It was exciting to attend the “Re-Opening of Hull-House Kitchen: Re-Thinking Soup,” a free weekly lunch that will continue on Tuesday’s in a space that is more legendary than historic—the Jane Addams Hull-House. Ms. Addams was one of those larger-than-life figures who helped to shape so many movements in the twentieth century. She was the second woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and much of her work spiraled out from the Hull-House. At the Hull-House, Jane and her friends cultivated a welcoming space that fostered night school and kindergarten, theatrical events and art, children’s clubs and labor meetings, an unprecedented public kitchen and much more. Historically the Hull-House Kitchen prepared subsidized lunches for working women and public school children, provided nutritious soups to immigrant families for pennies, and offered cooking classes. Communal meals were enjoyed by residents of the house, and notable Chicagoans frequently joined them for dinner.
The same dining hall is now home to the “Re-Thinking Soup” weekly lunch. The organizers recognize the power of food to bring people together. According to chef Sam Kass, “We are here because everyone eats.” The intention is to bring people together not only to eat, but to discuss the many ethical issues and challenges related to food—nourishing both bodies and ideas.
Announcing the re-opening, Hull-House Museum Director, Lisa Yun Lee writes, “in the same space that Upton Sinclair came every night while he was writing The Jungle, and where Ida B. Wells, Gertrude Stein, and W.E.B. Duboise gathered to talk about the most challenging issues of their times, we will gather to eat delicious, healthy, stimulating soup and have fresh, organic conversation about many of the urgent social, cultural, economic and environmental food issues that we should be addressing.”
Goodness Greeness looks forward to ensuring that organic ingredients are available for the stimulating soups, and to participating in ongoing conversations about the complicated issues influencing current food systems. To catch up on and contribute to the conversation that began May 6, 2008—check out: http://www.hullhousekitchen.blogspot.com/
Sarah Aubry
