Food Not Bombs

East Bay Food Not Bombs started in February, 1991, with people from Seeds of Peace, Copwatch, and the Berkeley Free Clinic pitching in to get it going. We began serving food in People’s Park, Lafayette Park, and at anti-Gulf War rallies. By the beginning of that summer the Gulf War had ended, and all hell broke loose in People’s Park. That historic piece of land in Berkeley became our focus.

Cooking was done at a great many places, and for a while took place solely at the Chateau Student Co-op. Since then we have branched out to cook at various collective houses and co-ops.

We still serve five meals a week at People’s Park, and added a sixth when we were invited to serve at the Sutter Hotel in downtown Oakland. On Saturday, we do a food give away of our surplus food, and fresh picked farmers market donatations at Oldman’s Park at ~12th and Jefferson in Oakland.

We cook in solidarity with other progressive groups at countless demonstrations, cultural events, and gatherings over the years, including recently, Anti-war efforts in the streets, CopWatch events, Biodiesel Collective Benefits, Reclaim the Streets, Mayday, Critical Resistance and events speaking to the insidious nature of the prison-industrial complex. Planners of the event will often ask us to provide snacks, a meal, or more. Sometimes, if there’s a demo for a cause that’s close to our hearts we’ll just show up with a pot of hot food or bagels and lemonade.

Starving artists, poor radicals, punks, homeless people, mothers with young children, college students, Berkeley tourists, and even local storekeepers eat with us. For more than twelve years East Bay Food Not Bombs has enjoyed the support of the community, and seldom has been hassled by the police.

-via the EBFNF Website