The complimentary cuisine at Occupy Wall Street has been widely lauded for its surprising sophistication and gourmet variety—not counting a mixed review from curmudgeonly critic Steve Cuozzo, of course. Volunteers toil for as many as 18 hours a day to prepare three square meals for the hungry dissidents. And they're doing such a good job that word has spread among some of the city's homeless population that there's a soup kitchen in Zuccotti Park. In response, the kitchen workers are rising up and going on three day strike to send a message to the freeloaders—the ones who just a little too 99%.
The kitchen volunteers refused to serve any food whatsoever for two hours yesterday, and now one worker, Rafael Moreno, tells the Post, "We need to limit the amount of food we’re putting out." In an "exclusive" report, the Post says for the next three days the cooks will serve only brown rice "and other spartan grub instead of the usual menu of organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad." Kitchen workers will also be handing out directions to soup kitchens to anyone suspected of being a mere vagrant, and not an activist.
It's unclear how the food committee volunteers will tell them apart—make them sing the The International while drumming? And somehow we suspect the glassy-eyed druggies we saw loitering near the kitchen over the weekend are going to be just fine with brown rice or whatever "spartan grub" comes their way, as long as it's for free and the kitchen maintains its "A" rating.
Asked about the Post article, Patrick Bruner, a spokesman for Occupy Wall Street, tells us, "The kitchen is scaling back operations for three days in a planned move to help build their infrastructure. Our movement has grown exponentially, and the kitchen feels as though their systems are in need of strengthening. By their rough estimates they feed around 1,200 people per mealtime. The three days of scaled-back activity will give them a chance to reinforce and streamline their current operations. Food will still be available for anyone who wants it."
