It has taken a while since the pandemic disrupted the rhythms and routines of community living to get back to regular community meals. At first, they could only be done when it was warm enough to eat outdoors. Then they only happened sporadically when someone was moved to do the cooking. More recently, we have been back to one per week, and to start 2025, we are experimenting with community meals twice a week. This is in addition to Supper Club, currently on Sunday evenings, where anyone can bring their own dinner and join with others in the living room.
A review of recent menus shows that winter has brought a delicious selection of warming, hearty selections: Halloween Hand Pies, a variety of soups, lasagne, seven-layer dinner and most recently, cauliflower kitchari. Coming up as I write: bangers and mash, baked potato bar, black beans and rice, lentil stew and more.
How do community meals work at MoCoCo? There is no requirement to cook or to attend, but sharing meals is part of the foundation on which community is built. In general, there is a set price chosen to reimburse the cook but also be affordable. The cook signs up to prepare their menu of choice. We try to accommodate dietary preferences and needs, and most menus are either vegan and gluten free or offer those options. Some people like to cook, and sign up for more meals, others prefer to help with clean-up.
We are lucky to have a large commercial-style kitchen stocked with big pots, pans, colanders and the like, making it easy to prepare meals for a crowd.
Meals in the winter are generally in the dining room, often by a blazing fire in the wood-burning fireplace. We have a 3-season porch where we sometimes eat, and in the summer, the courtyard, with a gas grill and picnic tables, is a pleasant place to share meals.
In summer, meals may feature herbs, vegetables, cherries, rhubarb, juneberries or mulberries harvested on site.
The kitchen is also available to residents for other activities: holiday cookies, for example, or canning, or baking pies or bread, whether it’s a group activity or a person just needs some extra work space.
Monterey Cohousing Community 