Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: RE: [C-L]_Value of Eating/Cooking together

[Rowenahc (rowenahc]

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cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org writes:
>  If not enough people want to cook,
>I question the value of eating together.

For some reason, that just made me sit up and say "damn straight!"  I
think it cuts to the heart of what a lot of the debate has been about.
Assuming that common meals are essential to the cohousing group (and this
assumption has recently and trenchantly called into question) I would
suspect that in any group that is having to coerce people into cooking the
problem is not labor distribution, but either a) a lack of a shared
agreement about the value of eating together, or b) a lack of
understanding about the amount of labor necessary to produce common meals.


For a variety of reasons such as running out of money before the kitchen
equipment was bought, Cambridge Cohousing started off three years ago having
only a weekly pot luck and an ocasional meal which a devoted cadre cooked at
home and packed in to the common house.   Even after we got the stove
installed we continued this not too intense pattern for a couple of years.
Then, about a year ago, a Meals Committee formed itself, designed a signup
for cooking and cleaning three days a week for ten weeks and urged everyone
to participate.  We figured that if most people signed up for three work
teams during the ten week period that would cover it.  Well, they did and it
worked out.   We've been doing it now for about a year - every ten weeks the
board goes up in the lobby.  The meals are first rate but more than that it
has been a tremendous community booster.   Not only do we sit down with each
other in a social situation several times a week but the cooking itself is
enjoyable and a bonding experience.  Not everyone can manage the three work
days but most do. We realize now that it was a grave error not to get the
meals going earlier.   Yes, there are some who choose not to participate
but, you know what, that's their loss!  By the way no one here thinks of
cooking as women's work - several of our most devoted cooks are men!

Rowenahc [at] cs.com

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