Occupy Boston finds ways to feed growing population

For about two months, Occupy Boston’s food tent, set up at the Dewey Square encampment, has been fueling the movement by filling the stomachs of Occupiers.

Protesters have maintained the tent city located in the financial district. The campsite’s amenities include a makeshift library, a sign-making station, free clothing and a food tent offering free meals for all.

Occupy Boston’s Food Working Groups oversees the food tent, which relies entirely on donations from the community.

Lauren Chalas, a volunteer who spends several days per week at Occupy Boston, said that Au Bon Pain recently donated a wide array of muffins and other breakfast pastries to the movement.

Whenever food is prepared and served for a large number of people, questions of food safety arise. Combined with everyday difficulties, the tent city’s rudimentary settings pose a challenge to sanitation.

“We sanitize, we wear gloves, and no one is allowed to just grab [the food],” Chalas said.

The food tent contains a dishwashing station and volunteers ask other Occupiers to pitch in and share the workload. A nearby sign reads, “NO PLATES, NO FOOD.”

Kevin Lacroix, a volunteer at the food tent, said that while no church has officially aligned itself with Occupy Boston, many people have made charitable donations to the food tent’s pantry.

Lacroix said that a representative of the City of Boston’s Division of Health Inspections visited the tent Saturday and performed an inspection. He said he was unsure, however, if Occupy Boston passed or failed the inspection.

Thanks to the outpouring of donations from individuals, stores and bakeries, the food tent is replete with much-needed supplies, he said.

“Last night I was up until 1 a.m. [serving], there was so much food,” Lacroix said.

Most food is donated on weekends, Chalas said. Gifts range from day-old bread from bakeries in the area to hot, potluck-style meals that local residents cook.

For Occupy Thanksgiving, Occupy Boston is looking for foodstuffs “to provide Occupy Boston with a good hot meal on Thanksgiving day,” according to their website.

Since the city does not permit open flames in Dewey Square, the Thanksgiving feast will be at Franklin Park in Dorchester. Occupiers will tailgate there and transport food back to Dewey Square.

Though the camp currently has an abundance of food, Chalas said she wanted to stress the need for specialty items.

“We’re always in need of vegetarian and vegan food,” Lacroix said. “The majority [of the protesters] are vegetarian or vegan.”

The food tent’s other needs are listed on Occupy Boston’s website and include prepared, ready-to-eat foods, raw produce, drinks, dried and canned goods and latex or vinyl gloves for safe handling of food.

“We’re happy to be turning unwanted foods – stuff that’d otherwise be in the dumpster – into meals people can enjoy,” Chalas said.

The volunteers said that they encourage anyone curious about the movement or just the food tent itself to head over to Dewey Square and “check it out.”