Monday, October 7, 2013

Modeling Community Kitchens at the Building Resilient Communities (N. California Permaculture) Convergence

Transition to Permaculture: Building Resilient Communities is the convergence of two convergences: the annual Northern California Permaculture Convergence and the Northern California Regional Transition Network Conference--and it is happening October 11th-13th at the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, CA.  The convergence will be bringing together permaculturists, community organizers, and all kinds of excited people to take part in discussions, classes, dialogues, workshops, and other facilitated experiences to inspire further action in a movement for community resilience. 

This year, the Village Commons will be in the very center of the convergence space and will host an open community kitchen alongside a stage, tea lounge, communal space, and bioregional meet ups.
The community kitchen will be a free and accessible space where everyone converging over the three days of the conference can bring their produce, dried goods, spices, oils, and other items to prepare and cook into wonderful, nutritious meals to keep nourished through the weekend.  How you choose to use the kitchen is up to you: you may fry up some veggies and a couple eggs for yourself, or you may get together with others, share ingredients, and cook up a large meal to share with many. 

Through this community kitchen we hope not only to share a space in which all can meet their own needs through their own hands and stay happy and healthy throughout the conference, but also seek to demonstrate a piece of infrastructure that is currently missing from most of our cities and many of our social environments, urban and otherwise: open and accessible common-space kitchens. 

Today, about 1 in 6 Americans receive food stamps to assist them in purchasing food.  Many of these people, and many of those who do not depend on food stamps, often have no place to cook for themselves.  This leads to an all too frequent influence to purchase foods that are easy to eat without cooking or preparation, which at poverty level are often potato chips, pre-cooked and preserved sandwiches, and other "junk foods" rather than the raw and nutrient-rich dried fruits and nuts that can be purchased at the higher priced end.  Through access to kitchens and being able to cook one's own meals or prepare meals with others, people may very well be empowered to cook with whole foods, bring greater nutrition to themselves, and feel able to purchase higher quality foods and eat less junk.

At the Village Commons of the Building Resilient Communities Convergence this October 2013 we seek to demonstrate such a model community kitchen.

www.TransitionToPermaculture.org

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