The
following was originally posted by DragonFly to AGR (Alt.gathering.Rainbow) on
June 19th 2002
KITCHEN
MINI MANUAL AND SANITATION GUIDELINES FOR PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES
INTRODUCTION
Rainbow
Gatherings are pure examples of People coming together in Constitutionally-guaranteed
free, non-commercial public assemblies.
Thousands of Individuals gather together to exercise their rights of
free assembly, speech and religion (pray for peace, celebrate life and freedom),
to experiment with cooperative living as manifested through an Interdependence
with all life forms and the Earth, to experiment with an alternative political
system (consensus and direct involvement rather than majority and
representation), to network and socialize.
Within Rainbow are individuals who belong to numerous and diverse
private groups, but are NOT a private group by any stretch of the imagi-Nation.
FOCUSED MAGIC
The
work you have in your hands is a Cooperative effort by Individuals across the
country via land (local Rainbow Circles), phone and cyberspace.
Their
collective knowledge and experience of Gatherings, Rainbow Kitchens, Health,
Safety, Sanitation, Food Service Industry, Security and Peace Keeping all
combined is well over 100 years. Like
Rainbow there is no authoritarian hierarchy here.
It
works because a variety of unrelated/unassociated individuals pooled their
diverse and particular talents/knowledge to make it. Ignore All Rumors of Organization. Embrace All rumors of Cooperation by Individuals, not a Group.
PART I
(The Minimanual)
WHY PRACTICE GOOD HYGIENE
AND PURIFY WATER
Water-borne
organisms such as giardia, cryptosporidium, e. coli and other pathogens brought
to the food by insects, dust and hands are the main reasons people get sick
when in primitive conditions.
HAND WASHING
Folks,
this is critical. It doesn't do much
good to purify your water if your hands are contaminating the water you purify
or the food you cook and serve. Most cases of "food poisoning" are a
direct result of improper food handling by kitchen workers with unclean hands.
Hand
washing is the *single* most important procedure for preventing the spread of
infections, by far the most important thing to understand about serving the
public. For everyone's sake, please
consider hand washing to be SACRED.
Hand washing is defined as a vigorous, brief rubbing together of all
surfaces of lathered hands, followed by rinsing under a stream of water as
described below:
1. Wash hands in soapy water, including top,
bottom, sides, in between fingers and under nails.
2. Rinse the soap off.
3. Then re-rinse them in a bleach solution.
4. Allow your hands to air dry! (By Shaking and
Never Wiping)
CLOTHING AND HAIR
Although
freshly laundered clothes in a field/primitive setting isnıt always practical
or possible, the cleanest items available should be worn whenever preparing or
serving food.
In
alternative settings where nudity is accepted, anyone in the kitchen is
reminded to cover the groin area. Long
hair may be contained in any manner that suits you, be it ponytail, braids,
scarves or caps.
KEEPING TRACK
Anyone
with a potentially communicable illness should Not be in the kitchen and it is
up to the crew to keep track of who/what is coming and going around the food.
What to
watch for: coughing, sneezing, open
cuts, wounds, open (oozing or weeping) sores.
Consider the weakest person because we do know the strongest will be
fine. Please take care of yourself and
others.
PURIFYING WATER
Kitchens
need lots of purified water to cook with, wash fresh fruit and vegetables in,
and to drink. Filtering is the most
efficient method to produce this water and is the preferred method of the
experienced folks who wrote this manual.
Whatever filter is used must remove Volatile Organic Compounds, Giardia
and Cryptosporidium cysts and some bacteria.
(see part II for a complete discussion) Examples of different filter
systems can be seen at some kitchens.
Boiling
Water is another way to purify it.
Bring a covered pot of water to a hard, rapid rolling boil and maintain
the boil for 10 minutes. When the boiling
begins ask a smoker to sit and roll a cigarette and smoke it or have a long
leisurely beverage break while watching it boil until at least 10 minutes has
probably passed. Keep the cover on
while it cools!
If
storing purified water in a different container, use one recently, thoroughly sanitized. Take care to turn the lid upside down when
removing and not touch or place the part that covers the water on anything
else.
Don't
try any shortcuts. The few minutes you
spend purifying your water may save you, or those you love, weeks of illness.
Chemical
purification doesn't kill all of the germs that make you sick, is tricky and
can be dangerous.
THE BLEACH (CHLORINE) STORY
The
proportions for bleach rinses (external use only-do not drink) are based on
using 5.25% household bleach. Not all
brands of these bleaches are equal.
Most of the brand names bleaches are 5.25%
To make
a bleach water rinse to use for sterilizing hands, dishes, pots, pans and
utensils, use 1 Tablespoon 5.25% bleach per 1 Gallon of water. See Part II for a complete discussion
Warning:
This
bleach solution is strong enough to kill nearly all surface germs but too
strong for drinking. The formula above
should never be used to purify water.
Boldly marking the container "POISON DO NOT DRINK!" could
prevent an accidental poisoning by someone who is not familiar with the set up
and might mistake it for drinking water.
Very
few bleach bottle caps equal a tablespoon measure. Tip: Fasten a measuring spoon to the bleach bottle with a piece
of string.
Heat
inactivates bleach and in very cold water it takes longer to work. The impact of bleach on the environment
isn't near the impact of sick people.
THE SOAP STORY
Soaps
that contain Ammonia will cause a Toxic reaction when combined with chlorine
bleach. The label on the soap bottle
can easily be checked for the word Ammonia or a Warning "Unsafe to use
with chlorine bleach", in order to prevent a Toxic combination.
Too
much soap residue left on washed dishes can also cause diarrhea, if not rinsed
well.
HAND AND DISH WASHING STATIONS
The
ideal hand wash station would be foot pedal operated. Most hand wash stations use an empty water jug. The one-gallon size with holes punched in
the top to make a sprinkler is the most common.
2.5
gallon water containers with holes cut in the top and spigots also make good
hand wash containers. (Clean the spigot
with bleach water frequently.) Any hand
wash jug from a latrine is refilled outside of the kitchen area to prevent
possible contamination. If you provide
bar soap at your wash station, keep it in a container with drain holes in the
bottom.
The
ideal Dish Wash Station for use in the wilderness hasn't been invented yet but
the foot pedal model is preferred by many.
The
most common method used in kitchens is the 3 bucket system starting from left
to right:
1-warm
soapy wash water,
2-warm
water rinse
3-final
cool water bleach rinse
An
expanded version uses a 5 bucket system:
1-compost
2-prerinse 3-soapy wash 4-clear rinse 5-final bleach dip
Get
buckets up off of ground to keep animals and small kids out of them. Monitor the water and change it when it gets
full of grease and food residue. If the
first rinse used in the beginning is leaving a lot of suds, dilute the wash
water so you don't have to change the rinse waters as often.
Tip:
Get wash station ready before preparing food.
That way you can wash kitchen utensils as you go and It can be refreshed
quickly when ready to serve.
POT/PAN/UTENSIL STERILIZATION
Bleach
water rinse followed by air drying is the best and simplest way to effectively
sanitize pots, pans and utensils.
Boiling
water if items are submersed for 10 minutes is another way.
KITCHEN SITE AND BREAKDOWN CONSIDERATIONS
Cleanup
begins the day you choose the site for your kitchen. You will need a place to accumulate trash and recyclable items
that is away from the food preparation and serving areas and that is not easily
reached by the public.
Strongly
encourage everyone to Pack it out if you pack it in. Try to get people to pack out trash as soon
as a bag is full. Donıt be shy. Many people will be glad to help if you will
tell them what needs doing!
BLISS RAILS / CONTROL OF ACCESS TO
KITCHEN AREA
The
advantage to setting a perimeter is it enables kids, adults and even dogs to
understand this is an area of intense activity best kept cleared of all other
activity, non-essential persons and animals.
This helps to keep the area clear during increased activity because it
poses a hazard to the crew when handling large pots of hot food.
It also
helps keep the kitchen clean and reduces risks of infections from unknown
sources. The rails should be kept clear
of personal clothing and bedding to minimize the potential spread of
infections.
Tip:
use rails to hang artwork(tydysheets/banners) and establish a drying area for
folks to use away from the kitchen.
TIP:
Keep
kitchen tools (shovels, rakes, picks, etc) outside of the controlled access
area. Mark them with your kitchen
name. Some think that marking and
setting aside those used for shitter maintenance is also a good idea.
FOOD-PREPARATION TABLES AND
STORAGE
It is
important to keep food preparation off the ground on its own table. Prep tables should be covered when not in
use. After use, they should be washed
with soapy water, rinsed of soap, rinsed again with bleach water and then allowed
to air dry! This should be repeated if
itıs been a long time since last use.
It is important to keep the food preparation table free of
personal
items at all times.
Dry
foods and liquids (beans, rice, flour, herbs; oils, sauces, beverages) are best
kept in rodent proof containers with lids.
Fresh produce should be kept off the ground, preferably in such a way
that air can circulate and covered with netting if possible. Some just hang the food from trees.
Tip: A
circle of fresh or fresh dried mint leaves around storage area can help keep
mice out of supply tents.
FOOD SERVING and HANDLING
When
serving people have them hold their personal bowl or cup near the edge but not
touching or directly over the serving container. This is to avoid any food running down the potentially
contaminated sides of the dish and back into the serving container.
The
food or beverage should be poured or flipped or dumped into the personal dishes
without touching the serving equipment to the personal equipment. Some kitchens use a plastic funnel with the
bottom cut out to facilitate getting the food into the narrow cups many bring
to the serving line. (being careful not
to touch the funnel to the personal bowl/cup)
Serving
container should be kept covered when not serving and the serving utensil
should be kept in a different container than the cooling food because organisms
will travel down the handle into the pot.
Once there they can then multiply in the friendly environment of warm
food cooling down. Cover prepared foods already cooked to keep out
contaminants. When taste testing food
for seasoning, drop a sample into a personal bowl and avoid tasting off of the
cooking/serving utensil directly.
Cooked
food with tomatoes, vinegar or peppers will keep fairly well. Other cooked foods do not keep well without
refrigeration. Rice and beans, in
particular, can produce toxins that are not killed by reheating. Prepared foods, raw or cooked, should be
served promptly.
COMPOST AND GRAY WATER PITS
Kitchen-waste
pits must be close to the kitchen for any number of reasons.
Clearly
mark both pits and make them safe, to prevent children from playing in them or
people falling in them. They must be
watched by the kitchen and will need a thin layer of lime applied from time to
time.
Remember
with these pits, as with shitters, it's important to close them down before
they are too full, which means around 10-12 inches from the top. When filling them in to cover and mound the
dirt up above surrounding ground for the settling where the pits had been.
SHITTERS AND LIME
Each
kitchen should maintain a shitter which must be located at least 50 yards from
the kitchen and 250 feet from any springs or surface water. Whenever possible your kitchen should be at
least 250 feet from any creeks, springs, rivers, ponds, etc. The 50 yard rule is an absolute minimum.
Shitter
maintenance means keep it supplied with(not agricultural) "quick"
lime in a sprinkling can, ashes, protected toilet paper(in coffee cans) and a
bleach hand wash. Check and refill: the lime jar, toilet paper, hand wash and
applying a thin layer of lime to stop flies from landing on it.
Remember
the Feces-Fly-Food-You connection and Break the cycle.
It is
time to close the latrine when waste material is about 12 inches from the top
and dig a new one. Fill the shitters in
with dirt and mound it about 6-8 inches above surrounding ground, so a
depression is not left when the dirt settles.
THE PLACE TO PISS CONTROVERSY
Piss
wherever you are when you get the urge, except don't urinate on main paths or
in kitchens. Try to avoid pissing in
the same place all the time. Do not pee
in the shitter
THE PLACE TO SPIT CONTROVERSY
Spit
anywhere you want except in the kitchen or on main trail and cover your
spit. There has been an increase in
antibiotic resistant TB. It can be
transmitted to us when dried and carried in the dust we inhale.
FIRST AID IN THE KITCHEN
Each
Kitchen should have a well-stocked first aid kit and must keep sufficient
quantities of Rainbow Koolaide or an oral rehdyration fluid. There is a better listing of first aid needs
in it's own section (Part III), including recipe's for drinks, expanded kit
supplies, traditional and alternative treatments of some common problems.
For the
minimal or basic needs of a first aid kit should include:
hydrogen
3% peroxide, rubbing alcohol, tweezers, anti-infection ointment, soothing burn
ointment/spray, a small bottle or container set aside of purified or sterile
water to flush eyes, matches, band aides, 3x3 gauze pads, gauze roll, tape,
scissors and tweezers.
End of
PART I
Minimal
Manual for the Basics of Kitchen Guidelines for Sanitation.
"Working
in any kind of kitchen is hard but very rewarding work. Show love and respect for others by doing it
with safety and sanitation in mind.
Seek out additional information that will help you, your crew and your
family have a happy, healthy and safe kitchen."
The
above was written and condensed to by a circle of concerned and 1experienced
Individuals calling themselves Rainbow
folks comprised of volunteers from several Rainbow Kitchens, CALM, Licensed
Medical Professionals, Food Service and Shanti Sena.