Introduction Community Ovens, originally referred to as communal ovens, were first used in Italy and France in the 14th century. These ovens belonged to the local lord and were originally not created with the intent to bring the community together. However, shortly after the French Revolution, the ovens became part of the community: no fees were charged to use the oven and community members came together to bake their bread for the week. While the bread was baking, community members would gather around the oven to share news and tell stories with one another.1 Today, community pizza ovens have been implemented in various towns across the globe to bring individuals together to build social capital within the community. A community pizza oven would be an excellent addition to Wolfville as the space would bring community members together to share delicious food and create meaningful memories. Social Determinants Social integration is defined differently depending on the community. In Wolfville, social integration is viewed as a definite goal, seeking equal accommodation and opportunity for everyone within the community. When looking at social integration, it is essential to consider the social capital that currently exists or can be created within the community. Social integration involves building social capital, which is the network of relationships that are generated by the people in the community.2 Nova Scotia has a well-established stance on social inclusion and defines it as “capacity, willingness, commitment and investment necessary to ensure that all community members have the opportunity to become engaged in the community development process and can access its social and economic benefits. This means taking into account gender, race, culture, language, social and economic status, age and disability, during the community development process, as well as in determining its outcomes”.3 It is essential to ensure that the Wolfville Community Oven (WCO) reaches its full potential in order to have a positive impact upon the community’s social integration. One of Wolfville’s major barriers for social integration is in regard to issues surrounding nutrition and food security. In order to reduce these barriers, various options have been explored to provide better access to ingredients for the participants. For example, having the farmers market and all of their stakeholders involved could allow the WCO to supply fresh local veggies to the users. Not only would this make these ingredients more accessible but it would also be a mutually beneficial relationship as it would increase business for the market vendors. Other ideas that have been discussed have been partnering with the Acadia Community Farm, creating a small herb garden and implementing a community donation bin. These ideas have been further expanded on in the Operations and Nutrition chapters of this report. 1 Community Brick Oven. (2016). History of community ovens. A Resource Center for Organizations with Community Ovens and Those Considering Building an Oven. Retrieved from https://communitybrickoven.com/history-community-ovens/ 2 Town of Wolfville. (2017). Social integration. Town of Wolfville: White Paper. Retrieved from https://www.wolfville.ca/component/com_docman/Itemid,264/alias,1556-wolfville-white-paper-socialintegration/category_slug,planning/view,download/ 3 Town of Wolfville. (2017). Social integration. Town of Wolfville: White Paper. Retrieved from https://www.wolfville.ca/component/com_docman/Itemid,264/alias,1556-wolfville-white-paper-socialintegration/category_slug,planning/view,download/ 34
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