8 GROUNDCOVER NEWS COMMUNITY JANUARY 27, 2023 The brunch revolution — Around the Kitchen Table with Peace House Ypsi ALEXANDRA GRANBERG Groundcover contributor Waffle iron sizzling. Kids laughing. Community mingling. Around the Kitchen Table with Peace House Ypsi is no mimosa-and-avocado-toast, reservations-only, kind of brunch. Free, weekly brunches — a concept sprouted from Peace House, run by Sheri Wander and her husband Pat — were already underway a couple of years before the pandemic hit. When that happened, the brunch had to be re-imagined. Wander started running weekly food deliveries instead. But it just wasn’t the same. “The whole point of the brunch was building community, and I was mourning the loss of that,” said Wander. A few months earlier, Wander had met Lisa Gizzi, a long-term food enthusiast and vegan. Gizzi had run her own, fully vegan prepared food business before realizing “I just wanted to feed my friends, my family, anybody.” So she quit her food business and started thinking about how to make food — tasty, healthy, and, in her case, vegan — more accessible. “Food should be free.” In September 2022, Gizzi and Wander thought the timing was right to restart communal meals. Peace House had been approached by Growing Hope, a nonprofit focused on strengthening the local food system in Ypsilanti. “There was a natural space for collaboration,” said Wander. They all met up, decided they liked each other and that they wanted to work together. The previous brunches had been held at the small space that Peace House provides. Growing Hope had a much larger space to offer, and that’s where it clicked. The bigger space could accommodate more people, and its central location in downtown Ypsilanti made it more accessible. Bee Mayhewn, the kitchen manager at Growing Hope’s Incubator Kitchen, was able to use her connections to get food donations for the brunches — though a lot still comes out of Wander and Gizzi’s own pockets. All three are involved in the cooking along with other volunteers, a setup they hope will grow more sustainable. To that end, Wander would like to be able to get grocery store gift cards to people who want to contribute with their cooking or baking but can’t afford ingredients. Beggars can be choosers The renewed brunches have brought a more diverse clientele than those at Peace House: a lawyer mingling with someone experiencing homelessness; a college student sitting with a dad of five. Some bring food to share, others just happen to walk by. Gizzi estimates that the brunchgoers are a fifty-fifty mix of people who need a free meal, and people who just crave a good brunch. “Whether you’re seeking community or are food-insecure, it doesn’t matter once you’re through the door,” said Wander. And community is what it’s mostly about, according to Wander: “Food is an important tool in community building, such a natural way of sharing our cultures, family stories, experiences. The act of sitting around a table together often creates a relaxed space.” But why brunch? Gizzi says they tried dinner at first, but once they switched to brunch “it exploded” — from some 20 people in the beginning to upwards of 75 last Sunday. Part of the explanation could be that many other places offer free dinners, but elaborate breakfasts are hard to come by. The more diverse brunch crowd was “more what we wanted it to be, and what the community wanted,” said Wander. Then there’s this: Brunch is considered a bourgeois luxury, something they wanted to “flip on its head.” “Sometimes beggars can be choosers,” said Wander. The statement carries a fundamental doctrine. “The expectation is often that one should be thankful for whatever food, if it’s free. We tried making this brunch a celebration, a treat, with vegan and gluten free options — fancy stuff. We all deserve that.” Wander used to think of Ypsilanti as a food desert, but now views it more as “food apartheid” — a systemic limit to easy access to healthy, fresh food. The tagline for the now monthly brunch is Relationships are made around the kitchen table. Unofficially Gizzi adds and revolutions — because “food is political.” These brunches, however, are meant to be a low-barrier event, where anybody and everybody can come and sit down with others, sharing informal knowledge and information over a meal, or just taking the food to go. Making a free meal into a luxurious Top: Saif and Malaika, two Around the Kitchen table attendees, enjoying full plates of brunch food. Bottom left: Grace Wu and Heidi Bechtel are kitchen volunteers from Growing Hope. They assisted with serving the buffet-style brunch. Bottom right: The vegan waffle bar at the January 15 brunch was complete with berries, coconut, candy pieces, sprinkles and so much more! brunch is about making a statement. But, Around the Kitchen Table is also about good eating. And the brunches can be just that — waffles with whipped cream, or the best vegan cheesy potatoes around. The next brunch is February 19, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., at the Growing Hope Kitchen on 16 South Washington St, Ypsilanti. More info: peacehouseypsi.org.
9 Publizr Home