Food Not Bombs

2005-08-21T21:11:00.000-04:00

NEWS

New Britain Food Not Bombs has served meals in New Britain's Central Park since Summer 2004!

What is Food Not Bombs?
Boston activists involved in the anti-nuclear movement formed the first Food Not Bombs group in 1980. Nearly twenty-five years later, there are over 175 autonomous chapters worldwide. Each Food Not Bombs group serves free food to people in need and in support of political organizing efforts.

Why Do We Combine Politics and Food?
Food Not Bombs believes that society and government should value human life over material wealth. Most of the problems we face today stem from the crisis in values that occurs when corporate greed comes before human need.

Food Not Bombs recovers nutritious vegetarian food that would have been discarded otherwise. We cook and serve it to people in immediate need. The problem of hunger is not too little production or too many people--it is poor and inequitable distribution. Food Not Bombs is an alternative food distribution organization, intent on building sustainable community food sharing programs. By giving away free vegetarian meals in public places, Food Not Bombs brings the invisible hungry and poor into the public eye, forcing passers-by to examine, at least for a moment, their own complicity and involvement in allowing the global economic system that oppresses every one of us to continue. Food Not Bombs calls attention to the inherent contradictions in society’s failure to provide food and housing to each of its members, while at the same time handing out hundreds of billions of dollars in funding for unconscionable wars and state violence. Food Not Bombs calls attention to the hypocrisy of a nation that proclaims it values life; while the government siphons tax dollars into weapons for its latest war, many veterans and other people go without food or shelter.

Food Not Bombs is protest, not charity.

While we are a loosely-knit group of collectives, each Food Not Bombs group shares some basic unifying principles: Philosophy of Non-ViolenceViolence--economic, political, mental, environmental, and physical--dominates our society. While greedy and short-sighted politicians claim that we will be “protected” by a National Missile Defense, Patriot Act, or some nebulous War Against Terror, our daily lives on the ground are affected by the constant threat of crime and police violence. The authority and power of the government is based solely on the threat and use of violence at home and abroad. Food Not Bombs is committed to a vision of society that is motivated by love and sharing, not violence and greed.

Poverty is violence. While our society pushes mindless consumerism and pursues unlimited accumulation of wealth, it relegates millions to lives in hunger and homelessness while turning the other cheek. This, combined with police violence, inadequate health care, and countless forms of discrimination deprive each of us of a vibrant and loving way of life.

The commercial food industry is also predicated on violence. It involves the slaughtering of millions of animals and the poisoning of our planet through use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Meat and animal byproducts are not mandatory for a healthy diet, and yet this idea that violence is necessary to human life continues. Tons of useable food go to waste to maintain high profits. More than 70% of the grain harvest in the United States is fed to farmed animals, which in turn feed far fewer people than the grain would directly nourish. Factory farms commodity animals, ignoring that they are sentient beings. Serving vegetarian food exemplifies Food Not Bombs’ commitment to non-violence, as well as the wise and rational use of resources.

Some Manifestations of Violence

The meat industry
Dishonoring veterans by allowing them to live without food or shelter
Emptying psychiatric wards
Food for Oil extortion programs
Wars of Aggression
Funding the military
Lack of adequate and affordable healthcare
Disenfranchisement
Disposable culture
-isms: Racism, heterosexism, classism, sexism, nationalism, etc.
Genocide and removal/forced relocation of people, even when disguised as "urban renewal"

Why Have People Gotten Arrested for Feeding the Hungry?
Some chapters of Food Not Bombs have been hassled by police, and participants have even been arrested. Most of this has to do with politics, and not actual permits as have been claimed. Groups have been temporarily shut down when "important figures" would be in town. For example, several months ago the New Haven Food Not Bombs was forced to pack up because President Bush was in the city.

The New Britain chapter has not been bothered by the police; however, we have considered the possibility of that. People should not be discouraged from volunteering because they cannot risk arrest. There are many levels that you can help on that pose no threat of arrest whatever.

Recipes

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Here are some foods we have served in the past:

Eggplant Parmesan
Black Bean Stew and Rice
Vegetable Soup
Melon
Corn on the Cob
Veggie Stir Fry
Bread
Scones
Macaroni Salad
Potato and Onion Soup
Red Beans and Rice
Pasta with beans
Pasta
Pudding
Walnuts

Have ideas for delicious meals we could make? Come by on Sunday or email the recipe!

New Britain

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We are serving food in New Britain because there are no soup kitchens open on Sundays in the city.

Connecticut is the wealthiest state in the nation, and yet 71.5% of students in New Britain are eligible to receive free or reduced school lunches. The city’s crime rate is twice that of the statewide rate. Likewise, the high school dropout (9.5%) and poverty (12.8%) rates in New Britain are twice what it is elsewhere in Connecticut. The homeless shelter capacity in town is approximately 80, but in 2003 there were between 501 and 1000 requests for shelter, and this number does not include people referred to shelters for battered women.

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!

Although we may find it difficult to change these problems on a nationwide scale, we can have a positive effect on the lives of others living in our own communities.

Get Involved!

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The degree and frequency of your involvement is completely up to you. You can donate your efforts without ever risking arrest. Here are some ways that you could help out:

-Distribute fliers to friends, in your town, and at shows, school, or work.
-Donate vegetarian (no beef, seafood, poultry, pork) food
-Ask others to donate food
-Pick up food donations
-Contribute recipe ideas
-Cook meals
(Don't worry if you "can't" cook. Others will help out)
-Serve hot meals to the hungry in New Britain
-Clean up and wash dishes/cooking utensils

We meet up to prepare food around 2 PM on Sundays, and serve it around 3:00 PM in New Britain's Central Park, by the gold-topped monument.

For more information email us!

Thanks to all individuals who have donated time, food, or money. Thanks to the Spanish Speaking Center on Cedar Street for their generous food donations and moral support. The Spanish Speaking Center houses the food pantry and offers educational programs to people in the community.

Food Not Bombs: New Britain

Food Not Bombs

Recipes

New Britain

Get Involved!