id: community-kitchen-rotation
title: Community Kitchen Rotation
description: >-
  A mutual aid practice in which members take turns cooking for the whole
  group, sharing labour and food, and creating regular time together.
  Found in many cultural traditions, including Sikh langar, Jewish
  community kitchens, and contemporary mutual aid networks.
source: Sikh langar tradition / mutual aid networks
source_url: https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Langar
tags: [mutual-aid, food, community, rotation]
forked_from: null
image: null
steps:
  - headline: Establish the rotation
    description: >-
      The group agrees on a regular meal — weekly or monthly — and a
      rotation of who cooks for each one. The burden and the gift rotate.
  - headline: Cook for all
    description: >-
      The cook for that meal prepares food for the whole group, accounting
      for dietary needs. The meal is free to those who come.
  - headline: Eat together
    description: >-
      The group gathers, shares the meal, and eats together. The cook is
      released from other tasks for that gathering.
  - headline: Clean together
    description: >-
      After the meal, those who ate clean up alongside or instead of the
      cook, so the labour does not all fall on one.
  - headline: Acknowledge and rotate
    description: >-
      The cook is thanked; the next cook is named. The rotation continues,
      keeping the gift circulating.
outcome: >-
  The group shares food and time regularly, with the labour of cooking
  distributed rather than concentrated on a few.
practice: >-
  The rotation is the heart. If the same people always cook, it becomes
  service, not mutual aid. Shared cleanup is as important as shared food.