COVID-19: How to best solve other miscellaneous challenges
In the last weeks, we have heard from so many of you from around the globe who are part of the larger Social Gastronomy family about ways you are affected by the coronavirus pandemic. We want your voices to be heard, to share your experiences in your project, in your city, and tell us what you are doing to adjust to a new way of doing business.
With my colleague Evan Caplan, a food writer, we will be regularly updating this page with stories, interviews, useful information, and actions related to the coronavirus pandemic. We welcome your comments and your contributions.
ARTICLES AND RESOURCES
This piece by expert Stewart Patrick of the Council on Foreign Relations offers a positive view of what may arise in the face of this global crisis: a renewed commitment to multilateralism and international cooperation. Something good for a change! It is more policy-oriented, but a short piece and well-worth a read.
This is an important effort in the United States – chefs suing their insurers for business interruption coverage that big restaurants have for times of crisis. While they probably won’t win the legal argument, they are using this as a way to advocate for financial relief in the next bill in Congress dealing with remedies for loss of income.
Global Shapers is running a list of projects around the world that are gathering and distributing information and ideas for solutions at a local and global level to share knowledge and build collaborations.
MAD is also gathering general ideas from people on their Instagram account, spreading knowledge and solidarity throughout the crisis.
British startup Diaspo is a network connecting older generations with younger ones around the history, culture, and nourishing aspects of traditional food. The older-generation teachers offer free classes online during the pandemic.
STORIES AND INTERVIEWS
Culinary Backstreets has been writing about the food journeys of everyday urban dwellers since 2009, elevating their stories and supporting their missions to feed their communities and maintain tradition. The organization was founded by Ansel Mullins and Yigal Schleifer as a food blog based in Istanbul, and now has a global reach and orientation. In the current atmosphere, the organization can’t run food tours and fundraisers. It has instead been publishing “Coronavirus Diary” pieces detailing what culinary life looks like in quarantine wherever the organization operates. Read up on everywhere from Queens, New York to Milan to Mexico City, and understand what culinary solidarity looks like.
Resilience is a term we use to describe the way refugees are able to sustain themselves in new environments. Now, COVID-19 has created even greater challenges to the concept of resiliency. This article about a young Syrian living in Ethiopia reflects the ongoing capacity of the world’s migrants to create a livelihood in such a distant land.
This story highlights a new initiative undertaken in North Carolina (USA) to turn an abandoned prison into a sustainable farm and education center. The initiative works with young men from disadvantaged backgrounds to help them avoid the criminal justice system.
ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE
Wash your hands, and socially distance as much as possible to prevent the spread of the virus.
Take a selfie video of concrete ideas and actions that you have seen, heard about, or done in your community as part of our Solidarity Video Chain on Instagram; tag us @social_gastronomy so we can repost!