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

[dahako (dahako]

Hi all -

Our two vegans eat lots of junk food.  At least one of them is an 
excellent cook, but their lives are hectic and they often eat a very 
scary diet. At least from the viewpoint of a lacto-ovo vegetarian 
mother of two.

Here at Eastern Village, we are just starting to sort out how to show 
each other hospitality while dealing with food preferences from every 
continent, more than 10 major cultural traditions, and a wide variety 
of ideas about what food is healthy (including a member who thinks it 
is gauche to worry more about how healthy food is than about how good 
it tastes).  As the common meal coordinator, I get approached by 
members who want all meals vegetarian, all meals whatever the chef 
wants, separate dishes for various belief systems, all common 
purchasing organic or fair trade.  I think this is pretty neat.

I think we are here, at least in part, to share our dreams with one 
another and to see what can spread into the community culture (and 
later, possibly into to world culture).  So, I try to find practical 
ways to help the community explore as many of these ideas as possible.  
I do warn some advocates and believers that their ideas may not work in 
the community, or may take some time to take hold. My belief is that 
failure is the only thing that lies down the path of refusing to 
explore and try things.  And we're not here to fail that way, I hope.

Jessie Handforth Kome
Eastern Village Cohousing
Silver Spring, Maryland
"T.T.T
Put up in a place where it's easy to see, the cryptic admonishment: 
T.T.T.
When you think how depressingly slowly you climb, it's well to remember 
that
Thing Take Time." Piet Hein.