Evan Sung for The New York TimesDana Casey, a member of a Brooklyn cooking co-op, packs up her share of the monthly haul at Kristen Prinzo’s home.
By LAURIE WOOLEVER
Published: June 22, 2010
DINNERTIME in our home, once a source of great pride and pleasure, became a rather lackluster affair after the birth of our son in 2008. Mostly it involved repurposing takeout leftovers or, on a more ambitious night, mixing chunks of frozen vegetable purées, meant for the baby, with macaroni and cheese. It was family dinner in the sense that it was marginally edible food, consumed together in the home, but prepared with the same care and passion I brought to refilling the cat’s water bowl.
Evan Sung for The New York Times
In Brooklyn, co-op members, from left, Christine Algozo, Amy Scallon and Dana Casey serve themselves brunch provided by the swap host, Kristen Prinzo. French toast, vegetable frittata and cheese were on the menu.
But in February, everything changed. My husband and I became part of a cooking cooperative, and suddenly we were eating tagliatelle Bolognese, eggplant Parmesan or chicken adobo, all of it homemade, and only a fraction of it cooked by me.
A cooking co-op, or dinner swap, is simply an agreement by two or more individuals or households to provide prepared meals for each other, according to a schedule. The goal is to reduce the time spent in the kitchen while increasing the quality and variety of the food eaten.
It’s not a new idea — dinner co-ops have been around for years — but it was new to me. Mine is based in my apartment building in Jackson Heights, Queens, which adds to the convenience. Members of our co-op, made up of four households, including two editors at the James Beard Foundation and Tony Liu, the executive chef of the Manhattan restaurant Morandi, exchange meals weekly....
via nytimes.com