Food Not Bombs, Harrisonburg VA Chapter

Food Not Bombs is a publicly accessible organization that combats the issue of food wastage which as an effect, leads to an improvement in America's waste diversion systems. By reusing recyclable and disposed food from restaurants, stores, and households, Food Not Bombs feeds millions of people who suffer from poverty. Specifically, Harrisonburg's Food Not Bombs chapter opened in the fall of 2001 from students attending James Madison University and consistently kept running for years. However, due to inactiveness and political reasons, the chapter was forced to close on several occasions. This chapter is one of the many organizations which promote this service due to the efforts of non-paid volunteers, who come out with delicious meals to feed the hundreds who walk by weekly for this event. However, Food Not Bombs isn't merely a soup kitchen, but also an organization that supports the message of anti-militarism. To expand on this, the organization firmly believes the costs of war significantly outweigh the positives, where millions of families go hungry from the after-effects.

Following their slogan, “hungry for peace,” Food Not Bombs is an organization known for its reluctance in helping the public out by distributing free and recyclable food. From their efforts, they’ve made great progress in assisting with the issue of waste management due to their methods of reusing thrown-out ingredients from restaurants, stores, and households. The success of this organization is evident as this organization is known worldwide, hosting chapters in 65 countries and over 1000 cities. Whether an individual strolls by an event stoned or sober, homeless or drunk, Food Not Bombs serves without hesitation to the people who sought its help. In summary, Harrisonburg Food Not Bombs is an organization similar to any soup kitchen in America but is distinctive in four ways. The first is the necessity of all meals to be vegan, where another initiative of Food Not Bombs is to bring awareness to the violent slaughter evident in industrial meat production and how it plays a role in “exacerbating global poverty and hunger…”(Gelderloos). The next principle is for all food distribution events to be hosted in populated public spaces for everyone to have easy access to the free food available. Additionally, serving food in populated places such as parks or sidewalks of cities allows for the bringing of light to the issue of poverty: or in other words, “to resist the shame and obscurity with which poverty is made invisible” (Gelderloos). The third principle is what really creates the distinction of this organization to any typical charity, where Food Not Bombs makes it vital to eliminate any acts of patronism towards its members. To expand on this, The organization in Harrisonburg believes it is vital for the difference between the givers and receivers to be eliminated, where the sense of superiority over another from giving them free food is a thought to be shut down immediately. The fourth being anti-militarism, which is a main reason for the organization to be called Food Not Bombs. The organization firmly believes the effects of war weigh more towards the negatives than the positives, where it is the innocent who suffer from the catastrophes of war. Poverty, destruction, hunger, are all effects for which the poor face due to the effects of war, where the upper class or people in political power calling the shots sit comfortably at the top watching it all unfold. Due to this, anti-militarism is a message with which Food Not Bombs wants to highlight, because “we need Food, not bombs.”

The origin of the organization Food Not Bombs, which assists in feeding the millions who suffer from poverty and hunger stemmed from a simple idea made by a group of friends. Living in a run-down ghetto in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the group of friends would huddle around their fireplace squandering and fantasizing over dreams of unreachable heights: changing society for the better. Many people look down upon individuals who are less fortunate than the people who are better off. Many of them must beg to receive a small satisfaction to their hunger. Some go to the extent of selling their bodies to “earn” a meal or a place to sleep. A founder of the organization, as well as a member of the friend group, discussed earlier, Jo Swanson, emphasizes this point, where food is neither a privilege nor earned, but a “right” (Mchenry). Moreover, with no money to even deal with the small mishaps in their lives, the group of friends sought to help others who may experience a worsened situation. Following the message of food is a right, the friends started their first event by bringing a pot full of soup in the middle of the neighborhood to feed the homeless, where at first, they were greeted with nothing but judgmental looks from the upper class. Regardless of the small turnout, the constant efforts made by the members eventually paid off as it grew to be into a successful organization which is what is known today as “Food Not Bombs.” 

With over 1000 chapters spread globally, the specific chapter being analyzed is the Food Not Bombs organization located in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Many students from James Madison University come out to volunteer to assist in distributing meals during their events. Having a group of young individuals help out their community is vital in creating a better image for the chapter, where it emphasizes the message that anyone - no matter the age - can help. However, chapters located in Virginia have lacked compared to other areas within the US in participation, so having an FNB chapter in Harrisonburg makes it easier for there to be greater turnouts to events due to Harrisonburg containing a large population of students in need of experience or service hours. Moreover, this chapter hosts weekly events scheduled every Friday afternoon at 4pm, where it distributes recycled and donated food to locals. A variety of individuals with different backgrounds can be spotted at these events, where they can be “young and old, black, white, and latino; workers, students, and unemployed.” The environment is extremely laid back and welcoming, where impoverished individuals can come and eat to their fullest content without the fear of being judged by others. Others also see it as an opportunity to mingle with the locals of the city. The food that can be spotted being served at these events are neither complicated nor expensive to make. Chips, vegan burgers, and even PB&J sandwiches are what is usually served at these events. It reinforces how it doesn’t take a lot of effort to make change in one's community, where simple foods which cost under a dollar to make are enough to satisfy an individual who doesn’t have that luxury. 

Food Not Bombs anarchist movements are vital in understanding its history and motives. By examining the principles that Harrisonburg's FNB organization has created its foundations on, hints of anarchism begin to bleed through. For example, Harrisonburg’s FNB organization is one of the many chapters in the United States who have activists promoting an anarchistic system - a system consisting of “disorder, disorganization, chaos, confusion, and everyone doing as they like” (Crass). Professor Howard Zinn, the author of the People’s History of the United States and long-time supporter of FNB, states his support of an anarchist system. His attraction originates from his liking of the message this structure supports - “rejection of any bullying authority” (Zinn). By pushing for an egalitarian society, Professor Zinn strongly believes it is possible to get rid of the extremes of poverty and hunger, where everyone is granted equal rights and opportunities with no one being better than the other. With this, it is then possible to rid of any authoritarian power a nation holds: “police forces, prisons, armies, or war” (Zinn). But how does this relate to Harrisonburg’s FNB? To answer this, the support for anarchism has created a divide between the activists and members of the organization. Many of the regular members who want to assist in feeding the homeless within their communities tend to stay out of the activist meetings held, ultimately disentangling themselves from the “decision-making, planning, or other regular responsibilities fulfilled by the activist core” (Gelderloos). The support for anarchism has made it difficult for members who don’t want to associate themselves with that political view to support their local communities, causing many to leave or merely become volunteers rather than active members. This mishap has caused Harrisonburg’s FNB to undergo the cycle of closing and reopening numerous times due to lack of active members.  

The main principal all chapters under Food Not Bombs advocates is non-violence. Whether it be the vegan food the organization serves or the lifestyle they follow, non-violence is made to be a pillar of importance for FNBs structure. However, through analysis, links between FNBs acts of nonviolence and anarchism are observable. The two terms, as author Crass has stated, are compatible and inseparable when looking at the scenario of FNB. To expand on this, FNB’s choice of only making vegan products for its members is a political act to promote ecological sustainability through animal liberation. This ultimately brings awareness to unjust and inhumane practices of the butchering of animals in the industrial meat industry. Through these efforts, FNB has made strong bonds and coalitions with other environmental activist groups such as Earth First, the Save Ward Valley Coalition, and the Save Headwaters Forest Coalition. By stating these examples, Crass argues in support of anarchism in how it attempts to “not only change the relationships of humans to each other, but also of humans to the earth and environment” (Crass). Crass also argues that a society of violence stems from a society of non-anarchism. Through the society we live in today, Crass claims how the apparent authoritarian powers are all in positions to promote violence. By examining the Christopher Day of the Love and Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation, he claims how the state - enforcers or authoritarian powers - have and will always be “instruments of war” when the “state” is in power. However, FNB on the contrary, is said to stand for the exact opposite of the “state,” where written in the book Feeding the Hungry and Building Community, the fundamental principle FNB stands on is how society must promote life, not death. “Our society condones, and even promotes violence and domination. Authority and power are derived from the threat and use of violence.”

To generalize, the headways Food Not Bombs has made is immense and beneficial to its communities and members, where it serves to act as a way to join communities together in what is a lighthearted gathering of diverse individuals. However, as seen within Harrisonburg FNB chapter, hints of anarchism are what may be hindering its growth in recent years. With anarchism being an unpopular and controversial movement, many innocent volunteers only keen on serving food to the less unfortunate become unknowingly involved in a movement greater than feeding the homeless. Although the strides Food Not Bombs has taken in recent years, the once virtuous reason for creating the organization has turned into a controversial political view at changing this world into a world rid of higher powers, where everyone can live equally without the fear of living in poverty and hunger. 

[Summary Source, Peer Reviewed] Badgett, Alex, and Anelia Milbrandt. “Food Waste Disposal and Utilization in the United States: A Spatial Cost Benefit Analysis.” Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier, 24 June 2021, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652621022757.

[Argument Source, Peer Reviewed] Martin-Rios, Carlos, et al. “Sustainable Waste Management Solutions for the Foodservice Industry: A Delphi Study.” Waste Management & Research: The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy, vol. 40, no. 9, 2022, pp. 1412–1423.,

https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X221079306.

[Argumentative Source; Peer Reviewed] Visvanathan Chettiyappan, 2021. “Waste Management and Waste Conversion Technologies: An Introduction.” Environmental Quality Management 31 (1): 9–11. https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/doi/10.1002/tqem.21777

[Background source] EPA. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed October 24, 2022. https://www.epa.gov/transforming-waste-tool/zero-waste-case-study-austin. 

Ehrlich, Howard J. The Best of Social Anarchism. Tucson: See Sharp Press, 2013. 

[Argumentative source; Left-center Bias] “Trash in America.” Environment America Research & Policy Center, August 15, 2022. https://environmentamerica.org/center/resources/trash-in-america-2/.