From Andrew Gordon
Many have suggested simple solutions to the French Paradox—the apparent contradiction that the French can eat rich, fatty foods while maintaining a lifestyle much healthier than many of their counterparts in the Western world. Could it be all the red wine? Or maybe it’s something in their genetics?
The answer, as Will Marshall explained in his introduction to the Open Jar Collective’s Feeding Creativity event, is likely far more complex. It highlights the idea that our attitude towards food has a fundamental effect on our everyday lives. From how we socialise, to how we interact with our surrounding landscape and, importantly, how we create, Will understands that our relationship with food shapes us both as individuals and as a community. It has the power to bring people together and spark what he calls “unexpected interactions” across various social and cultural boundaries.
For him and the rest of the Stove team, the prospect of opening a café in Dumfries town centre is much more than a simple business venture. On the contrary, the Stove envisions its future café not merely as a place to enjoy good coffee, but as a lively hub that will unite the community—whether through participating in events and activities facilitated by the Stove Network or simply enjoying high-quality local produce sourced from across the region.
To fulfil this vision, The Stove has enlisted the expertise of the Open Jar Collective, a group of Glasgow-based artists who specialise in all things food. Open Jar has been conducting extensive research to formulate an operational plan and identity for the café, analysing similar projects undertaken by other arts organisations in the UK—Glasgow’s Project Café was offered as one such example—and meeting with local producers such as the Loch Arthur Farmshop.
Feeding Creativity represented another stage in this process—a two-hour event held at 100 Midsteeple, where they invited anyone with an interest in food and creativity to share their thoughts on what they’d like to see from a new eating spot in the town centre—and to enjoy some tasty soup and bread in the process.
Attendees included caterers, health workers, business owners, and civil servants, amongst other professionals, all keen to leverage the café’s prime location and the region’s ample culinary resources to enrich the town and the lives of its residents. Splitting into groups, they identified problems currently affecting the town and proposed ways to address them, ultimately shaping a mission plan that could inform the café’s operations once established.
Chief among these concerns was the need for a place to meet after shopping hours that isn’t a pub—giving young people a chance to spend time outside the family home and offering community groups a welcoming space to convene regularly. Another key aspiration was to create a knowledge centre, where townsfolk can share their passion for food, be it through cooking skills, growing techniques, or healthy eating advice.
All in all, Open Jar received an enthusiastic response and left with plenty of ideas to work with, concluding the night by assuring attendees that further public consultations are in the works.
With the café set to open in time for Guid Nychburris, The Stove is eager to get as many people as possible excited about food’s potential to bring about positive change in the coming months. Ideally, this will result in a space where the people of Dumfries feel invested and responsible, giving the town centre a whole new lease of life.
If Feeding Creativity is any indication, it’s off to a great start.
