Very interesting – might be our deepest reflection yet into food and communal (and non-communal) eating.
Just a a couple of integrations:
- Competitive cooking was, in my account of early days in Sidi Kaouki, a nice emergent property of communal living, not a bug! Everyone wins: the cooks get to show off, the non-cooks get to eat delicious treats.
- This also eases up the problem of “Alex’s damn pasta dish again”. On that, I noticed that people have very different thresholds for food boredom: some can eat more or less the same food, day in, day out. Others get bored and restless. The former can enjoy your pasta dish for a very long time!
- Resupplying in Kaouki was a nuisance when I was there, and I suppose it still is. Matera was way easier: someone would just walk to the nearest superette, and to some greengrocer’s. This would be a 10-15 minutes walk each way. In practice, I don’t think we can really beat logistics (as argued here). Kaouki is likely to be a one-off, with the next houses being either in cities or a short bike ride from commerce.