In the press release for Chautauqua: Creating Community Through Food, the latest series of imaginative food events by Derek Denckla, I’m drawn to a simple phrase tucked in parenthesis: “and vice versa”.
The full line reads, “Chautauqua aims to create community through food (and vice versa), assembling a series of innovative and diverse events and exhibitions harking back to historical cultural gatherings started in NYC and held in rural farm communities all over America.” The series begins with a Farm City Book Club meeting on Tuesday, February 22nd, and will explore food via art, sustainability, history, and more on a weekly basis for the next five months. He’s got an incredible line-up and you can find it all right here.
Denckla Speaks Chautauqua at 61 Local
What I like about the vice versa is that it makes a two-way street; an exchange. Yes, through these events, we’re going to break bread and expand the table. Yet in the vice versa — creating food through community — we’ll also create sustenance. This two-way exchange leads to a trademark in Denckla’s work that I always appreciate: “…collapsing the distinction between maker and consumer” (phrase also from press release). It reminds me of Denckla saying that his 2010 Farm City series sought to get people to realize we don’t have to be “alienated consumers.”
These ideas recall a conversation I got to share last summer with Professor Joan Gussow. We were sitting in her garden, after roasting freshly-harvested eggplants, and she was asking me a series of questions such as, “Did I know how to hem a pair of pants?”. While I was busy thinking of the tailor I’d call, she answered for me by saying, “It’s disempowering not to be able to do things yourself.” Thus implied…and vice versa.
So, let’s make some food — and ideas, conversation, and connection, while we’re at it — in these coming weeks. The venue is Local 61, a new bar/restaurant at 61 Bergen Street in Carroll Gardens dedicated to local food and beer producers. The place is warm, cozy, and exquisite. See you there.
Inviting...
61 Local Sign Says It All: Drink, Idea, Food, Conversation, Connection
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