People representing A Better World Café led several
workshops at the nation’s first summit for community kitchens, held in New Orleans Jan. 16 -17. WIMNI
Board President Tina Weishaus found it uplifting “being among like-minded
people from all over the country, interested in creating places where rich and
poor come together to eat”.
Many attendees were exploring how to open a
pay-what-you-can-afford cafe in their own cities. Non-profit eateries from Salt
Lake City, Denver, Seattle,
and Highland Park, NJ offered assistance and shared their
experiences. Better World’s head chef,
Rachel Weston, presented popular sessions on cooking seasonally, while Better
World’s financial director, Matthew Borgen, presented an index of reality tests
for dream-stage teams to understand the operational steps and time commitment
that will precede success.
“Matt helped people understand that being good cooks is only
a small part of opening a restaurant.
After hearing his talk, teams from some cities decided they need to go to
culinary school before setting up their nonprofit café,” Weishaus stated. The conference was organized by the Denise Cerreta,
who founded the nation’s oldest community kitchen, One World Everybody Eats, in
2003.
Although Denver, CO has its SAME (So All May Eat) Café, five other teams
from the Denver
area were at the conference exploring ways to get community kitchens going in
their own parts of the metro area. Washington DC, Baltimore, and several North Carolina cities had multiple teams
investigating. Several from rural areas
in Pennsylvania and Indiana were also there considering how to do
it in their localities.
Weishaus stated: “We now
understand how unique we are. No other café project in the country came
together as two nonprofits creating a partnership. The wealth of experience flowing to our café
from (Elijah’s Promise) Culinary
School, Promise Catering,
and the strengths of both nonprofits (WIMNI and EP) is not duplicated anywhere
else.”
A Better World Café will join with other community kitchens
around the nation to celebrate World Food Day Oct. 16, 2010 in a project that
will highlight the progress of the community café movement, of which A Better
World Café is now a guiding force.
