they asked and we answered…سألوا وجاوبنا

what is a social kitchen?

بعد أشهر من العمل لخلق مشروع للتفاعل بين افراد المجتمع على صورة مطبخ اجتماعي مازال السؤال المحير” ما الذي تريدون عمله؟” يتم طرحه علينا بشكل دائم. لنكون صريحين هو سؤال له ابعاد كثيرة ويصبح ممتعا اكثر كلما تعمقنا به.

بعيدا عن النمط السائد، والمرتبط بالربح السريع والمبالغ فيه والمظاهر الإجتماعية، والتنميط والتفكير بالفرد والغاء الجماعة
وُلدت فكرة أقرب للتأني والتفكير واعطاء الوقت حقه واعادة التفاعل بين الأفراد.

فكرة تَجمَع أطياف المجتمع للتغميس في قضاياه وفي نفس الوقت تذوق بعض من الوجبات الشعبية القادمة من مطبخ البيت مباشرة.
تغميس لا يمثل اكل فقط، هو عبارة تجربة. وهو ليس مطعم بل مطبخ اجتماعي، حيث خبرات وقصص الجميع في الحياة مقدرة وحيث نقوم بالتساؤل في كل شئ يدخل الى اجسادنا وعقولنا.

المطبخ الاجتماعي مكون من خطة بسيطة، خطة تجمع الناس حول مائدة طعام شعبية للتغميس في وجبات موسمية وبسيطة لتكون وسيلة لجمع الناس حول قضايا اجتماعية تمس حياتنا اليومية، وايضا لتمويل برامج للتدريب لفئات المجتمع المختلفة وبالاخص المهمشة منها. هذه الخطة ستساعدنا على فهم ابعاد هذه القضايا عن طريق التعلم التشاركي، فالمشاركة في الغذاء والمعلومة هي وسيلتنا لكي نخلق المجتمع الذي نود الوصول اليه.

من نحن؟ نحن أشخاص نحب التعلم بطرقه الابداعية والبعيدة عن جدران المدرسة. نحن اشخاص كان لنا قصة نجاح في الحياة العملية ولكن غير مقتنعين اخلاقيا بمعايير هذا النجاح. نحن أشخاص نبحث عن شئ مميز وبسيط وغير معقد. نحن نسعى  لنكون أنفسنا ونتفاعل مع ذاتنا ومع الأخرين لأننا نؤمن بان لدينا القدرة جميعا لنكون في حال أفضل ويجب ان نكون كذلك.

في تغميس نحن لا نسعى للحصول على أي تمويل او منح خارجية. نحن نعي بان هذا التمويل يأتي على شكل قروض يتم دفعها لاحقا عن طريق رفع الضرائب على طبقات المجتمع التي تعاني. نطمح الى الحصول على الدعم من جميع من يرى الفائدة فيما نقدم ويقدر الروح التي نود خلقها لابقاء هذا المطبخ حي.

Months into working on a new model for community engagement in the form of a social kitchen, we still get the question, “So, what is it you’re trying to do exactly?”  It’s a great question.  One that gets more interesting the deeper you dip into it.

In a time when everything is artificial and manufactured, from our food to our interactions, we feel starved for something genuine, something real.  We’re searching for a reconnection to everything that nourishes us in body, mind, and spirit.  For us, that means people, food, and fabric, everything that stitches us together and makes us whole.  Taghmees is not merely about food; it’s about experience.  It is not a restaurant; it’s a kitchen – a social one.  We’re questioning everything that goes into our bodies and our minds, because we feel that our spirits are suffering because of it.

Schools and institutions have done the job well of limiting us to appreciate only one from of learning, shaping education into banks, where knowledge is deposited and unchallenged.  Where only those who have accounts are able to access credit to get ahead; and only to spend it in one form, to continue to compete to create more losers than winners, etching away at our humanity, leaving a wounded world to limp forward towards progress.

What we’re doing goes so much against our socially constructed “common sense”.  It almost feels like we have to remind ourselves of everyday by asking the familiar question, “what are we trying to do again?”  Our instincts have been honed over the course of recorded history, internalized to see the futility in any other way or logic outside of dominant (business) models.  These instincts keep turning us from our chosen path, battering against our determination and hope for something different.

But we see the truth of our miseducation in the path our compartmentalized knowledge has taken us as a species.  Unlike what some might claim, we do not believe that people are naturally flawed or hardwired for corruption.  This has merely become our conditioning, what has been modeled, what has been taught, that makes us so.  We are just very good learners, and this is what our reality has taught us.

With time and patience, we are trying to learn a new way, by reshaping our values, placing them first and our education second.  By practice, we seek to build new instincts and shape a more benevolent common sense.  Our learning must serve community, not self.  Our actions must be taken in context, not in a void.  We are relevant, but not alone.

Who are we?  We are people who love learning, but disliked school.  We are people who were successful professionally, but were ethically dissatisfied by set definitions of success.  We are people who are looking for something genuine, something simple, and uncomplicated.  We are looking to be ourselves, to engage with other selves, working to make each other better, because we can, and we should.

We’re not looking for donor funding or grants.  We recognize that these funds come in the form of loans, which are then paid off by increased taxes on a majority of already struggling people, who never asked for our help to begin with.  We’d like the support of those that see the benefit in what we offer and value the spirit we’re trying to create to help keep our kitchen alive.

http://beamman.com/on-the-street/people-/911-taghmees-social-kitchen-amman 

towards humanity

In the manufactured spirit of the season, we came up with a list of some things that we’d like to avoid in life, as well as the things that we’d like to attract.  We thought to share it and hope you find it useful.

Things to Avoid:

1. Unnecessary debt (the concept of “neccessity” is open for interpretation here of course, but I’m looking at things in terms of how much of my life am I willing to spend in exchange for said need).

2. Being around people who make me feel bad about who I am, what I believe, or how I behave.  I don’t mind being challenged by others, but I don’t enjoy being judged, blamed, or shamed.

3. Holding onto unnecessary anger, whether towards loved ones or strangers.  I’d like to allow more space in myself for forgiveness by freeing up the space holding anger’s destructive energy.  (Please note that this doesn’t mean that I’m going to numb my emotions and pretend that life is a rose or smile in the face of exploitation and violence.  I’m just saying that I want to let go of the anger that damages relationships, moods, gatherings, and breakfast tables.  The kind that drags on unnecessarily,

4. Engaging ego, my own or others.  (Unfortunately, ego is one of those inescapable things, but if I’m more vigilant and self-observant, I may be able to avoid letting it control my life completely)

5. Junk, in all its forms, whether food, entertainment, or stuff

6. Confusing judgment for wisdom; times when I think I’m being wise when I’m actually being judgmental.

 

Things to Attract: 

1. Laughter, the kind that makes my entire body work and all my physical faucets leak.  Laughter that hurts my stomach but not anybody else’s feelings.  The kind that takes me unexpectedly, and leaves me weak yet joyful.

2. Learning moments, even in the form of challenges or experiences that push my comfort zone (but which are hopefully not catastrophic, traumatizing, or damaging in nature).

3. Critical nonjudgmental people who want to engage and be engaged, whether in reflecting on content, practice, or experience.

4. Honest feedback that isn’t advice (sincere observations and reactions that are relayed for me to reflect on and choose how to use according to my best judgment).

5. Gatherings of good people over good food.

6. Opportunities to be in nature.

7. Movement and energy, and anything that inspires them.

8. Good will and warmth.

9. The strength, courage, and support needed to pursue the life path that makes most sense to me.

10. The wisdom to realize when life is presenting me with exactly the things I need rather than the things I want.

 

*inspired by a dear loved one on his birthday, thank you, kazoon.