Image Above: PC Raina Fitzpatrick
raina fitzpatrick
sustainable eating in the haverford college apartments (HCA)
At Haverford, many students choose to live in the college apartments which provide kitchens in which students can cook and therefore remove themselves (either partially or fully) from the meal plan. This means that the foodscape of the apartments (though close in proximity to the rest of campus) is distinctly different. While most of the community goes to the Dining center for every meal in order to take their pick from an all you can eat buffet, the apartment dwellers have the ability to generate their own foodscape. This brings in ethical questions for the individual that are not as actively considered in the DC. As a community, we ask the DC to serve us ethically produced food (fair trade, local, non-GMO, organic) and though the DC is not the most sustainable source of food, we do ask for the administration to strive for it. In fact, many students complain about the lack of ethical or healthy options for them; but does changing to the apartment living make our foodscape more sustainable? Throughout the course of this semester we have been examining the ethical implications of our food choices so I wanted to explore not just the foodscape of the apartments but the ethical considerations of the students that live there when it comes to food.
ln order to begin my discussion of this foodscape I will start in my own apartment where I live with one other person who, like me, is off of the meal plan. Neither Peter nor I have cars so our food scape is limited to a rather small radius around campus which usually includes Trader Joe’s and possibly ACME market. I will ride my bike or run to Trader Joe’s about once a week to pick up whatever I want to eat while Peter usually gets food on his way back from the train station. This means that neither of us will buy ton of groceries at once, which is probably go[1]od considering that my spinach always seems to go bad before the week ends. When I walk into the store I usually am trying to buy a few vegetables; not a ton (I don’t want them to rot) but enough so I still have variety: Carrots, greens a bell pepper - wait. I have two choices for bell peppers. I can buy the organic variety with three peppers all packaged in plastic, or a non-organic pepper from the pile of produce package free for less money. Organic or packaging? More or less money? Even when people generally say they want to eat ethically we run into conundrums like these all of the time and I began to realize that it might not necessarily be better in terms of sustainability to be in the apartments.
[1] Image of my refrigerator: Peter and I have mostly organic food but it is all plastic wrapped. |
“Yeah. One of my teammates. It drives me crazy. Hates doing dishes with a passion and so he eats all of his food off of disposable dishware.” Says Johnny QuakerOats, a member of both the Quaker Community House and the Haverford College Men’s Basketball team.
“I also wish my house was better about sustainability. The people who cook kinda run the show in terms of what we buy and it’s just not taken into consideration. And for the student activities-fair everyone just wants to have a huge bowl of candy at our table!”[1]
So if there is generally apathy and/or lack of education towards sustainability in the apartments how does one figure out how to generate an environmentally friendly foodscape? I went to the most eco-friendly place I knew on campus: EHAUS. EHAUS is a well established community house on campus where together they live environmentally friendly and provide weekly sustainable dinners to all who come. I wanted to ask the residents why they chose this living situation and what eating ethically and sustainably meant to them within the EHAUS ethos. So I sat down for dinner with some of the residents in their communal kitchen/dining room. There were two fridges stocked with vegetables, gallons of milk, and condiments. Shelves lined with bins of bulk grains and beans took up one wall and pots and pans hanging from a rack tethered to the ceiling with twine above the sink caught my eye as they reminded me of a mobile you might see above a crib.
Lentils and veggies had just been cooked in a large frying pan and everyone helped themselves before sitting around the table to add salt, cheese, and/or sriracha to their bowls. I sat down at one end of the table next to an enormous bucket of peanut butter and watched as people trickled in to get food and engage in the conversation. Each week a different person is in charge of making dinner, the group told me as one man complained that every time he cooks latin food everyone thinks it is too spicy. He makes this complaint several times as he eats ben and jerry’s cherry garcia from the pinte. “We try to eat organic, local and in bulk,” they told me, but everyone brings different food backgrounds to the table so what we eat for dinner is really up to the discretions of whoever is cooking that night and whatever is in the house. “I’ve learned a lot about cooking,” says Mel, a cross country runner and first time resident. She has made some gross things too though, “Once I made rice, carrots, and nutritional yeast,” she remembered, “yeah,” chimes in Bea from the other end of the table, “I didn’t try it.”[2]
I asked the group how they got their bulk food and how they went about shopping. “We will buy week to week groceries from the GIANT market but we get our bulk grains and stuff from the Common market which is the same place that the DC get’s it’s stuff from. We make a big order at the beginning of the year. It’s way cheaper and it is locally sourced.”3 I looked on their website: https://www.thecommonmarket.org/ and found that Common Market is a non-profit dedicated to sourcing local and sustainable food for people who order from them as a vehicle for promoting food security throughout the mid-atlantic though the term local seemed to be vague around 250 mile radius from their philadelphia warehouse but the idea of using this organization seemed like an amazing environmentally friendly way of expanding the apartment foodscape.
Two other untapped resources were also brought up that I had not taken advantage of. The haver-farm and gardens (which I had known about but had not made abundant use of); the farmer drops off a basket of spare veggies not used in the DC whenever possible though this really only happens in the fall. The other sustainable food source came up towards the end of dinner: Dumpster Diving.
“Dumpster Diving?”
“Yeah, the dumpster behind Bruegger’s is great. They throw out bagels at the end of the day and they’re really good. Whole foods and trader joes are a little more hit and miss.”
“Do you like… jump in?”
“Yeah you have to get in. It’s actually one of our weekly chores people have to sign up for.”
“And the restaurant is cool with it?”
“I mean I haven’t been caught so I assume it’s fine.”3
I can’t eat wheat so I don’t plan on making use of this resource but I decided to explore the idea. So I set out to poke around the dumpster by Bruegger’s one Sunday night. As I approached I got a little self conscious about snooping around behind a closed store in the dead of night, and I startled when I saw someone standing right beside the dumpster, poking her head in.[3]
“I also wish my house was better about sustainability. The people who cook kinda run the show in terms of what we buy and it’s just not taken into consideration. And for the student activities-fair everyone just wants to have a huge bowl of candy at our table!”[1]
So if there is generally apathy and/or lack of education towards sustainability in the apartments how does one figure out how to generate an environmentally friendly foodscape? I went to the most eco-friendly place I knew on campus: EHAUS. EHAUS is a well established community house on campus where together they live environmentally friendly and provide weekly sustainable dinners to all who come. I wanted to ask the residents why they chose this living situation and what eating ethically and sustainably meant to them within the EHAUS ethos. So I sat down for dinner with some of the residents in their communal kitchen/dining room. There were two fridges stocked with vegetables, gallons of milk, and condiments. Shelves lined with bins of bulk grains and beans took up one wall and pots and pans hanging from a rack tethered to the ceiling with twine above the sink caught my eye as they reminded me of a mobile you might see above a crib.
Lentils and veggies had just been cooked in a large frying pan and everyone helped themselves before sitting around the table to add salt, cheese, and/or sriracha to their bowls. I sat down at one end of the table next to an enormous bucket of peanut butter and watched as people trickled in to get food and engage in the conversation. Each week a different person is in charge of making dinner, the group told me as one man complained that every time he cooks latin food everyone thinks it is too spicy. He makes this complaint several times as he eats ben and jerry’s cherry garcia from the pinte. “We try to eat organic, local and in bulk,” they told me, but everyone brings different food backgrounds to the table so what we eat for dinner is really up to the discretions of whoever is cooking that night and whatever is in the house. “I’ve learned a lot about cooking,” says Mel, a cross country runner and first time resident. She has made some gross things too though, “Once I made rice, carrots, and nutritional yeast,” she remembered, “yeah,” chimes in Bea from the other end of the table, “I didn’t try it.”[2]
I asked the group how they got their bulk food and how they went about shopping. “We will buy week to week groceries from the GIANT market but we get our bulk grains and stuff from the Common market which is the same place that the DC get’s it’s stuff from. We make a big order at the beginning of the year. It’s way cheaper and it is locally sourced.”3 I looked on their website: https://www.thecommonmarket.org/ and found that Common Market is a non-profit dedicated to sourcing local and sustainable food for people who order from them as a vehicle for promoting food security throughout the mid-atlantic though the term local seemed to be vague around 250 mile radius from their philadelphia warehouse but the idea of using this organization seemed like an amazing environmentally friendly way of expanding the apartment foodscape.
Two other untapped resources were also brought up that I had not taken advantage of. The haver-farm and gardens (which I had known about but had not made abundant use of); the farmer drops off a basket of spare veggies not used in the DC whenever possible though this really only happens in the fall. The other sustainable food source came up towards the end of dinner: Dumpster Diving.
“Dumpster Diving?”
“Yeah, the dumpster behind Bruegger’s is great. They throw out bagels at the end of the day and they’re really good. Whole foods and trader joes are a little more hit and miss.”
“Do you like… jump in?”
“Yeah you have to get in. It’s actually one of our weekly chores people have to sign up for.”
“And the restaurant is cool with it?”
“I mean I haven’t been caught so I assume it’s fine.”3
I can’t eat wheat so I don’t plan on making use of this resource but I decided to explore the idea. So I set out to poke around the dumpster by Bruegger’s one Sunday night. As I approached I got a little self conscious about snooping around behind a closed store in the dead of night, and I startled when I saw someone standing right beside the dumpster, poking her head in.[3]
I guess I’ll say hi…
It was Bea from EHAUS. Her friend Franz was standing in the dumpster with his headlamp on ruffling through bags. “Hey is this is usual dumpster party?” “Yup! Weekly chore!” “Almost everything is damp from the rain I think… ugh maraschino cherries” [3] Image: Bagels found in Dumpster |
“I’m sure there are still some good ones that were sheltered.”[1]
“I dunno… oh jackpot!” Caleb pulls out a bag filled with bagels. “Uh no the bag is kinda wet” “The ones on the top will probably be fine” We lifted the bag out of the dumpster and Bea and I sorted through the top of the bag as Franz climbed out. As gross as the dumpster was the bagels that came out of it smelled and looked great and the bag seemed to have kept them separated from the garbage. There must have been two dozen bagels at least in Bea’s box. And this was a slim night.[2] [1] Image: “The Jackpot" [2] Fitzpatrick, 2017: Interview 3 “Dumpster Diving” |
I don’t think many students are going to take up dumpster diving or ordering in bulk before the semester starts but I hope this article expanded the scope of the apartment foodscape in terms of sustainable options for those that have the power to determine their own dinner menus on campus.
Note: Aliases were given to the Interviewee’s for anonymity. There is unfortunately no one by the name of Johnny Quaker Oats on Campus.
Note: Aliases were given to the Interviewee’s for anonymity. There is unfortunately no one by the name of Johnny Quaker Oats on Campus.
Nava Kidon
The Communal kitchen: trust concern and respect
a discussion of the experience of sharing a kitchen in the haverford college apartments
intro
The kitchen is a central part of any Haverford College apartment: it is the first thing you see when you enter an apartment, and it’s connected to the living room, the prime (and arguably only) social space in the small but welcoming abodes. In community houses and first-year apartments, (often called “open floor plans” because they are basically regular floors of an apartment building carved out and shaped to be open and allow for communal living between all eleven people on the floor), the main kitchen is almost as big as any single apartment. With two refrigerators, two stoves, and a large sink (as well as a large amount of open floor space in the middle), there is ample room for community—and conflict. Within the smaller apartments, it is more common for roommates to get along well. People intentionally choose with whom they want to share their space, and tend to be excited about setting up their kitchen and figuring out the system that will work best for them. Ultimately, kitchens and food are central to most people’s lives. Food is sustenance, after all, and the kitchen, as a space to produce food and host social gatherings, can make or break interpersonal dynamics.
Upon reflection, I realized that successful kitchen and food-sharing dynamics mirror the Haverfordian values of trust, concern, and respect. Scenarios where trust broke down and people did not feel communal respect were disasters—things usually tended to spiral out of control. Communication was key, and when people’s relations crumbled, clear communication and concern were usually some of the first things to go.
Trust was an overarching theme: roommates who trusted one another were much more able to communicate and share responsibilities and food successfully. They tended to have fun, and strengthen their existing relationships.
Upon reflection, I realized that successful kitchen and food-sharing dynamics mirror the Haverfordian values of trust, concern, and respect. Scenarios where trust broke down and people did not feel communal respect were disasters—things usually tended to spiral out of control. Communication was key, and when people’s relations crumbled, clear communication and concern were usually some of the first things to go.
Trust was an overarching theme: roommates who trusted one another were much more able to communicate and share responsibilities and food successfully. They tended to have fun, and strengthen their existing relationships.
Part 1: it evens out-- trust, sharing, and picking up the slack
While all roommates have their ups and downs, a common phenomenon described among groups that felt content with their kitchen system was the idea of things “evening out.” Within each group, it is inevitable that there will be some discrepancies. But what is so valuable, and what distinguished the groups that really seemed to have things figured out, was a foundation of trust that things would be fair and equal in the end.
For example, Stacy shared all of her groceries with her two roommates, and they split the bill evenly. While they did not eat the exact same quantities of everything, she still felt that everything evened out at the end:
“Things seem fair and even out because I personally maybe eat a little more than Phoebe, drink more milk than either Constance or her, but Phoebe has her banana peppers she always buys for a snack and drinks coffee, so things like that even out…”
While the three women did not consume equal amounts of everything, Stacy still felt that things felt “fair” and “evened out” between their different patterns.
Phoebe had a similar perspective on the fairness of their situation, referencing their communal efforts with chores such as shopping and cleaning:
“My roommates and I try to do all grocery shopping and cooking together, and wash dishes evenly. It definitely happens sometimes that one of us gets busy and the other two end up doing more for a few days, but it evens out in the long run. Also Constance is really good about doing the dishes when they start to pile up, thanks Constance.”
Their ability to share the tasks of kitchen maintenance and their comfort with each specific situation in which they cannot possibility split things evenly speaks to their solid foundation as roommates. The women started living together their sophomore year, and now in their senior year, they have a solid system.
Three juniors, Abby, Alanna, and Bevers, also enjoyed the phenomenon of things evening out, but in a different way:
Alanna describes her relationship to Abby, a soul mate friend in many ways, but who interacts with their kitchen and communal food in a very different way:
“While I might describe Abby’s kitchen habits as messy, I’ve come to realize that she’d probably describe my level of cleanliness as absurd. We just view the kitchen through different eyes; her standards for what feels right and what should be are simply different from mine. She likes to let her dishes stack up and then do them all at once—dish hour. I always do mine immediately. She also doesn’t get the same therapeutic thrill out of wiping crumbs off the counter top or setting up all the condiments in a straight line that I do. But, we have made it work better than I ever hoped. She does a lot of the grocery runs with her car, while I’m more excited to return the dishes from the drying rack to their spots in the cabinets. For every time I clean the stove ‘for fun,’ Abby has offered me a scoop of homemade hummus or a fresh slice of chocolate chip banana bread.
Abby and Alanna also share their food and split the bill with their third roommate, Bevers, in a way that reflects an ability to communicate even when things are simply not going even out. Abby and Alanna have radically different diets and their attempt to share food evenly at the start of the semester didn’t succeed. Alanna loves vegetables, fruits, and meats, and doesn’t eat many carbs. Abby eats predominantly carbs and hummus. Their dairy and egg consumption was relatively similar, though, and so it seemed that it could make sense and even out if they split the bill equally. However, it quickly became clear that Alanna’s produce and meat were far more expensive than Abby’s oats and loaves. Bevers fell directly in the middle, eating everything in the kitchen. The three described a conference during which they decided which things they would consume communally and which things they would not. They would share grocery shopping chores during the semester, but at the end of the semester Alanna promised to calculate how much money they owed one another.
While this anecdote reflects an acknowledgment that things would not even out, there is still an important degree of trust between roommates and an understanding that they would come together to find a way to make the system work for everyone.
For example, Stacy shared all of her groceries with her two roommates, and they split the bill evenly. While they did not eat the exact same quantities of everything, she still felt that everything evened out at the end:
“Things seem fair and even out because I personally maybe eat a little more than Phoebe, drink more milk than either Constance or her, but Phoebe has her banana peppers she always buys for a snack and drinks coffee, so things like that even out…”
While the three women did not consume equal amounts of everything, Stacy still felt that things felt “fair” and “evened out” between their different patterns.
Phoebe had a similar perspective on the fairness of their situation, referencing their communal efforts with chores such as shopping and cleaning:
“My roommates and I try to do all grocery shopping and cooking together, and wash dishes evenly. It definitely happens sometimes that one of us gets busy and the other two end up doing more for a few days, but it evens out in the long run. Also Constance is really good about doing the dishes when they start to pile up, thanks Constance.”
Their ability to share the tasks of kitchen maintenance and their comfort with each specific situation in which they cannot possibility split things evenly speaks to their solid foundation as roommates. The women started living together their sophomore year, and now in their senior year, they have a solid system.
Three juniors, Abby, Alanna, and Bevers, also enjoyed the phenomenon of things evening out, but in a different way:
Alanna describes her relationship to Abby, a soul mate friend in many ways, but who interacts with their kitchen and communal food in a very different way:
“While I might describe Abby’s kitchen habits as messy, I’ve come to realize that she’d probably describe my level of cleanliness as absurd. We just view the kitchen through different eyes; her standards for what feels right and what should be are simply different from mine. She likes to let her dishes stack up and then do them all at once—dish hour. I always do mine immediately. She also doesn’t get the same therapeutic thrill out of wiping crumbs off the counter top or setting up all the condiments in a straight line that I do. But, we have made it work better than I ever hoped. She does a lot of the grocery runs with her car, while I’m more excited to return the dishes from the drying rack to their spots in the cabinets. For every time I clean the stove ‘for fun,’ Abby has offered me a scoop of homemade hummus or a fresh slice of chocolate chip banana bread.
Abby and Alanna also share their food and split the bill with their third roommate, Bevers, in a way that reflects an ability to communicate even when things are simply not going even out. Abby and Alanna have radically different diets and their attempt to share food evenly at the start of the semester didn’t succeed. Alanna loves vegetables, fruits, and meats, and doesn’t eat many carbs. Abby eats predominantly carbs and hummus. Their dairy and egg consumption was relatively similar, though, and so it seemed that it could make sense and even out if they split the bill equally. However, it quickly became clear that Alanna’s produce and meat were far more expensive than Abby’s oats and loaves. Bevers fell directly in the middle, eating everything in the kitchen. The three described a conference during which they decided which things they would consume communally and which things they would not. They would share grocery shopping chores during the semester, but at the end of the semester Alanna promised to calculate how much money they owed one another.
While this anecdote reflects an acknowledgment that things would not even out, there is still an important degree of trust between roommates and an understanding that they would come together to find a way to make the system work for everyone.
part 2: communal kitchens--Disaster or triumph?
Kitchens on open floor plans tend to be either particularly positive or particularly negative experiences. Many of the anecdotes relayed about kitchens on first-year halls were distinctly negative, reflecting themes of a lack of communication and a breakdown of trust and shared responsibility. Older students’ anecdotes from intentional, communal houses were rather positive, demonstrating that with intentionality and a system, people had positive experiences, even in big groups including people they did not know.
Bennet, a custom’s person in a first-year apartment, describes the way his hall relates to their communal kitchen.
He ventures that the communal kitchen creates a divide between first-years and CPs, because the CPs depend on the kitchen for sustenance and cook the majority of their meals there, whereas first years use the kitchen primarily as a social space.
“I am not sure if they [first years] feel comfortable in the kitchen because they may not feel it is their space to use, and I also feel that several times when they have used the kitchen, they have forgotten to clean up.”
There seems to be a lack of awareness of the shared responsibility that the kitchen entails, which naturally leads to tension. This tension manifests in the kitchen space becoming polarized. Bennet describes this: “me and my CP partner spend time in the kitchen, while our first-years spend time in the common room.” Kitchens are theoretically a central social space, and when that space starts to break down, it can affect the general social dynamic.
Monica lived in a first-year apartment as a first year, and her perspective shed some light on the lack of accountability that first years had towards their kitchens, and the snowball effect of one uncleaned mess: “I was really against cleaning the mess that my hall mates had made, and it got to the point that none of us wanted to clean it because it was so gross.” While Monica and some of her friends were tidy, many of their hall mates were not, and these uncleaned messes made it harder for anyone to share the space.
Phoebe lived in a first-year apartment when arriving at Haverford, and her second year, lived with friends on an open floor plan. She acknowledged that it was difficult to keep those shared spaces clean because of increased traffic and the lack of accountability.
She shared a horror story from her first-year hall that demonstrates how one person’s lack of accountability can have a huge negative effect on others.
“The worst situation I dealt with in a kitchen was freshman year when we had an ant problem and someone left their to-go box full of food in the kitchen. I was the first up in the morning and found it covered in ants, which I really really hate…I left an angry post-it note on the box, and confronted him later. He wasn't someone I like in the first place but it was definitely the final straw for me and I still hold a bit of a grudge about it.”
Because the kitchen is a shared space, the careless actions of Phoebe’s hall mate had a huge personal affect on her. This instance, combined with building frustrations with her communal kitchen all year, led Phoebe to feel particularly vulnerable and react very strongly.
Beatrice and Monica’s experiences living in other community houses (Environmental Haus and Quaker House, respectively) illustrate that when there is a higher degree of intentionality, a shared kitchen can actually be an extremely positive space.
Beatrice moved into Environmental Haus (Ehaus for short) her senior year, and has been extremely pleased with the experience so far. She expressed surprise at how well the system of balancing communal and personal food works, and was pleased with her eating habits. “I think I'm healthier in this situation and the sense of community I get from sharing a kitchen and eating meals together is wonderful.” She particularly appreciated the structured system for working through conflicts: Sunday meetings provide a time to discuss any issues that have arose during the week.
Ants are a central problem in Haverford College Apartments, and Ehaus also encountered an ant problem. However, Beatrice’s experience with ants in Ehaus was radically different from Phoebe’s on her first-year hall, reflecting the intentionality of community houses as a critical tool for navigating the inevitable issues that rise up in shared kitchens: “We had ants during the first semester, and so we discussed ways to clean up all the food scraps and cover any left out food.” Beatrice and her housemates immediately came together to formulate a plan to fix the ant situation, and Beatrice cited this anecdote in her interview as a positive experience, contrasting greatly with Phoebe’s horror story.
Monica’s experience in Quaker House was slightly less intentional and communal, which was simply a reflection of the different systems in different communal houses. Monica appreciated the shared food and cooking and cleaning efforts whenever they had communal meals and the fact that she and her housemates had similar conceptions of a shared kitchen (and shared cooking utensils with everyone in the house), which greatly enriched her experience.
Bennet, a custom’s person in a first-year apartment, describes the way his hall relates to their communal kitchen.
He ventures that the communal kitchen creates a divide between first-years and CPs, because the CPs depend on the kitchen for sustenance and cook the majority of their meals there, whereas first years use the kitchen primarily as a social space.
“I am not sure if they [first years] feel comfortable in the kitchen because they may not feel it is their space to use, and I also feel that several times when they have used the kitchen, they have forgotten to clean up.”
There seems to be a lack of awareness of the shared responsibility that the kitchen entails, which naturally leads to tension. This tension manifests in the kitchen space becoming polarized. Bennet describes this: “me and my CP partner spend time in the kitchen, while our first-years spend time in the common room.” Kitchens are theoretically a central social space, and when that space starts to break down, it can affect the general social dynamic.
Monica lived in a first-year apartment as a first year, and her perspective shed some light on the lack of accountability that first years had towards their kitchens, and the snowball effect of one uncleaned mess: “I was really against cleaning the mess that my hall mates had made, and it got to the point that none of us wanted to clean it because it was so gross.” While Monica and some of her friends were tidy, many of their hall mates were not, and these uncleaned messes made it harder for anyone to share the space.
Phoebe lived in a first-year apartment when arriving at Haverford, and her second year, lived with friends on an open floor plan. She acknowledged that it was difficult to keep those shared spaces clean because of increased traffic and the lack of accountability.
She shared a horror story from her first-year hall that demonstrates how one person’s lack of accountability can have a huge negative effect on others.
“The worst situation I dealt with in a kitchen was freshman year when we had an ant problem and someone left their to-go box full of food in the kitchen. I was the first up in the morning and found it covered in ants, which I really really hate…I left an angry post-it note on the box, and confronted him later. He wasn't someone I like in the first place but it was definitely the final straw for me and I still hold a bit of a grudge about it.”
Because the kitchen is a shared space, the careless actions of Phoebe’s hall mate had a huge personal affect on her. This instance, combined with building frustrations with her communal kitchen all year, led Phoebe to feel particularly vulnerable and react very strongly.
Beatrice and Monica’s experiences living in other community houses (Environmental Haus and Quaker House, respectively) illustrate that when there is a higher degree of intentionality, a shared kitchen can actually be an extremely positive space.
Beatrice moved into Environmental Haus (Ehaus for short) her senior year, and has been extremely pleased with the experience so far. She expressed surprise at how well the system of balancing communal and personal food works, and was pleased with her eating habits. “I think I'm healthier in this situation and the sense of community I get from sharing a kitchen and eating meals together is wonderful.” She particularly appreciated the structured system for working through conflicts: Sunday meetings provide a time to discuss any issues that have arose during the week.
Ants are a central problem in Haverford College Apartments, and Ehaus also encountered an ant problem. However, Beatrice’s experience with ants in Ehaus was radically different from Phoebe’s on her first-year hall, reflecting the intentionality of community houses as a critical tool for navigating the inevitable issues that rise up in shared kitchens: “We had ants during the first semester, and so we discussed ways to clean up all the food scraps and cover any left out food.” Beatrice and her housemates immediately came together to formulate a plan to fix the ant situation, and Beatrice cited this anecdote in her interview as a positive experience, contrasting greatly with Phoebe’s horror story.
Monica’s experience in Quaker House was slightly less intentional and communal, which was simply a reflection of the different systems in different communal houses. Monica appreciated the shared food and cooking and cleaning efforts whenever they had communal meals and the fact that she and her housemates had similar conceptions of a shared kitchen (and shared cooking utensils with everyone in the house), which greatly enriched her experience.
part 3: Origins--living habits and their source
It is clear that everyone has their own approach to kitchens and food practices. Some of this is a reflection of people’s values and personalities, but the way that people interact with their kitchen often also is a reflection of how they were raised and their kitchen at home.
Monica discussed inherited values of cleanliness and ethical purchasing:
“I think I’ve gotten that [kitchen cleanliness] from him [her father]—I like things to be relatively clean before I add any more mess.”
“I think that my food purchasing values are so directly from my mom. I loved growing up with a lot of fresh produce, bulk foods, and organic/fair trade products. I think I’ll probably buy food that way for the rest of my life…”
Stacy describes her disinterest in recipes as a product of her childhood:
“I never use recipes really, didn't grow up cooking that way at all…”
Betsy, who will be living in the apartments for the first time next year, has similar plans to emulate the organization of her home kitchen:
“I do think I will try to emulate habits. Specifically, keeping things clean, putting stuff away right away, those sorts of things…”
Beatrice describes her family kitchen as a warm and casual social space, and voices appreciation for ehaus having a similar atmosphere:
I think my kitchen growing up was always very warm and welcoming. We would sometimes eat at the counter rather than the dining room table. I think this kind of casual atmosphere is something I try to keep with me wherever I go and something I've found in ehaus.”
Alanna discusses her different approach to kitchen cleanliness from Abby’s, and suggests that it is largely a product of how they grew up:
“I grew up in a kitchen that I now realize was immaculate. Every surface was always spotless and the sink never had a dish in it for more than a few hours. Abby grew up in a kitchen that was vibrant, with a lot of fond memories and delicious food, but even she admits that it was really messy. So, our idea of kitchen status quo is super different, and I do feel like we’ve found a way to meet in the middle.”
Monica discussed inherited values of cleanliness and ethical purchasing:
“I think I’ve gotten that [kitchen cleanliness] from him [her father]—I like things to be relatively clean before I add any more mess.”
“I think that my food purchasing values are so directly from my mom. I loved growing up with a lot of fresh produce, bulk foods, and organic/fair trade products. I think I’ll probably buy food that way for the rest of my life…”
Stacy describes her disinterest in recipes as a product of her childhood:
“I never use recipes really, didn't grow up cooking that way at all…”
Betsy, who will be living in the apartments for the first time next year, has similar plans to emulate the organization of her home kitchen:
“I do think I will try to emulate habits. Specifically, keeping things clean, putting stuff away right away, those sorts of things…”
Beatrice describes her family kitchen as a warm and casual social space, and voices appreciation for ehaus having a similar atmosphere:
I think my kitchen growing up was always very warm and welcoming. We would sometimes eat at the counter rather than the dining room table. I think this kind of casual atmosphere is something I try to keep with me wherever I go and something I've found in ehaus.”
Alanna discusses her different approach to kitchen cleanliness from Abby’s, and suggests that it is largely a product of how they grew up:
“I grew up in a kitchen that I now realize was immaculate. Every surface was always spotless and the sink never had a dish in it for more than a few hours. Abby grew up in a kitchen that was vibrant, with a lot of fond memories and delicious food, but even she admits that it was really messy. So, our idea of kitchen status quo is super different, and I do feel like we’ve found a way to meet in the middle.”
closing remarks
There is a reason that people think of the kitchen as central to the home. Food is central to the way that people sustain themselves and connect with others. Cooking, eating, and kitchen maintenance habits reflect people’s values, the way they were raised, and how they live in the world. This examination of people’s relations towards their roommates as manifested in how they share the kitchen space shows that while every set of housemates is different, there are constant themes in successful kitchens and in kitchen disasters. Trust, a belief that things will even out in the long run, an enjoyment of spending time with housemates, and respect are key ingredients in the recipe for a healthy kitchen environment. A lack of communication, unarticulated frustrations, and the absence of accountability tend to add up to messy, lonely, and unhappy kitchens. The kitchen is, in a way, one of the smallest elements of the food system. People need to interact with each other ethically, people need to feel like they have an appropriate level of sovereignty, and people need to realize that they are a part of a system larger than themselves, and that their actions implicate others.
All quotes use pseudonyms, and are taken from interviews with Haverford students conducted via email.
All quotes use pseudonyms, and are taken from interviews with Haverford students conducted via email.