Cookspace: Food with Dignity

Cookspace is a membership-based program that provides grocery stores and communal cooking spaces for the homeless and food insecure population within the New York City metro area. Designed by first-year student Regena Reyes, the platform is powered by fresh foods that would otherwise be discarded by local grocery stores and fast-casual restaurants. Cookspace takes these discarded resources and turns them into an opportunity where overlooked communities can purchase, cook, and enjoy nourishing meals.

"A hungry person with $20 in their pocket and no access to a kitchen to cook their own meals might be tempted to go to a fast-food or fast-casual restaurant to fill up. Doing this, the $20 would only provide them with at most two meals.”

To access Cookspace, the user signs up for the membership, which provides access to the Grocery Space, the Cooking Spaces, the Dining Spaces, as well as refrigerated lockers. Additionally, a Cookspace membership includes access to shopping and cooking lessons, where attendees can learn about how to shop for and prepare healthy meals even on the smallest budgets.

Regena explains how Cookspace combines the fresh food of a grocery store with the flexibility of a kitchen for those who do not usually have access to either. "A hungry person with $20 in their pocket and no access to a kitchen to cook their own meals might be tempted to go to a fast-food or fast-casual restaurant to fill up. Doing this, the $20 would only provide them with at most two meals. With Cookspace, that same person can access fresh raw foods and a chef's kitchen to prepare a meal that is nourishing and long-lasting. Having the ability to cook in bulk and eat leftovers can fee this person for several days, not just two meals."

Furthermore, Cookspace capitalizes on an existing inefficiency in the American food system. Many grocery stores and fast-casual restaurants discard perfectly fresh food as it nears in sell-by date. However, foods that have reached their sell-by date are generally still fresh enough to eat, especially raw fruits and vegetables. "Instead of discarding these foods, which the stores cannot sell, we collect them and organize them into the Grocery Space. Cookspace members can then come to the Grocery Space to pick out foods to prepare and eat."

Cookspace began as an idea to create a new generation of home cooks comprised of individuals who usually do not have access to a kitchen or grocery. Regena shares, "Initially, I examined how a homeless person might feel if they were to walk into a grocery store and quickly realized that I have never seen a homeless person inside of a grocery store. I began to wonder what a grocery store for the homeless might look like, and Cookspace was born."

Regena says that initially, the idea seemed infeasible: “Where would Cookspace get fresh groceries that could then be given away for free?” When she learned of the Freegan and Ugly Food movements, she was able to uncover the inefficiency in the food system that could sustainably power Cookspace. With a feasibility plan in place, Regena delved into the experience frame for how Cookspace would exist.