Cohousing-L Mailing List: Common Meals

[Mike Mariano (Mike]

When we moved in to our new building in June 2016, our cook team opted for 
simplicity, as there were enough other things going on at the time of move-in. 
We have a two-week rotation: M, W, F, Tu, Th, Sunday. 

Each of the 17 adults (across nine families) leads a meal, with two assistants 
that arrive about 1-hour early, and stay until clean-up is done. We have 
between 15-25 attendees on a regular basis, and periodically 30+, with family 
and guests.

The cook prepares whatever they like, respecting dietary issues/preferences, so 
there is always a delicious & nutritious vegan option, though meat may be 
served. No money changes hands, no bookkeeping occurs. To me, this makes it 
feel like a dinner party hosted by friends. The event is posted to our internal 
FB page at least a few days prior for numbers, and late plates can be requested 
at that time.

Common meals have become quite an enjoyable event that continue to strengthen 
community. Some keep the recipes simple, others go all-out, sometimes with a 
cocktail to start, and sometimes dessert. 

When the community had a chance to adjust after year-1, during the new 
assignent of cook teams, everyone chose to keep the meal rotation exactly as it 
is.

michael mariano
...looking forward to a community meal in about 30-minutes at Capitol Hill 
Urban Cohousing.

schemata workshop inc
www.schemataworkshop.com

Begin forwarded message:

Message: 4
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2017 16:45:46 -0500
From: Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Subject: [C-L]_ Paying and Accounting for meals.

I was asked this question off-list but I thought it might begin this thread 
again on list to see if we get new responses.

We are having an average of two meals a week ? one a defined rotating group of 
cook/clean teams, and a second scheduled by a cook/clean team. They vary from 
about 20-30. Big holidays 40+