usually four days a week
minimum), when we will have food available
Regards, without a sit-down (this means that there will be
Raven a prepared dish available, but we don't agree on a
specific meal-time -- everyone can eat when they
want), and "forage days" (days when leftovers abound and there's plenty of grub available, but
each person manages their own meals). Because our schedules change week-to-week, we do a
weekly check-in and set meals accordingly, although we seem to have a usual schedule (Meals
together Friday through Monday, forage or available Tues through Thurs – that seems to be the
way it plays out in our community, which works well for us at this point -- and it does change from
week to week).

The other thing we talk about during the meal discussion is "anything anybody's craving, or not
wanting?" -- this gives us an opportunity to keep variety on the menu and also make sure that
anyone's particular appetite preference can be served.

We have a standard "grocery list" on the fridge that everyone is responsible to add items to (either
when they use down an item to need level, or if there is something that they particularly want that
isn't on the standard list). We also have an agreed-upon list of staples that we keep stocked, with
back-ups, so favorite foods are available. "Luxuries" like alcohol and food that only one person
wants are usually handled by the individual through their own funds – although we have made
consciously agreed-upon trade-offs (for example: I don't drink coffee, but other members do -- but
they don't drink my green tea, which I consume a lot of -- so it's pretty much a wash -- we have
agreements to bring up anything that seems out of balance -- again, checking in weekly, so we
rarely get into any dynamics around food stuff -- basically, if it's in the fridge or pantry, it's fair
game for all).

We have a mixed group in terms of diet -- some strongly vegetarian, others (like me) fairly
omniverous, although I usually want meat only at certain times (like right before my period) -- our
cook is a person who actually needs meat in his diet regularly to feel fit and healthy. That said, I do
find that we all tend to gravitate more to light vegetarian meals in the Summer -- sometimes just a
salad and baked potato, other times stir-fry or a casserole. Checking in on a weekly basis gives us
all information about both our own appetites and the group appetite.

Mezza style menus (like a big mediterranean or indian style meal with pita here, dal there, a raita
here, a salad there) have a couple of advantages, especially if you've got more than one cook. In our

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