The Common Table

A shared meal around a common table is a powerful site of social exchange. Here, we share and build culture through the flavors, textures and techniques of food and the ideas and stories told and heard through the time of the meal. Recent trends throughout North America have reflected a growing desire to foster spaces of cultural exchange through the emergence of markets and community meals, such as CREATE in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Beyond individually organized meals or market stalls, The Common Table produces a site of confluence for the senses and catalyzes urban exchange centered on the production, distribution, education, cooking and eating of food. The table fluctuates between the global scale of markets and exchange and the intimate scales of interaction and “sobremesa.” In urban terms, The Common Table fosters the economic and agricultural networks that possess the potential to redefine a new agenda for the 21st century and provide a strong urban figure for the daily exchanges that define vibrant cities.