Neighbourly eating
Nicholas Saunders
A small-scale innovative Danish practice which I liked and thought could act as a model elsewhere, was that of a group of independent families who bought neighbouring houses for sale. They also bought a workshop building, an old smithy. They decided to knock down the walls between the gardens - except for one family which wanted to keep its wall. With their own labour they converted the smithy into a communal dining hall. A communal meal was cooked each evening by the eight families on a rota basis. Once every eight days, a family had to buy all the food and cook it - it was hard luck if there were a large number of people that day, but it tended to work out evenly in the long run. You had to say if you were going out. You could do swaps with other people if you did not want to cook that day. There was a charge for guests.
'A kitchen and dining room which was open for membership for anyone who lived nearby - there were about 30 members. There was a rota for who did the cooking, and the person cooking bought the food'
Somewhat similar was a scheme for mostly single people living in the same area of Copenhagen. They had got together a kitchen and dining room which was open for membership for anyone who lived nearby - there were about 30 members. Again there was a rota for who did the cooking, and the person cooking bought the food. If someone did not have much money, he or she prepared something simple.
Such a scheme could appeal to people in Britain living alone, who do not like to cook elaborate meals for themselves, but would not mind a lot of effort once a month. It would probably depend on finding a neighbourhood of like-minded people living fairly close to each other.
Nicholas Saunders, top floor, 14 Neals Yard, London WC2H 9DP (tel 071 836 9404; fax 071 379 0135).
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