Course: SAT 220 Designing Food Production Systems in Urban Landscapes

Reading and Multimedia Assignments

Reading Assignments
Reading Assignments

Community kitchens are not a new concept. They were quite common in the 1930s during the Great Depression and have existed for decades, perhaps even centuries. In the classic sense, a community kitchen offers a decent meal to those who don’t have the resources to make their own.

The purpose of a community kitchen is to help feed those who can’t feed themselves; the food is donated as well as the labor to collect, store, cook and serve the food. They are often located in community churches and at other charitable organizations.

A community kitchen isn’t necessarily connected to urban agriculture. The donated food usually comes from local grocery stores or restaurants or is donated by members of the community.

There is a current trend to make use of urban agriculture in the operation of community kitchens, food pantries, and food trucks. The traditional method of operation tends to exclude the very people the organization serves from the process. Some kitchens now help those being served by having them contribute to the process of serving or preparing the food.

The new idea is to use urban agriculture as a training ground, offering not only food but job training and perhaps a more secure future. This works by having those served by the kitchen or pantry work at the urban farm to help grow the food that is served. They can also get training in preparing the food, and in the skills of working in and running a restaurant-type business. This way not only are the hungry being fed but many are gaining skills that may help with future employment. Some urban agriculture facilities operate as training facilities even if they aren’t strictly community kitchens or food pantries.

Readings

The Northern Illinois Food Bank site discusses the prevalence of hunger/lack of food in the United States. It has links to reports on hunger in general and child hunger in particular.

© Northern Illinois Food Bank

Take the SNAP Hunger Challenge! The average benefit from the SNAP program (food stamps) is $30 per week. Try to imagine purchasing groceries for a week, 21 meals, on $30. In addition to reading this page it is recommended that you try the SNAP challenge.

© Northern Illinois Food Bank

The Mobile Pantry Program describes a way to provide food to those in need. When you read it imagine the mobile pantry combined with an urban farm and a community kitchen program.

© Feeding America. All rights reserved.