“What if there was such a thing as a public kitchen like there is a public library? That is the question the activist design studio DS4SI decided to test out in its Public Kitchen in an 800 foot temporary storefront in Dorchester.”

Click Here to read more of our latest feature at GBH, written by Magdiela Matta.

ABOUT PUBLIC KITCHEN

Public Kitchen is an intervention aimed at social and food justice-- an experiment in how more vibrant public infrastructures can improve the quality of our lives.

As public infrastructures--hospitals, water, schools, transportation, etc--are privatized, the Public Kitchen takes a stab at going in the reverse direction. It is an installation designed to help us realize that the ways in which public infrastructures can improve the quality of our lives is still a work in progress. We still have room to imagine the futures we want to create! Doing this takes experimentation and creativity. To spark that, the Public Kitchen is a “productive fiction,” and as such it’s our experimentation with a new, more vibrant social infrastructure that:

Challenges the public’s own feelings that “public” means poor, broken down, poorly run, and “less than” private
Engages communities in claiming public space, the social and food justice
Makes a new case for public infrastructures through creating ones that don’t exist

Inspired by the family kitchen as a gathering place, our 2012 Public Kitchen invited Upham's Corner and Dudley Street residents to feast, learn, share, imagine, unite and claim public space. Over 500 community members joined us as the Public Kitchen launched a week of fresh food, cooking classes & competitions, a mobile kitchen and Hub, food-inspired art and much more…

Our art and design team included Chef Nadine Nelson of Global Local Gourmet and the Golden Arrows design collective. Many thanks to our community partners : Upham's Corner Main Street, The Food Project, Shirley Eustis House, Haley House, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and City Growers. And to our funders: The Praxis Project's Communities Creating Healthy Environments Initiative, ArtPlace and The Boston Foundation.

Check out the video of our 2012 Public Kitchen below.

PUBLIC KITCHEN in 2024

Since 2011, we have been activating Public Kitchens around the world. In 2024, we hosted a 3-month iteration of Public Kitchen in the Uphams Corner area, where we tested out a semi-permanent model to see how engaging in a Public Kitchen regularly can change and effect a neighborhood. We hosted the 2024 PK at the same location as our 2012 PK. What a full circle moment! Public Kitchen grew into more than just a place to come together and cook. It became a meeting point after school, a space for ceremonies and celebrations, a hub for experimentation and intergenerational joy and fellowship. There was community healing happening every time we gathered to cook and eat together.

The 2024 Public Kitchen really took on a life of its own. There was planned programming and an Open Kitchen, where we invited the community to set the programming they wanted to experience. Brother Duli, the community shaman, joined us regularly and gave massages on the sidewalk. We had “Community Chop Challenges”, food poetry slams, hot sauce, and canning workshops…“decolonize your diet” discussions, grandmas making pupusas and sending over fried chicken even when they couldn’t attend, youth-led jollof rice and smoothie sessions, and so much more. PK was open on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays every week from July 19th, 2024 to October 12th, 2024, from 3-7 pm, with 35-100 people coming each day.

The Public Kitchen cohort, co-led by Nohemi Rodriguez and Mark Araujo, included Carmen Powell, Paige Brooks-Cook, Monica Leitner-Laserna, Tu Phan, and Andrea Catania, who all did an amazing job of making Public Kitchen the success it was! Most of the team were a part of the Public Kitchen & Dance Court cohort facilitated by DS4SI in 2023 around the framework, principles, and culture of Public Kitchen.

In 2024, the cohort worked together to identify chefs from various backgrounds and ethnicities to lead demonstrations and facilitate knowledge exchange, curating experiences that encouraged residents to engage and offer their own talents and skills to the PK space. Their contributions—alongside yours and our community’s—shaped what Public Kitchen became. We’re grateful for all of our activators, facilitators, chefs, neighbors, and friends, including the Dudley Greenhouse, Comfort Kitchen, Eastie Farms, Green Mountain Girls Farm, and a special Thanks to Carmen Powell for rescuing much of the food we cooked at Public Kitchen. This was truly a beautiful example of collaborative community design.

Thank You!

2024 Public Kitchen Cohort pictured left to right: Monica Leitner-Laserna, Carmen Powell, Mark Araujo, Paige Brooks-Cook, Andrea Catania, and Tu Phan