Cohousing-L Mailing List: Organic Food and cohousing/ ideological diversity in cohousing

[Racheli Gai (racheli]

Hi Sharon,
Yes, I agree with how you put the larger picture, namely: that we 
could, ideally, have many cohousing communities,
which on the whole would present much diversity, but that each one 
needs, preferably, to have a narrower
and more well defined orientation.

Regarding your description of vegans: I have to say that while I'm sure 
such people exist (ie: ones
who eat lots of junky, overly processed food), I've yet to meet one...  
And I don't think I'm defensive
about it in any way, since I happen to be an omnivore (albeit a picky 
one! :))
R.
PS  I think that the term "intentional community" has gotten, somehow, 
a bad name (and a misleading
one), considering the fact that intentional communities *are* extremely 
diverse.  By which I mean that
they come in many different flavors and varieties.  (People  who doubt 
this,
should check out the directory of intentional communities, published by 
FIC).

> On Jun 5, 2005, at 10:36 AM, Racheli Gai wrote:
>
> > However, the issue of buying organic has a lot to do
> > with a viewpoint which places high priority on creating a sustainable 
> > way of life. [snip]
> > On a more general level, I'm finding (after nearly 5 years in my 
> > cohousing community), that the
> > idea that people of all ideologies can live side by side happily is 
> > truly NOT a viable one, partly because
> > of the close proximity in which we reside:  Someone who wants an 
> > "organic" neighborhood, finds it hard
> > to live in close proximity to someone who thinks that using 
> > pesticides is a viable option
>
> There is another spin to this too -- vegans who eat horribly unhealthy 
> diets. White Wonder bread, sugar colas, processed food. Their standard 
> is that it has no animal products, not whether it is organic or 
> poison. After years of being macrobiotic and studying the principles 
> of raw food diets this drives me nuts. Vegan works well if you do lots 
> of greens and raw foods and whole grains but not if it just excludes 
> animal food.
>
> I've essentially opted out of our meals because of noise and chaotic 
> serving but also the food is just too unpredictable. If it weren't for 
> the chaos I could bring my own meal. But we have open shelves in our 
> kitchen and I'm embarrassed to see some of the foods on them. Canned 
> vegetables, white flour mixes, pasteurized soy sauce, sodium instead 
> of sea salt, etc. I do eat junk food -- I love MacDonalds but once a 
> month is fine. I can be _that_ much of an American and enjoy it. On 
> birthdays I want "real" cakes, not politically correct ones with no 
> fats, no sugar, etc. I like tofu when it is tofu, not when it is ice 
> cream. There is only so much you can do to pizza before it is no 
> longer pizza. A lot of dead food gets served in our kitchen.
>
> It is hard to live closely or even to undertake an educational program 
> with people who have a very different sensibility. I would love it if 
> we had community standards and allow exceptions. A standard would 
> gradually raise the community awareness of healthy food. No fat does 
> not equate to healthy.
>
> > The ambiguity serves the initial and paramount need of selling units, 
> > but really sets things up for trouble in
> > the long run, because it creates a great likelihood that people with 
> > potentially incompatible sets of values end
> > up living next to each other.
>
> I would phrase this a different way -- when most cohousing communities 
> are forming they do not have a clear sense of what they want because 
> most cohousing members have NOT lived in intentional communities 
> before. Many people have moved into cohousing because it allows them 
> to have community "without living in an intentional community" which 
> they think is synonymous with a commune.
>
> What I think is important is that cohousing be willing to include the 
> full range of communities. As Racheli says, having a mainstream 
> American community is also a restriction, just a different one.
>
> "Cohousing" is a helpful term as long as it is broadly (or narrowly) 
> defined as "a self-managed residential community that is 
> architecturally designed or modified to increase resident interaction 
> and that all the residents joined with the intention of participating 
> in the community life."
>
> Then from there specific communities can go where they like -- Senior, 
> Christian, Vegetarian, Sustainable, etc.
>
> I doubt very much that many communities who think they are very 
> diverse are actually very diverse. The self-selection process 
> automatically limits diversity. When we have more cohousing 
> communities I think we will find more people moving from one community 
> to another one to find greater harmony with their own beliefs.
>
> Sharon
> -----