Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Mandatory meals participation

[R.P. Aditya (aditya]

Hi,

On Thu, Nov 30, 2006 at 01:24:32PM -0500, Tree Bressen wrote:
> I think yours might be the first cohousing community i've heard of that has 
> 4-5 meals per week without requiring everyone to contribute.  Can you say 
> more about what you think led to that success?

I too live at Great Oak Cohousing and I'd like to point out that we do require
everyone to contribute to the meal program, it's just that meals are optional
and your labor contribution might not be in the kitchen...

As Jenny has said the main reason our meal program so successful is that the
meal labor is part of our entire labor program. Some of the obvious
consequences of this are:

- those who want to cook, or prefer to cook, do and do so more often -- quick
reimbursements and minimal administrative chores for cooks no doubt helps --
there are 2 work positions for meal billers 

- head cooks get 2 assistants and that seems to be a good number -- it is
typically an enjoyable social experience, so assistant cooking jobs are
amongst the most desired jobs

- folks who want a deterministic, after-work job, opt for cleaning -- 3
cleaners per meal and with practice, a crew can clean all but the messiest
meal in an hour or so

- having plentiful labor and a pretty well-oiled process means that:

  . the meals are planned and posted well in advance

  . the cooks work hard to make their meals well and they are thoroughly
appreciated and valued (there is always a round of applause for the cooks and
cleaners at every meal!)

  . there is almost always a vegetarian option and cooks accomodate many food
allergies, so the menus are inclusive -- cooks typically also provide some
picky-kid friendly options

- everyone has good reason to make the meal program work well since they must
participate, and that's self-perpetuating -- the savings in labor, esp. for
families with kids is quite substantial (hence the long-standing schedule of 5
meals a week has strong backing and the longer it is there the more you
depend on it)

- and the longer you labor in the meal program, the better you get at it!

- meals are the glue of our community and having everyone participate, be it
as labor or diner helps keep it shared experience

- for those who do not want kitchen jobs, there are lots of other jobs to work
on and yet you are welcome to dine, so there is no exclusion that builds soft
walls -- however the average number of work hours is higher for those who
don't participate in meals (meals jobs account for a little over half of all
work hours)

Other observations:

We are neighbors with two other cohousing communities, Sunward and Touchstone,
and we host Sunward for 2 meals a month with them reciprocating for another 2.
Touchstone, as a new community without a common house is invited to our meals
and their labor is voluntary -- Sunward did that for us so we're passing on
the favor. In fact Sunward was an introduction to shared meals for many Great
Oakers and that probably helped a lot in getting folks used to shared dining
before our Common House was built.

There are a few households and individuals who choose not to dine regularly
for a variety of reasons -- scheduling seems to be a prominent reason. Also,
with so many meals per month, you have a wide choice and don't have to feel
compelled to attend every single one.

As Jenny mentioned we have good attendence -- so far, over the last 667 meals,
we are averaging 30 adults, 1 teen and 8 kids and $4.33 per adult (teens pay
75%, kids 7-12 pay 50% and younger than that eat for free).

For those who want more, I've posted lots of details about how our meal
program works at:

  http://gocoho.org/blog/?p=13

Thanks,
Adi
Great Oak Cohousing
http://www.gocoho.org