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By Cecilia S. Polanco (MPP'26)
We’ve all done it: grabbed food, found a quiet private place, laptop open to work, YouTube, or Netflix, and prepared to fuel our body for the demands of the day. While productivity and schedules may demand we fuel quickly and privately, Maggie Kane reminds us of the value of eating together, in community, especially with people who may be different from us.
As a food entrepreneur myself, I have a special place in my heart for food workers, preparers, and community creators. It's a much-needed skill in our day and age to create a welcoming third space (not home, not work), where people can see themselves, feel safety, and feel belonging. Food is a mechanism for creating welcoming third spaces, where concepts of community care can take root and blossom.
Eating with people does something to us. We tend to eat slower as we chat and listen, react more authentically, laugh, and get curious. We combine the pleasure of each other’s company with the pleasure and deliciousness of food and that’s where magic happens. But what about when a meal, community, belonging, and even housing don’t allow us to access that sacred space of eating, peace, and dignity?
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A Place at the Table provides an answer. With a business model that’s “not supposed to work”, folks in the Raleigh community can access a hot meal, accompanied by being seen, having time and choice in their food decisions, connections with others, and belonging. A $10-$15 meal becomes more valuable when human connection and dignity are part of the ingredients.
While addressing food insecurity, Maggie also made a point to address the community insecurity we are experiencing. Truly welcoming, affirming, spaces of belonging where we are celebrated and integrated are few and far between. Let’s create more spaces for welcoming community. Maggie also put out a call to action for us to follow that pull towards something meaningful when we feel the tug; in other words, trust your intuition for ideas and ways of operating that might be contrarian or are “not supposed to work”. They might be exactly what we need.
Cecilia S. Polanco (MPP'26) is a local Durham community organizer and proud graduate of Durham Public Schools who believes #TheRevolutionWillBeWellFed. They are a descendant of the Salvadoran diaspora and indigenous peoples of El Salvador, a long-time Durham resident, and local small business owner of So Good Pupusas social justice food truck, and founder of Pupusas for Education nonprofit community organization. They work in the fields of mental health advocacy, food and environmental justice, economic community development, youth development and organizing, community financial education and wealth building, and more just philanthropic and nonprofit systems. They value racial equity and anti-racism, intersectionality, the path from DEI to liberatory systems, building bridges of solidarity, freedom dreaming around decolonized strategies and systems, radical joy and celebration, and a visionary for a healing path forward together. As a facilitator, they believe in co-creating brave spaces to grapple with both having experiences and being agents of harm, channeling our inner child in our work, and slowing down to prioritize connection, relationship, and heart-centered work.