Link to Utne Reader

“Do they pay state sales tax? Federal business tax? All the volunteers have food safety training and TB tests? Do the neighbors love hundreds of folks parking on Soule? Were there any local political types at these gatherings? Any who voted on the chicken law?

It will be interesting to see how the city treats this business operation in a residential neighborhood.”

But since the restaurant is still posting/advertising on their webpage and open to the public, it looks like either the laws are being flaunted or the city/county isn’t directly enforcing the same regulations other businesses in the city/county have to follow.

To call this ‘revolutionary’ and comparing quiche baking to the Amreicans around in 1776 reminds me of how out of touch from reality some A2-ites can get at time.

Now, I am sure that the Lisa’s heart may be in the right place, however when you cook for such a large group of people that risk is higher for food borne illness than when you cook for your own family. More people get food poisoning at Thanksgiving than any other day of the year. Mostly due to cooking such a large meal in the presence of turkey that has a high salmonella content. There is a lot of cross-contamination.

What protections is the Selma Café implementing so that people do not get sick? Accidents do happen. Keep in mind that many of the small cafes in Ann Arbor probably do not serve 100 people for a single meal at one sitting yet they have to abide by the laws.

I know many are stating that this is not a restaurant, but I think of a restaurant as the following.

If most guests are strangers and not friends….
If anyone can drop in without being invited….
If people leave money in exchange for the food….
If it has a name (Selma’s Café)…….
If it has set hours (every Friday-fundraisers don’t have set hours)….
If it is advertised open to the public….

Then it is restaurant.

I like our health laws and do not want to see people “rise” up to overthrow them. The health laws have a purpose.

I highly recommend Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael books for an important, insightful perspective on what happened when “civilization” began such practices.

I like your vision, Kim. I think you’re overstating just what the city is and what it has taken a stand on, though. Test your thoughts against reality. (If you need help, go to http://www.thework.com.)

Fast forward to the present and over the years we (former revolutionaries) have put in place a lot of laws, regulations and city ordinances around what is ok and not ok for people to do with food, with growing food, making food, and selling food. Mostly having to do with benefiting corporations growing or selling food on an industrial scale so that it will be “cheap.” And at the present moment, we have, as a country, never been fatter, sicker, more depressed or deeper in debt. It seems like maybe something isn’t working and maybe cheap isn’t really just about money.

I’m pretty sure that Jeff and Lisa are not running a restaurant, because I’ve never left a restaurant after a wonderful meal with great conversation among people I didn’t know, and gotten a hug and been handed a bag of freshly picked greens on the way out to ride my bike home. And as for the chickens, I don’t see why it’s ok for my neighbor’s dog to take a dump in my yard, bark all night and snap at people passing by, but somehow I’d have to get the permission of all 5 of my neighbors, including an apartment house that backs up to my yard to be able to have a chicken.

I’d like to applaud Lisa and Jeff for the courage, the energy, and the generosity that they’ve shown the rest of us sheeple about what it takes and what the consequences are for stepping even a little bit outside the boundaries of what we currently accept as the status quo.

I want a world with SELMA. I want a city that supports its Project Grow community garden project. I want a city that supports the new Westside Farmer’s Market. Unfortunately, that’s not the city I live in. The city of Ann Arbor has taken a stand against each of those important facets of our food community and the ability of our community to feed itself.

I take phenomena of SELMA as a call to join together and start working on the world as it should be and the community that we want.

This would be a far different place if there weren’t people brave enough to draw our attention to what’s wrong and go beyond that to show a path to a different future. Thank you Lisa and Jeff!

There seems to be some confusion around what we are doing in our home. Here is some background and current information that may help put this issue in perspective.

I’ve lived in Ann Arbor for more than 30 years, and Jeff for a long time too. We love to cook and share food with a large community of friends and neighbors. For years our family has routinely had dinner parties where large groups of friends and aquaintances come over, cook together and share a meal. We have a large kitchen and dining room and have parties for various family and friend’s events. Food and community are a big part of our lives.

We realized that we could take our love for cooking and sharing food and use it to support the local food and farm community by hosting casual fundraising dinners for our friends, neighbors and community.

We feel strongly that shoppinng and eating locally, planting gardens, and being mindful of sustainable agricultural practices have great value for the physical and financial health of our city. The fund raising parties we hosted are the same kind of events that many people attend all over our city when they have a cause that they want to support–people show up, eat, have fun, and support good works.

repastspresentandfuture.org was created to put a name to our efforts, and we have had a few parties that were held in our home to support our causes. After one of our fundraising parties a few months ago, we decided to use up the rest of our supplies by celebrating Jeff’s birthday, and we threw a big breakfast party at our home. We asked some friends to come over to make waffles and fry up some eggs, bacon and toast, help us serve, and clean up afterwards. Folks who came made donations towards the cost of the food and the rest went to our fundraising efforts. This is the origin of Selma “cafe”–not a real cafe–but a Friday morning party where we and our friends cooked and shared food. It was so much fun we decided to keep it going.

We are not a restaurant or any kind of “food establishment.” We are a family that likes to cook, eat and socialize while paying attention to important community issues. Everyone involved comes because they love what we are doing. They want to start their Friday off with friends and a good breakfast while supporting local food initiatives.

The money seems to be an issue for some of you. Every bit of the donations that come in go to pay the local farmers, dairys, orchards, flour mills and local businesses that supply us, and what is left over goes completely to fundraising efforts. No money is used for anything else, including the cost to us of offering our kitchen, equipment, utilities and home. No one who helps gets paid for anything. It is all volunteer and people volunteer because it is a fun morning with great food, and they believe the cause is worthwhile. Financial information is on our website, with total transparency if you want more specifics.

There was mention of traffic and parking. Many people who come to our house ride their bikes or walk because they live nearby. Because Eberwhite School is two doors down, Soule Blvd. consistently has a high volume of traffic and parking numerous times per day–in the morning, at lunch time, after school, and again after work when parents come to pick up their children from child care. School buses, taxis, childcare vans, and many, many parents who drive their children to and from school routinely fill the street,both driving and parking.

I have lately addressed the questions and concerns of the city and county and cleared up the confusion that the anonymous letter generated.

Finally, I am pleased to share that our hens are now in compliance with the backyard chicken ordinance and are living happily in our backyard. Come on by sometime and enjoy their antics.

The city is not issuing the fines first, this establishment is completely ignoring ordinances that they KNOW exists; they are not be targeted. They are actually sort of taunting the city and are not victims.