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The Oregonian this week ran an interesting article about Community Supported Kitchens. I’ve heard of Community Supported Agriculture, but kitchens? Turns out it works like this: Volunteers come to an outfitted kitchen to roast, chop and stew. They receive cooking education and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow cooks while preparing the limited menu. Meals are ordered weekly and paid for in advance.

This is another brilliant way of educating the community, providing healthy meals for those who can’t or won’t cook and providing cooks a space—like an artist’s studio—where the consumer can use professional knives, cookware and appliances and hone their craft.

The CSK profiled in The Oregonian’s story featured high end products like a quart of elk short ribs with plum and wild mushrooms for $15; a pint of rosy pink, peppercorn-flecked sauerkraut for $7; and quart of summer squash soup with coconut for $10. But take a look at what else is cooking:

Salt, Fire & Time is gaining ground in the Portland food scene in part because the kitchen is preparing lacto-fermented foods, the ancient practice of naturally preserving vegetables and beverages with natural lactobacilli cultures. Lacto-fermenting has become a hot trend among Portland’s DIY urban homesteader set as a method for preserving seasonal foods. It’s also popular with some health-conscious people who believe that the probiotics made available by lacto-fermentation provide health benefits, including better digestion and gut health.

Yellig prepares familiar fermented foods such as sauerkraut and cucumber pickles, but also makes other fare that isn’t as common — fermented sauces such as ketchup and crème fraiche, soaked bean and whole grain dishes and lacto beverages such as mushroom-based kombucha, and kvass, an effervescent beet drink. She also cooks “nutrient-rich” meats into bone broths, soups, casseroles and stews made with local grass-fed beef and lamb from Highland Oak Farm and SuDan Farm.

Makes me want to move back to Oregon!

I salute this great idea whose time has most definitely come. The idea doesn’t need to be confined to the well-to-do who can easily afford a $10 quart of soup. Many families already participate in once a month “cooking parties” where meals are assembled at a single home and brought back to stock the freezers of several families. By using traditional, seasonal foods and preparation methods, and based on a volunteer-for-discounted-price model, even those of moderate means could benefit.

I know I’d dearly love a couple hours a week in a professional kitchen, learning proper skills and new techniques. That in itself would be worth the price!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.