Fifty students, many of them strangers, joined together last week to share a meal and celebrate the co-op's first event of the academic year. They may not have known each other that well, but the food they were eating was cooked by people from their own group in the Ladd House kitchen only hours before.
"There's just something intimate about cooking and sharing food together," said co-op founder Katherine Kirklin '07 at the event.
Despite being denied permission for communal housing at the very end of last year, the group has remained dedicated to their idea.
"It was really frustrating at the time," said Kirklin, "but since the semester started we've felt a lot more support from the administration. We figure, start with the small stuff."
The Bowdoin co-op was originally formed as an idea for a small group of people to live together communally.
"The real goal is living together and cooking where we live," said co-op member Mike Taylor '07. "We would make the house sustainable, and cook four meals a week together. Maybe even have a garden," he said.
However, at the end of last year the co-op members were faced with an ultimatum by the Bowdoin administration.
"We kind of got the rug pulled out from under us," Taylor said. The administration cited many reasons, one of which being that theme housing is banned according to Bowdoin policy. Also, Bowdoin Dining Service decided that it was not realistic or possible to fund four meals a week outside of the normal dining halls. It was also decided that the Burnett House kitchen was too small and would become a fire hazard if the co-op tried to cook large group meals.
However, the co-op members have not given up.
"We all understand there is a lot of work between now and what we want. Right now, we'll just see how this goes," Taylor said.
"We've all been working to make this a reality. In theory, co-op dinners sound like a great idea to do?when it actually happens it's amazing," he said.
Even though the co-op members are scattered in housing on-campus and beyond, they have worked to remain organized.
"We have two new head cooks each week. Also, someone drives out to Damariscotta and picks up organic food supplies in the college hybrid. Then we have three prep cooks that basically help out with everything else," Taylor said.
Participants also strive to remain open to new members. "We're not exclusive?we recruited freshmen at the Student Activities Fair."
Despite the openness, membership has been capped at 50. "Anything more and Ladd couldn't hold us anymore," Taylor said.
To make sure that no one is excluded, only 40 students are permanent members. The last ten spots are kept open every week for whomever decides that they want to see what the co-op is all about.
"Bowdoin can be a warm community, but 50 people all sitting down together and having a meal each week?that's something special. You don't just sit down with strangers," Kirlin said.
During the dinner, members constantly changed seats and met new people.
When Mike Taylor stood up to select the next week's cooks, people could not volunteer quickly enough.
"A lot of us see the co-op as a really promising way to achieve institutional and personal goals with environmental efficiency and social interaction...and the food is really good," Kirklin said.