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fabrisseI want advice.
There's an open position at the Boys and Girls Club that I'm interested in. The problem is that it would be doing something that I love as an amateur -- cooking -- and turning it into my livelihood.
The club is going to be participating in a wider program for good nutrition. The position is predominantly food planning and preparation, but will involve some accounting and quite a bit of community liaison work.
The thing is most people have no concept of how to cook seasonally. None. We've become so used to the idea of being able to get what we want when we want it (sure, we might have to pay a little more) that very few people can do the seasonal planning. I know that I can.
What's more, I know that I have recipes and resources for taking "unpalatable" vegetables and turning them into something that people can love. Part of the program contributions are coming from an organization called America's Second Harvest -- so it's completely possible that a crate of beets could be passed along to this place and need to be used immediately.
The HR person I talked with said something like "These people will be happy with a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. It's been so long since they've had a hot meal." But I watched the public schools in Belgium serve three course meals at lunch for about $3.50 per person per day. Grilled cheese and tomato soup should be the very last resort.
The downsides to this are the stresses. Physical stresses include lifting heavy pans, blisters from chopping, and fatigue. Mental stresses include "what if they don't like it," the constraints of supplies, the fear that I'll stop loving something I love.
Advice? Questions, queries, comments?
There's an open position at the Boys and Girls Club that I'm interested in. The problem is that it would be doing something that I love as an amateur -- cooking -- and turning it into my livelihood.
The club is going to be participating in a wider program for good nutrition. The position is predominantly food planning and preparation, but will involve some accounting and quite a bit of community liaison work.
The thing is most people have no concept of how to cook seasonally. None. We've become so used to the idea of being able to get what we want when we want it (sure, we might have to pay a little more) that very few people can do the seasonal planning. I know that I can.
What's more, I know that I have recipes and resources for taking "unpalatable" vegetables and turning them into something that people can love. Part of the program contributions are coming from an organization called America's Second Harvest -- so it's completely possible that a crate of beets could be passed along to this place and need to be used immediately.
The HR person I talked with said something like "These people will be happy with a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. It's been so long since they've had a hot meal." But I watched the public schools in Belgium serve three course meals at lunch for about $3.50 per person per day. Grilled cheese and tomato soup should be the very last resort.
The downsides to this are the stresses. Physical stresses include lifting heavy pans, blisters from chopping, and fatigue. Mental stresses include "what if they don't like it," the constraints of supplies, the fear that I'll stop loving something I love.
Advice? Questions, queries, comments?
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Date: 2003-11-05 11:22 am (UTC)My family belongs to an organic farm CSA. For years now we've donated a share to the local woman's shelter, because when I was a poor grad student one of the things I missed most was fresh vegetables. The people at the shelter have had to give informal "what to do with seasonal food" classes to the women at the shelter, who are used to shopping at the kind of markets where the meat is green and the vegetables are brown. The clients could use tomatoes, but had *no idea* what to do with an eggplant.
I think it's a wonderful idea. So few of us have jobs where we can *see* that we're making a difference, and good food is one of the easiest ways to make people happy.
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Date: 2003-11-05 07:46 pm (UTC)The downsides though include the fact that it's one position. Hot meals served family style for up to 125 people per day and there's only one person to do every aspect of it. From meal planning to bookkeeping, from deliveries to negotiations, from hostess (community outreach is an important factor) to cooking, they want one person to do it five days a week. I'm not sure that I'm physically or mentally capable of it.