Community meals are fun, casual gatherings in our common house with relaxed conversations and delicious food. Chatting and sharing food around a table is a great way to build and strengthen relationships with neighbors and experience the magic of multigenerational living. Parents note that children are often “braver” at community meals, and willing to try new dishes because they are inspired by the older kids and non-related adults!
Currently, we share community meals 2-3 times per week. Together we rotate through all parts of preparation, including menu planning, shopping, cooking, and cleaning. At each meal, only four adults are on duty while everyone else simply comes to dine. All kitchen dishes, utensils, and cookware are sanitized using a commercial-grade sanitizer.
When deciding on our homemade meals, we coordinate menus to use seasonal veggies and fruits from our bountiful community garden. We grow things like berries, apples, pears, figs, tomatoes, zucchini, beans and kale. Our dinner food scraps are composted and reused in our garden.
How does it all work? The head cook chooses the menu, does the grocery shopping, and keeps the meal prep on schedule. The assistant cook helps with chopping, cooking and table setting. The cooks usually start dinner preparations about two hours ahead of time. After these homemade dinners, leftovers are usually available for lunch portions during the week. Two other adults are responsible for the meal clean-up. By sharing meal duties, we combine our efforts and reduce the workload for everyone.
Menu: Here are a few sample recipes from recent meals (farro salad, red lentil curry). We currently have more vegetarian cooks, so our community meals always have a vegetarian option and often a meat option available. We also work to make our food kid-friendly with spicy options on the side.
Participation is optional but highly encouraged since it is such a meaningful way to know your neighbors, get out of the house, and stay connected with the community. Most neighbors find community meals a welcome break from the daily demands of individual meal planning.
