Dinner in and dinner out?

[Jomas]

ciao.
I read about community dinners in some albergue/hostals and even dinners with food cooked by pilgrims .... I would understand how it works and whether it is born from someone's proposal or is part of the tradition of that particular albergue? i guess there will be a quota that each will pay . How is the atmosphere that is created? I'M a little curious . Thanks to who will respond.

 

[trecile]

ciao.
I read about community dinners in some albergue/hostals and even dinners with food cooked by pilgrims .... I would understand how it works and whether it is born from someone's proposal or is part of the tradition of that particular albergue? i guess there will be a quota that each will pay . How is the atmosphere that is created? I'M a little curious . Thanks to who will respond.

Some albergues serve a dinner that everyone eats communally. Others provide the food and the peregrinos do the cooking, cleaning, etc.
Often pilgrims will get together in a group and buy food at the mercado and cook it together. You can sometimes find several of these impromptu communal dinners at one albergue.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

The cost of the food from a supermercado is shared by everyone joining in. Usually the cooking is done by one or two, and the rest clean up. If preparation is extensive, more may help in the preparation. Kitchens are small and pots limited, so when two or more groups compete to make dinner, it can become quite crowded!

 

[Nanc]

Albergues will indicate when pilgrim meals are part of costs or merely available

Pilgrim generated meals usually happen in albergues with kitchen supplies. Usually noted on lists. Usually started by one or two individuals who present the idea to anyone around. Often people offer to go purchase ingredients and reconvene (tends to work out more fairly than splitting costs later where people disappear)
Get an idea people will come!

 

[JohnMcM]

ciao.
I read about community dinners in some albergue/hostals and even dinners with food cooked by pilgrims .... I would understand how it works and whether it is born from someone's proposal or is part of the tradition of that particular albergue? i guess there will be a quota that each will pay . How is the atmosphere that is created? I'M a little curious . Thanks to who will respond.

Some of my dearest Camino memories come from communal meals.

There were a couple that were 'traditional', Granon being one of them.

Others were simply spontaneous and so brilliantly beautiful in the way they took shape.

I remember with fondness how they happened.

We pilgrims who had seen each other during the day would end up in the same albergue. Strangers, soon to be eating alongside and with each other because there was a small shop of mini-mercado where we were.

The birth of the meal was simple, unplanned and meant to be.

Somehow people communicated with each other to say "I am going to the shop do you need anything?" Some would say yes, others would say "I will come with you." Others might say something like "Bring some meat/)pasta/fruit/oil or whatever) I would like to cook you all something from my home".

For the first couple of ocassions, before I fully understood what was happening, I found myself with what will be life-long memories of standing in a multi-lingual kitchen helping in my clumsy, culinary-uneducated way to bring about a meal to feed multiple hungry pilgrim mouths.

The way we prepared the food, prepared the dining area, ate and cleaned up afterwards just happened with no apparent planning, fuss nor selfishness.

Often, I never saw some of the people I shared those moments with again. They have never left my thoughts though.

I have vivid memories of fruit, crisps, chocolate, biscuits and wine magically appearing with the owners insisting others should have some before they themselves took any.

Only once do I recall being asked to contribute with money before-hand. It turned out that was because the man and woman who asked were professional chefs who wanted only to prepare for us special meal. It was, and I still taste it now.

Cherished memories. If you get the chance, join in my communal meals friends.

Buen (tummy-filled) Camino

 

[RENSHAW]

Some of my dearest Camino memories come from communal meals.
There were a couple that were 'traditional', Granon being one of them.
Others were simply spontaneous and so brilliantly beautiful in the way they took shape. ...... I remember with fondness how they happened............... Cherished memories. If you get the chance, join in my communal meals friends.

Nice John , you've told it like it is and how it can be.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

the finest fondue I ever had was served on a picnic table in the ratty old playground outside the even rattier Albergue San Roque in Calzada del Coto, way back in 2001. The bowls and pots and cutlery were borrowed from a couple of local ladies, who were delighted to learn from "a real Swiss chef" how to make the dish on a hot-plate in the Bar Xanadu. (He was Swedish, but wth?)

Calzada del Coto's pilgrim offerings are vastly improved these days, but I've never had a fondue that could equal that one.

 

[mvanert]

Communal meals are simply the best of the camino imho. Whether they be instituted by the albergue or spur-of-the-moment between pilgrims the camaraderie and shared experience cannot be beat and live on in my memory. I'll say it again, just the best.

 

[Jomas]

thanks for your information and your special testimonials

 

[CaminoJoy123]

Maybe I misunderstand the question. There are different styles of community meals.

When an albergue or hostel offers a community meal, it usually means the albergue is cooking the meal for the pilgrims. The pilgrims are not cooking the meal. This a set meal the albergue cook makes every night and it's described on a menu somewhere. The pilgrim notifies the albergue by a certain time whether they want the meal. That's how many meals the albergue cook knows to prepare.

The cost might be €10. It's usuall lentil soup, iceberg lettuce salad, and macaroni pasta with a drizzle of canned tomato sauce. There is white bread, red wine and water. The dessert might be almost anything, but usually is something like a popsicle or a pre-packaged cake-like substance. Sometimes it's just a piece of canned fruit, like a peach or pear. The albergue closes the dining room so only the paying pilgrims can eat this. The albergue also cleans up and does the dishes.

That description above is the most common style of community meal. This type of meal is not very good.

Another type of community meal might be similar to above but the albergue says all the paying pilgrims have to come to the kitchen and help with the meal prep and cooking. The albergue has bought the food and set the recipe already. They have planned the meal, not the pilgrims. Again, the pilgrim has to notify whether they are participating by a certain time. The pilgrims are usually just chopping the vegetables and bread and doing some minimal stirring. The pilgrims will also set the table, clear it, and do dishes. Everyone does this together, along with the albergue cooking staff. The non-paying pilgrims cannot use the "community" kitchen at all during this time. This is a fabulous arrangement for the albergue cooks and hospiteleros because they get cheerful free labor. It can be fun bonding for pilgrims, or it can be seen as extra hours on your feet when you're really tired.

Another type of community meal is when the albergue coordinates and encourages pilgrims to donate food to the community meal. Maybe the albergue will help pilgrims cook a community meal by adding some albergue food and also helping with meal prep and cleanup. Again it can be nice bonding or just tedious. But here you have an unknown element, because you can never be sure that everyone's food contributions were sensible and coordinated.

These last two situations are not as common. I think there are other approaches an albergue takes to hosting the community meal but I can't recall.

It's possible I'm mistaken, but what most people have been describing is a sort of ad hoc meal prepared by pilgrims at a hostel or albergue that offers free use of the kitchen. The albergue has nothing to do with the meal prep or cleanup. They just offer the use of a nice kitchen. The pilgrims plan their own meal and prepare it. Sometimes when a kitchen is small, and three or four different pilgrim groups all want to make their own separate community meals, it can be a cramped kitchen.

So this last scenario is not really a community meal, it's just a small group of pilgrims who are camino friends and are using the kitchen. There are usually other pilgrim groups also using the kitchen. The entire community is not really planning, prepping, cooking, eating and cleaning up the same thing together.

A key thing with this last scenario is you need access to grocery store. And there has to be enough pots and enough room for multiple groups, when there are multiple groups cooking. Sometimes a few individuals or couples are also using the kitchen, it's not always groups. In the end, people often share what they have.

In general, when pilgrims do the cooking themselves, and when there really is enough room and enough dishes, and there really is an open grocery store nearby that carries the ingredients you crave, you pretty much get what you want to eat. And maybe you're happy how it turned out.

Personally I like being involved in making my own food, but not every day. I have met couples and groups who make their own meals almost every day.

Anyway I guess people are starting to call this last scenario a community meal too. But just wanted to clarify what an albergue might mean when they are the ones cooking or coordinating the community meal.

 

[tpmchugh]

ciao.
I read about community dinners in some albergue/hostals and even dinners with food cooked by pilgrims .... I would understand how it works and whether it is born from someone's proposal or is part of the tradition of that particular albergue? i guess there will be a quota that each will pay . How is the atmosphere that is created? I'M a little curious . Thanks to who will respond.

Communal dinners are great n with a great fun wi

ciao.
I read about community dinners in some albergue/hostals and even dinners with food cooked by pilgrims .... I would understand how it works and whether it is born from someone's proposal or is part of the tradition of that particular albergue? i guess there will be a quota that each will pay . How is the atmosphere that is created? I'M a little curious . Thanks to who will respond.

Communal dinners are great fun with marvellous atmosphere. Dinners cooked by other pilgrims where you donate something towards the ingredients can be a little disappointing, pasta often being the regular choice. Some albergues, particularly where there is no where to eat out supply dinners on a donativo basis. Personally, where I can eat out, I go for that particularly if I can get something particular to the area. Navarra style trout is to die for

 

[trecile]

When an albergue or hostel offers a community meal, it usually means the albergue is cooking the meal for the pilgrims. The pilgrims are not cooking the meal. This a set meal the albergue cook makes every night and it's described on a menu somewhere. The pilgrim notifies the albergue by a certain time whether they want the meal. That's how many meals the albergue cook knows to prepare.

The cost might be €10. It's usuall lentil soup, iceberg lettuce salad, and macaroni pasta with a drizzle of canned tomato sauce. There is white bread, red wine and water. The dessert might be almost anything, but usually is something like a popsicle or a pre-packaged cake-like substance. Sometimes it's just a piece of canned fruit, like a peach or pear. The albergue closes the dining room so only the paying pilgrims can eat this. The albergue also cleans up and does the dishes.

That description above is the most common style of community meal. This type of meal is not very good.

That was certainly not my experience with this type of meal. I had great meals at Beilari in SJPDP, Orisson, Albergue El Palo de Avellano in Zubiri, San Nicolás in Larrasoaña, La Casa Magica in Villatuerta, and Albergue Juan de Yepes in Hontanas. There were probably some others that I can't remember.

Here's a thread with lists of albergues with communal meals. https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...he-albergues-that-offer-communal-meals.35289/