Nathan Kelm is organizing piles of food on a table at the Peaceful Valley Community Center on a recent Sunday afternoon. Fennel bulbs. Over-ripe bananas. Packages of tempeh. Bottles of blackcurrant juice. Jars of asparagus tapenade.
“The hardest thing is coming up with the recipes,” says Kelm, a tall, lanky 17-year-old with dark, twisted locks that flow out from under his black knit cap. Kelm and a few others who share his youthful appearance and penchant for black clothes work quietly, carefully maneuvering in the community center kitchen, where they’ve gathered every Sunday since March. They’re members of the local chapter of Food Not Bombs, a group that serves free vegan meals in cities worldwide, hoping to draw attention to poverty, hunger and the destruction of the environment and to pressure governments to redirect military spending toward basic human needs.
Kirsten Harrington 