open space-food

[Michael M Pannwitz]

Dear Esther,
my feeling is that every facilitator has her own style and
preferences etc. concerning food at an open space. There also can be
some important cultural/religious elements around food, kosher food,
pork not being welcome by a number of religions, vegetarian dishes if
you have lets say Indians (not the Northamerican, I presume) there,
etc.
I dug through my files for an english version and found the text I
sent to the organizers of the training event we had in Moscow in
2000. When we got there, the kitchen had not been involved yet but we
were actually able to have contact with them and had a grand time
trying to explain. It all worked out save for the fruit. It was
available all over, so Jo Toepfer and I would get huge amounts of
fresh fruit both on our way to the training site and again during the
lunch break, participants devoured it.
Here is what we sent them, you adapt:


"Ideally, there are buffet style lunches. This allows people to go
get their food not a precise time but in a span of 2 hours during the
noon-time (lets say 12:30 through 14:30, for instance) to accomodate
their own pace. This should be light, healthy food that can be kept
warm over a period of time, self-service.
Dinner is different, there it can be a nice sit down affair.
Most essential, however, is the permanent buffet consisting of tea,
coffee, fresh milk, some fruit juice, water, fruit and vegetable
sticks (carrots, turnip, cucumbers, whatever in season) with simple
dips. It needs to be catered frequently (fresh glaces, cups, filling
up stuff as it is used up). This eleminates the traditional breaks
which are not provided for.
My experience here in Berlin and Germany is that training sites are
not usually accustomed to provide food in this manner but that they
are quite capable and even enjoy trying out a new way. We might talk
with them about our ideas when we get there. I enjoy talking to the
cook and the person in charge of catering and the manager of the
center  even if at the end it turns out that there is no way other
than the way that they have always done things for whatever reasons."

And here is a recent instruction that I sent to the training in
Denmark, it is in German:


"Catering

open space-Training
50 TeilnehmerInnen
19. bis 22. Juni 2002 in Skanderborg

Finanssektorens Uddannelsescenter
Fassung vom 7. Juni 2002




1.      Während der ganzen Dauer der Veranstaltung von

9:30 bis 18:30 Uhr am 19. Juni,
8:30 bis 17:30 Uhr am 20. und 21. Juni
8:30 bis 12:00 Uhr am 22. Juni

gibt es ein Pausenbüffet bestehend aus Mineralwasser in Literflaschen
zum selber einschenken, Kaffee, Tee, frischer Milch (zusätzlich zu
Kaffeesahne) einer Sorte Obstsaft (jeden Tag mal was anderes) in
Literflaschen, kleingeschnittenem Gemüse (Karotten, Gurken,
Staudensellerie, Rettich, Kohlrabi, Tomaten, Chicoree, Zucchini,
etc.), einfachen Yoghurtdips und heimischem Obst der Saison (z.B.
kleine Äpfel, Birnen).
Dieses Büffet kann nachmittags mit Blechkuchen (in kleinen Stücken)
ergänzt werden. Das Büffet muss laufend betreut und aufgefrischt
werden, dafür braucht es Personal.

2.      Zwischen

12:00 und 14:00 Uhr am 19. , 20. und 21. Juni

wird ein Mittagsbüffet angeboten: Einfache, leichte Kost, vegetarisch
und nicht-vegetarisch, wie z.B. ein Gemüseeintopf mit oder ohne
Fleisch, Salat, Quiche oder Gemüsetorte.

3.      Am

Freitag, 21. Juni gibtºs um 19:00 Uhr

ein óAbschlussbüffetó mit óDänischenó Leckereien.
Zu diesem Büffet werden Gäste im Rahmen eines open-evening
eingeladen, sodass mit ca. 75 TeilnehmerInnen gerechnet werden kann.

4.      Gegen

12:30 am Samstag, 22. Juni

gibt es ein Mittagsbüffet zum Abschluss des Trainings. Die Zahl der
daran teilnehmenden Personen wird voraussichtlich kleiner sein als
50.

Ansprechperson seitens des Caterers
Karen Dahl"

The main points are:
A continuous buffet, beginning 30 minutes before the official start
all the way to the end consisting of coffee, tea, mineral water, one
kind of fruit juice (in large bottles or pitchers for selfservice),
fruit of the season (nothing fancy, local stuff like apples),
fingerfood cut vegetables (carrots, cucumbers, zuccini, tomatoes,
raddishes, green asparagus (when young it can be eaten uncooked),
turnips, red beet...the kitchen has a blast with this...and a couple
of very simple dips (joghurt) (of course, you can go fancy with
whipped avocado dips and the like, its not necessary)
No cookies, no sweets.
The idea is you just whip by (or linger) and grab something in the
spirit of selforganisation.
Over a period of a couple of hours this continuous buffet is expanded
with a soup or a pizza or something else light and easy to grab on
the run (there is no scheduled lunch break, if the food is there from
12 noon til 2pm group session might start at 11.30 and 1 pm
nonetheless)
In the afternoon, lets say around 3:30pm I ask for some simple cake
cut into convenient fingerfood size pieces.
If people stay overnight, there can be a fancy sit down dinner in the
evening.
This kind of catering does require staff to continuously keep the
buffet stocked, fresh cups and glasses, etc.
One other thing to think of is to where the buffet and food should be
located. I prefer it right underneath the news wall, so people can
study proceedings while having a cup of coffee or nibbling at the
vegetables. This is usually in a hallway or lobby just outside of the
main meeting room. If the os is spread out horizontally or
vertically, I still like to have the buffet near the newswall, sort
of attracts people.
Have a grand summer
michael



--Original Message Text---
From: EwingChange at aol.com
Date: Sat, 6 Jul 2002 06:18:52 EDT

In a message dated 06/07/2002 02:56:36 Eastern Daylight Time,
mmpanne at snafu.de writes:


Often, the kitchen/caterer have never done an "open space-buffet" and
are intrigued by it and come up with marvellous ideas. One
organisation I work with regularly has documented "open space-buffet"
for their staff so that when an open space is done there they know
exactly what is expected. They now offer this way of catering at
other events so a little bit of open spaces invades.



Michael:
Can you get the instructions or the documentation so that we can give
it to hotels that we deal with?

Regards
Esther

Esther Ewing
Authorized Distributor, Panoramic Feedback
www.panometrics.com
The Change Alliance
New York Line: 212-661-6024
330 East 38th St. Apt. 53K
New York, New York, 10016
Toronto Line: 416-209-0481

Assisting Individuals and Organizations to Build Capability





Michael M Pannwitz
boscop
Draisweg 1
12209 Berlin, Germany
FON +49 - 30-772 8000     FAX +49 - 30-773 92 464
www.michaelmpannwitz.de

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