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IT'S PIE WEEK!

"We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie." David Mamet

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The Cook Off Chronicles - Part 2





Over the past week I might finally have gained the Atavan-esque calm I need to cook for almost 200 people. Thank you Coop “Cooking in Harmony” Planning Committee.
     People love to trash-talk the Coop for its work camp ethics. But I think it's amazing, and the problem has less to do with its byzantine rules than its transparency.
      Key Food, for example, somehow organizes its staff to stock the shelves and keep the place relatively clean - I don’t care how they do it, just as long as I find my favorite brand of frozen waffles. At the Coop everyone works, so everyone sees the cracks in the overwrought system, giving tons of fodder for snarky detractors. But really: great food at amazing prices for 2.75 hours of work a month is a decent trade off. Plus I’m more and more fond of this rule-ridden, lumbering, idealistic community.