Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Vegetarianism

[Graham Meltzer (g.meltzer]

Rebecca writes 

>So, how many CoHo or other intentional communities that people 
>on this list belong to are vegetarian, and if you are, how did
>you come to that decision. (I am really curious about this, 
>because I think it might be a conflict among the group
>of people with whom I am working on forming  an intentional
>community.)

I'm vegetarian, though not religiously. It's obvious that practicing
vegetarianism in a cohousing context would be a hellavalot easier if
everyone was one. There are plenty of historical examples of intentional
communities (usually religious or charismatic) where this successfully
occured. It is difficult to imagine a contemporary, secular, cohousing group
being comprised purely of vegetarians. Even if it happened that such a group
was established with vegetarianism as a prime objective, I imagine that over
time people and attitudes would change so as to erode the original intention.

So it seems to me that the best approach is to set out to meet both
vegetarian and carnivorous tastes. That's simply a matter of negotiation and
a critical awareness of the needs and feelings of all concerned. If some of
either group are extreemists eg vegan due to allergies or macrobiotic by
religion, then structures need to be put in place to accommodate their
needs. That might entail separate cooking utensils, chopping boards etc. 

I stayed for some months with a community in Denmark, Okologisk
Landsbysamfund ... roughly translated as Ecological Village Society. They
started out in the early 80s with vegetarianism written into their
constitution. They even built the concept into their name, being originally
called the Vegetarianisk Landsbysamfund. However the name soon changed when
they discovered that it deterred people from joining and anyway, their
priorities changed. 

Their's is an extreemly diverse community ... that too, being one of the
early objectives. They are about 20 - 25 households of all kinds with a
great range of ages, backgrounds, politics etc. The vege/carni split is
about 50/50 as far as I can make out. But for reasons of expedience or
tradition or habit, the nightly common meals are still vegetarian. They
rotate the cooking on a voluntary basis. The meals are always delicious,
lovingly prepared and well attended. 

Meat eating is conducted between consenting adults and kids in the privacy
of the home.

Theirs is an approach which has evolved to suit there purposes well ...
except for one important thing. The kids don't like it. Especially pubescent
boys it seems ... for whom meat eating holds great appeal. They are deterred
from joining common meals and don't have the sense of tradition and
continuity that has built up for long-term members around sharing meals
together. It's a serious problem which I don't think they have resolved yet.

Other cohousing communities I visited in Denmark had both kinds of meal
available at all common meals. It's a rather obvious way to handle the
situation and seemed to work well in all cases. I was always impressed with
the quality of these common meals. When people cook perhaps once a week or
for a week every few months, and they have close, open relationships with
the folk they cook for, then something special happens which ensures
everyone's tastes are accommodated. In each community, common meals were a
nightly affair, except over summer holidays, and they typically had
attendance rates of between 95 and 100%. 

Rebecca ... If you'd like addresses of people to contact in these Danish
comunities then email me directly.

Cheers
Graham Meltzer