Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

Food. Believe me, the food is out there. Start by asking your local food co-op, if you have one, to save its wilted and spotty vegetables and other expired goods for you. Go to bakeries at closing time and ask for the bread they are going to throw away (for some reason, bakeries tend to bake much more than they can sell; in my town they often put the bags of leftover bread out by the back door rather than in the dumpster, in hopes that someone can use it). A local steakhouse gives us their leftover baked potatoes at the end of the night, plus their prepped lettuce and tomatoes?talk to restaurants and caterers about what they might be willing to donate. If you still need more food, go dumpster diving: we have a standing Wednesday night date to go through three grocery store dumpsters to see what we can find, which yields us enough not only to serve 30 or 40 people the next day, but to put extra groceries out for people to take home. If you dumpster food, however, make sure that you are not stripping dumpsters other people depend on?^we do our dumpstering in a suburban neighborhood where we are not competing with anyone.

Highly developed cooking skills. It helps to have at least one volunteer with some cooking experience, but cooking really isn't aU that hard.

Money. Most of your food will come to you for nothing?that's part of the point. You may however, need some start-up money for pots and other equipment, and you'll need to spend money occasionally on oil, rice, etc. Don't turn down donations?^you can put out a jar if you like (we prefer not to do it at regular servings because we don't want anyone to feel bad about not making a donation, but we do put one out at special events). Other ways to raise money include benefit shows, yard sales of dumpstered items, and selling patches or other things. Don't let lack of money keep you from starting a group-? it will work out much more easily than you might think.

Permission. The only permission you need is the consensus of the group?^you don't need approval from a central office or anyone else to get started. Some people worry about the legal liability of giving away free food; you can explain to them that yotir activities are covered by the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Act, a federal law protecting people who give away food from lawsuits. If you feel that you need a permit from your city to set up a serving in a park or other location by all means look into it, but most groups don't bother?in fact, one of the underlying points of Food Not Bombs is that no one should have to ask permission to serve food to people who want it.

What you don't need

You can cook food on the engine of a car while driving it?just wrap it in tinfoil and wedge it in safe and tight near the exhaust manifold.

Just about anything can be soup. Saute onions and garlic in oil, add water (enough to

fill up your pot about three quarters full), drop in chopped vegetables, bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Add spices, herbs, and salt to taste. For a thicker soup put in a handful of rice, some pasta, some lentils, or some diced potatoes. Takes about forty-five minutes.

Stir-fiy is basically like soup without the water. Follow the directions above, using a big frying pan instead of a pot. Serve with rice or other grains. Takes about forty-five minutes.

All-Purpose Recipes

Food Not Bombs 253

You can bake cookies or cakes

and present them on behalf of the

anarchist underground to underpaid

librarians, toll collectors who turn a

blind eye for the poor, and anyone

else who deserves recognition.

Cut Up any kind of greens besides lettuce, using everything but the stems, and put them in a frying pan or pot with a httle oil to prevent sticking. Add a tiny bit of water?^the greens will give out their own moisture as they cook. Add a little vinegar to taste and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg if you've got it. Fill the pot as full as you can and keep turning the greens as they cook?^they will shrink dramatically Keep adding greens, stirring and turning occasionally. Turn off the heat before the greens are completely limp and colorless and cover the pot until you are ready to serve. Takes about thirty minutes.