CREATE: The Community Meal

Artist: Seitu Jones
Location: Minnesota, U.S.A
Year of completion: 2014
Researcher: Megan Guerber

CREATE: The Community Meal, a gathering of 2,000 residents around a table stretching a half mile long in order to gather, eat and speak about food justice within their community. While the focus of the project was on starting conversations about food, elements of performance, poetry and visual art were also included. While the focus of the project was on starting conversations about food, elements of performance, poetry and visual art were also included. Grace was read prior to the meal by poet G.E. Patterson. Choreographer Ananya Chatterjea taught the volunteer servers a set of movements to perform while serving the food. Artist Mary Hark collaborated with neighbors to create 2,000 placemats from handmade paper using biowaste from the neighborhood. A group of local chefs were led by James Baker to create the meal consisting of chicken and vegetables. Most of the food was sourced within a 50-­‐mile radius and raised by farmers of color. These farmers were present to help teach about healthy food, where to find it and how to prepare it.

The projects successes include gathering 2,000 neighbors to talk about food justice within their community. also connected the Frogtown neighborhood to the larger local agricultural community and increased cultural understanding all around. With education improving on how to source and cook healthy food, public health will improve.

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