Event overview
This event explores conflictual meals in public places: What happens when everyone wants to use public space for meals?
This event explores meals in public as sites of conflicts. Parks and other public areas are important places for families, friends and groups to come together and share meals. This can be particularly relevant for people and, often, migrant communities who don’t have private gardens, for whom parks offer the possibility of socialising through their own cultural celebrations and food.
Public sites for meals, however, are also sites of conflicts, both within the users themselves and between users, authorities and neighbours. Particularly in cities, spaces for public meals are limited and heavily regulated. Due to space restrictions, a large amount of people tend to want to use limited sites which might lead to frictions. Different ideas of how to use these sites, the amount of group members, and food choices (such a uses of grills, or the creation of smoke, smells and noise) might lead to conflicts as well. Moreover, during COVID authorities reacted to the increased uses of such public spaces with further restrictions and closures.
This was the case with the popular barbecue area in Burgess park, which was initially closed during the pandemic to reduce risk of spread. The barbecues continued to be closed to avoid the risk of fire during the following very hot summer until they were finally removed by the council without prior consultation. This led to an ongoing local campaign to reinstate the barbecues with the support of residents, local organisations such as Latin Elephant and the project WeWalworth.
The event will take place in the new forthcoming barbecue area of Burgess Park and will use the site as a starting point for discussing the value and challenges of public facilities for holding meals.
Note that there are no seats provided. You may want to bring a picnic blanket or a camping seat.
This event is part of "Where is the Meal? A Roving and Participatory Event Series on Food, Place and Communities. "Where is the Meal?" is a series of five events responding to the question of how meals relate to place, and its cultural, political, technological and legal conditions. Each event is comprised of a meal for all participants, designed collaboratively by the event organisers and two invited guests. Each individual event serves to both perform the topic of the meal, and engage the guests and audience into a relevant discussion.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 4 May 2024 | 1:00pm - 4:00pm |
Accessibility
If you are attending an event and need the College to help with any mobility requirements you may have, please contact the event organiser in advance to ensure we can accommodate your needs.
