Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: vegetarian meals

[Elizabeth Stevenson (tamgoddess]

This is another area where our routine has evolved over the years.

We encourage but don't require cooking a vegetarian alternative for every
meal. Some meals don't have one, but most do. We also often cook a separate
meal for kids, and special foods for special diets. We have vegetarians,
vegans, non-beef eaters, people who can't eat wheat, dairy or other grains,
picky kids, no-sugar diets, etc.

We've been doing this a long time. Some meals just naturally are good for
almost everyone. We just cooked a meal on Tuesday, chili and corn bread with
green salad and fruit for dessert, that had something for everyone. It's
kid-friendly, and we had both con carne and vegetarian versions of the
chili. There is a limit to how much you can cook in one pot, so I made it in
four pots. Making a veggie version was no more work at all, since it was in
four separate pots anyway. The corn bread was a recipe I got from a
listserve I'm on for my son's special diet, and had no gluten or dairy, so
it was vegan.

So we had a hearty meal that everyone could eat. As you go along, you'll
learn what's easy and healthy. You'll have meals that don't turn out so
well, or aren't worth the effort that went into them. No big deal. In the
beginning, we kept a binder with meals that worked for us. It fell out of
use, since people have their favorites that they cook.

Requiring a certain kind of meal to always be served creates resentment. We
don't require anything. Our cooks have learned that they like to get praise
for every meal. So we praise each other a lot. And to earn praise, we try
hard to please everyone. If there's pizza, I just skip that meal. No big
deal. 

On our sign-up sheet, the diet requirements are listed by each family's
name, so the cooks know whether they need to make a particular kind of food
that day. the cooks also list on their menu if the meal is vegetarian, wheat
or dairy-free, etc.


-- 
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento, California
tamgoddess [at] attbi.com
> From: Diana Porter <porterd [at] cinci.rr.com>
> Reply-To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 16:29:48 -0400
> To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Subject: [C-L]_vegetarian meals
> 
> 
> Do most communities serve only vegetarian common meals?  Mostly?  It has
> been talked about with us as an environmental statement and to keep
> costs down,  common meals would be vegetarian.  How do other groups deal
> with vegetarian vs. meat, seafood, vegan offerings, food allergies,
> special diets etc. and having common meals that most can eat?
> 
> Diana Porter   
> Cincinnati EcoVillage
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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