The Pledge

Eat-Ins should never finish at dessert. One way to ensure your Eat-In has an impact beyond the event is to ask every person to pledge to make a small change in his or her everyday life that will support the effort to bring more people real food. These pledges can be as simple as:

- VISIT A FARM
- MAKE JAM
- PACK A BAG LUNCH
- MEET MY NEIGHBOR
- FARM A VACANT LOT
- COOK A MEAL WITH NEW FRIENDS
- CALL MY MAYOR
- BAKE SOURDOUGH BREAD
- BOYCOTT BONELESS SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS
- START A SLOW FOOD CHAPTER
- ROAST A WHOLE CHICKEN
- SIGN THE FOOD DECLARATION (FOODDECLARATION.ORG)
- ASK WHERE THE SHRIMP IS FROM
- THANK A FARMWORKER
- ORGANIZE THE NEXT EAT-IN

Asking for pledges is most successful when you have a way to record them, such as having every person write his or her pledge on the tablecloth you’re using and then presenting this display of collective action as an art piece; by writing pledges in chalk on the sidewalk; or by broadcasting them over a loudspeaker.

At the Eat-In at Slow Food Nation on September 1, 2008 in San Francisco’s Dolores Park, participants wrote their pledges on a tablecloth:

And the pledges were later posted on SlowFoodUSA.org to remind and inspire participants. One day, we will stitch together hundreds of Eat-In tablecloths into a quilt large enough to cover cornfields. Who’s in?

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Continue:

1. Guide to Organizing an Eat-In
2. Ideas for Eat-Ins
3. Talking Points
4. The Pledge
5. The Eat-In Manifesto

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