Yesterday, Kris, Emily, and I took a trip down to West Philly to a place called LAVA, in order to participate in a Food Not Bombs (FNB) cooking and serving with the North Philly chapter (I'm not sure where the boundaries are drawn to determine that the location and the name come together, but anyway...). The organizations that meet in the space were having a meeting, so the FNB organizers showed us the communal kitchen and the food they had already collected from nearby businesses, including Reading Terminal Market, and left us to our own creativity and chopping skills. Fortunately, Emily took charge and planned the menu. Usually, the group serves a salad, a stir-fry, and soup, made up of whatever the week's bounty happens to be.
We had potatoes (russet, red, and sweet), a few rescuable turnips, pre-chopped celery, tomatoes, cucumbers,
green peppers, garlic, carrots, onions, bananas, mangos, lettuce, oil, vinegar, and various spices. With all that, and the help of a few FNB regulars who joined us later, we were able to come up with the salad, stir-fry, and soup trio, and a fruit salad that we accidentally ended up leaving behind (oops!). After the food was prepared, we loaded it all up, along with drinking water and servingware, and drove down to the Free Library just off the Parkway, and started the party. As we ate with whomever was hungry in the neighborhood, some other people brought unsold sandwiches and cake from Whole Foods and pastries from Panera Bread, and Ryan stopped by to see how the North Philly FNB chapter compared to other ones in which he's participated in Boston and Chicago.
It was a fun day of activism and interaction, and a few of the regular participants asked us if we would be back. It was a really neat way to spend a Sunday afternoon, complete with a free meal and the opportunity to make new friends and connect with really friendly people. Of course, it was also a political statement, and a hands-on way to act out what we're always talking about. I would definitely do it again!
We had potatoes (russet, red, and sweet), a few rescuable turnips, pre-chopped celery, tomatoes, cucumbers,
green peppers, garlic, carrots, onions, bananas, mangos, lettuce, oil, vinegar, and various spices. With all that, and the help of a few FNB regulars who joined us later, we were able to come up with the salad, stir-fry, and soup trio, and a fruit salad that we accidentally ended up leaving behind (oops!). After the food was prepared, we loaded it all up, along with drinking water and servingware, and drove down to the Free Library just off the Parkway, and started the party. As we ate with whomever was hungry in the neighborhood, some other people brought unsold sandwiches and cake from Whole Foods and pastries from Panera Bread, and Ryan stopped by to see how the North Philly FNB chapter compared to other ones in which he's participated in Boston and Chicago.
It was a fun day of activism and interaction, and a few of the regular participants asked us if we would be back. It was a really neat way to spend a Sunday afternoon, complete with a free meal and the opportunity to make new friends and connect with really friendly people. Of course, it was also a political statement, and a hands-on way to act out what we're always talking about. I would definitely do it again!
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