The Importance of Community Kitchens
I want to go back to talking about Solarpunk this week, and specifically about Solarpunk and food. Because I think we shold be able to agree on one thing: In a Solarpunk future nobody should be made to starve.
In my own Solarpunk worldbuilding the existence of community places that also serve food play a big role, but I want to talk about community kitchens in the real world as well.
The photo above is from the Golden Temple in Amritsar in India and is the most important holy sight to the Sikhs. (This is also a reminder to look a bit into Sikhism, just because it is an interesting religion.) But the Golden Temple also does one thing: provide free meals for hundreds if not thousands of people. Not just other Sikhs, but everyone, as the idea of selfless service to a community plays a central role in the religion.
And that is kinda amazing, isn't it? Serving food to so many people. Making sure that nobody goes hungry.
Because hunger can be really bad - and we live sadly in a world in which a lot of people feel hunger, or are even made to starve, even though there is enough food to go around for everyone. It is just that we rather would throw away perfectly good food than give it to the poor and starving. (And of course that some places also use starvation as a weapon. Israel for example.)
Technically speaking we also have places in western countries that serve people too. Soup kitchens for example, some community kitchens here or there. But often it is more complicated than with the Larga in the Golden Temple.
You know, with the Larga all you need to do is show up when food is served and you will be given food. In soup kitchens and such here in the west, quite often you might need to proof you are poor in one way or another, have some sort of "poverty ID" or something on you, or alternatively be registered in a list. But this obviously leaves people out, who might either be to proud to ask for something like that, or be dequalified for another reason. For example, I knew a family here who were disqualified from all this stuff for the reason that they owned a house and the government office said: "Well, if you sold the house you would no longer be poor." Ignoring two aspects: It was an old, old farm house that had been in the family for 250 years so they did not want to give it up, but also it was in a very, very rural part of Germany, where people are not moving and hence if you sell houses, nobody will buy them either way. But the government just saw "you own house, house can be made to money, if you do not do that, it is a you problem". And of course there is just the issue of peopel who technically have the money to buy food, but just do not have the time and energy to cook. Maybe because they work too much, maybe because they have kids that demand attention all the time, or maybe because they are disabled. I personally love cooking, but due to my disabilities I often do not have the energy to do so after working a whole day.
I meanwhile imagine something else for Solarpunk. Something else I wish for in the real world as well. And something that I also would love to see in more fiction. Real, proper community kitchens serving every community. Just to provide a place where everyone can come, get something to eat, and just hang out - serving not only as a place to procure food, but also a third place to hang out. Ideally as some form of community center.
On one hand, because I genuinely do think that everybody deserves good, full meals. No matter how good their cooking abilities are and such and how much time and effort they can put into it. But also because I think that it is good for people to eat together, and talk over their food. We deserve a feeling of community, especially while taking our meals.
Depending on how communist we want to make our Solarpunk, the cooks can be either volunteers or paid from community funds. But usually people cooking in such kitchens also report that it is doing them good, because it allows them to improve the life of other people.
Food and water are a human right - and we really need to move away from this idea that some deserve better food than others.
And speaking of "deserving" stuff. I am personally struggling financially right now. If you can, please consider supporting me on Ko-Fi or Paypal.
