(Friendly) suggestions, feedback... recipes?

[matthew]

People are going to have opinions on the food, and it's best not to spend time during the meetings of the GA on issues like too much vs. too little salt. If anybody has a friendly suggestion, any helpful feedback... even recipe suggestions, please talk about that here.

[roylemons]

Occupiers should let make sure to let the food wg know about any dietary restrictions (vegan, gluten free, allergies, lactose intolerance) so we can plan meals accordingly. especially if they have a severe allergy so that if they will be eating with us we know to use separate cutting boards, etc.

[debcollura]

Can we ask folks who will need to be fed to bring their own plate, container, cup, fork and spoon?

[roylemons]

food not bombs folk already have a lot of plates, bowls and utensils, (we might not even need to get more).
they're certainly welcome to, but those plates need to be washed after the meal.

[ihbar]

I disagree with Mr. Lemons that FNB has 'enough' stuff. We probably need double the amount of forks, spoons, bowls and plates that we currently have if we are going to sustain feeding an occupation. The sanitation issue is another concern. Anybody know how wall street is cleaning up their plates? Are they using disposables (I hope not)? Also, resuable cups- FNB hardly has any nowadays. We should look into getting a bunch of cheap cups. I'm kind of against bottled water.

[ihbar]

And, following the FNB ideology, I believe food should be made vegetarian (vegan!) if possible, owing to the havoc that factory farms wreak upon the environment and the violence naturally prevalent in the structure of that industry. However, I would not block the idea of, say, serving one meat dish per day, as long as it's complimented by plenty of vegetarian (and gluten-free, etc.) options. It's just impractical to expect that everybody will be down with eating only vegetarian all day, every day.

[idontevenknow]

The thing about making meat dishes is that:
-The people whose house we are preparing the food at will often not be okay with meat. It makes the food prep and cleanup significantly more complicated.
-Considering where Food not Bombs gets most of its food, the risk of someone getting sick off of meat obtained in this fashion is a concern (whereas with produce/grains there is no such risk.)
-I would think that vegetarian food preppers would not want to cook meat.

If we get something donated that is already prepared and has meat in it, I certainly have no problem with that.

[roylemons]

if meat is donated that we know is clean (and preferably from an ethical source) i'm ok with preparing it but the sanitation issue could slow down over all production. we'd have to use separate boards, knives, etc and make sure those got bleached right after prep. however i don't see this being a likely scenario.

ideally, i would like to see some of the cooking outsourced so individuals can bring food to share with the occupiers from their own homes, potluck style. and i'm sure occupiers will be ordering from nearby restaurants as well if they're hungry before meal time. they could get their meat fix that way.

i say we cook vegetarian by default and deal with meat issues as they arise which i assume will be infrequently.

[Arie]

Do we have access to a kitchen and large prep area?

I *may* be able to secure a location that has a working kitchen (large enough for 4, maybe 6 to actually cook) with a pass-through window and an attached community room (for prep, set up, packing).

I'd need advance notice to book out this room, if needed.

[Arie]

Oct 13, 2011 10:37:40 GMT -5 ihbar said:

....The sanitation issue is another concern. Anybody know how wall street is cleaning up their plates?....

I suppose we need to determine a few things in order to go forward with sanitation...

Are we going to have a designated area for people to be eating, versus letting them walk away with a container of food (and hoping they bring it back when they're done)?

If we can have people stay in one area to eat, we could ask them to simply scrape their dish and put it in one bin/bucket/bag, then put utensils in another, and put cups in yet another.

If we have a food crew, we'd be able to monitor the dirty dishes, and when they're at a certain level, bring them somewhere to have them washed.

(Does anyone have a friend/family member/coworker who works in a restaurant? Maybe they'd let us use their dishwasher on off hours?)

OR - are we planning to keep things right at the occupation, and try to wash them there? I think it would be a lot more difficult to do it this way...

[rachael]

I live close and plan to, periodically, offer my kitchen(s) up for off-site prepping, cooking, etc...Though I am not a vegetarian, I think vegetarian, even primarily vegan, is the wisest way to go. I have ideas for the outdoor kitchen, particularly as it pertains to sanitation. As far as dishes/utensils we should encourage all those who can to bring some for themselves and others if possible. I have lots more thoughts to share and look forward to meeting with those members of this group and getting this kitchen going!

[roylemons]

as for cooking/cleaning location: the furnace at 84 grand st. has offered itself up and we use it for food not bombs. it's not a big kitchen but could work sometimes. several other houses have offered themselves as satellite cooking and prep locations if needed, including my house which has 2 kitchens. i've also heard the free school floated as a possibility, not sure if that's been secured or not.

arie - definitely interested to hear about this other kitchen you could secure ([e-mail])

as for serving, my theory was that we could do it the way we do food not bombs every week which is to cook at one location - take the food to the occupation site (hopefully we'll have tables for serving) along with plate, cups, utensils - serve the meal family style - trash in one bin, food scraps in a compost, dirty dishes in another bin - take the dirty dishes and pans back to the kitchen and clean.
it would be good to have some food on hand at the occupation site at all times, a cooler with snacks, coffee and tea, a large container of drinking water, etc. perhaps we could keep a supply of plates and utensils on site and rotate them with clean ones as they get used.

[ihbar]

Roy Lemons, I think, has a good idea going. I agree.

This is what everyone can expect, roughly, at meal-time from an average cull of vegetables at dinner-time:

Rice
Lentils or bean salad
Pasta with homemade tomato sauce (+ italian herbs)
Vegetable Stir-Fry (possibly multiple different kinds)
Baked Root Vegetables in soybean oil
Big pot o' soup with veggie stock (mebbe stone soup... cooperation ya know ^_^)
Salad, made with whatever lettuce we acquire
If eggplant is acquired, we make some pretty rockin' eggplant casserole
Pan-seared peppers in sesame oil

For Breakfast, I'd recommend we invest in a large amount of oatmeal, and whatever fruit can be easily mustered. If anybody has extra apples left over from apple-picking at some of our excellent local orchards, they'd be great to have on hand in the mornings or throughout the day as a healthy snack! We tend to get lots of bananas as well.

Bread can be acquired from many sources and served throughout the day as a snack, yet it's not exactly the healthiest way to go. Likewise with muffins and biscuits.

As a final note (somewhat unrelated), typically, FNB has been a 'serve yourself' affair in the past. For process' sake, I'd like to propose that people take shifts of putting even portions of food onto plates. Therefore, there will be a designated 'food apportioner' at all times when meals are served. This is to prevent waste and fair meals.

[liliballesq]

I live in Schenectady, and have a small kitchen but do not mind making one big meat meal on a weekend. I don't have vegan dietary restrictions and have no problem cooking meat. I can use my own cooking supplies if the group as a whole can provide the "food" aspect. Also, there is a small Co-OP in Niskayuna that is owned by the members. We may want to consider talking to them about donations, etc. I know that they use local butchers, and have a large variety of fish options as well.
Please let me know if this will help.

[gianni]

I was at NYC occupation and connected with the people running the kitchen there (great job!).
They have offered to help us anyway they can. The contact I made was with Megan who can be reached 917.691.4145 or [e-mail].
I can certainly help with getting fresh food and other provisions.
I will call Dylan to get an update but are we intending to actually start the overnight camping occupation on the 21st?
Thanks, Gianni

[roylemons]

liliballesq - i would definitely encourage folks to do their own cooking at their homes and bring it to share, i don't expect us to be the sole providers of food. if anyone does make food at home to bring, they should probably make a label for it with ingredient info, allergy warnings, etc.

gianni - thanks! i've been wanting to research hat other occupations are doing and i will contact them tonight. we'll be trying to create some kind of schedule for pick-ups and cooking today and tomorrow so we'll will let everyone know about how that works out. and yes the overnight occupation starts the 21st.

[rachael]

I am guessing that recipes will not be used very often. However, in the event that they are needed or desired, I have a database of endless recipes that I can modify to feed just about any number of people.

[reubenshojin]

Just to kite this out there. I have some experience with the traditional oroyoki service, used in Zen temples. People take ownership of their own mess kit, as far as cleaning, so all the cook and kitchen team has to contend with is the service utensils and cookware for cleaning. I'd be happy to share details on this style of service, if folks are interested, because it offers a lot of efficiency in service, is very low waste, and has been used to feed massive monasteries full of hungry monks for at least a few centuries. I'll be at FnB tonight if folks want to talk.

[Arie]

Oct 18, 2011 13:07:07 GMT -5 reubenshojin said:

Just to kite this out there. I have some experience with the traditional oroyoki service...

I think this sounds like a good idea! While I can't be at the meeting tonight (I was there last night), I'd love to hear more. What do you think would be the best way to get this thought out to potential occupiers? Facebook/twitter/forum?

I think the less transporting of items, and the less "to-do" tasks we have, the better.

(Plus, the fact that you're only using utensils that have been in your mouth - is a plus in my book!)

[roylemons]

reubenshojin - definitely open to all ideas. as of last night it sounds like we'll actually have a pretty good sanitation station on site so that might actually work, and definitely take some of the pressure off of us. we'll have to see what develops this weekend. thanks.