Assembly Food

by El Kabong 50 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Valis

  Circuit Assemblies used to be very different here...We had hot food that was cooked in a big kitchen...mostly chicken/veggies or Mexican food served on the old style hard plastic lunch trays..and the ubiquitous bags of fruit.....many times I went with my dad to help cook for other assemblies...my favorite when I got old enough was helping make donuts all times of the day....yum! When it was our assembly I would try my best to work in the kitchen, even washing pots and pans so I wouldn't have to listen to the assembly. I also did lots of tray washing...big fun as long as I didn't have to sit in the auditorium...

  District Assemblies...roast beef hoagies, danishes, pudding cups, shasta cola, bags o'fruit, faux fritos, soggy burritos, ham n'egg muffins, orange juice cups,I could go on...this again a good opportunity to start working early and either keep working through the whole thing or get the "Its OK he's sleeping...he worked hard compiling sandwiches at 5:30 this morning..." take a nap pass.

  The last time I ever went to an assembly of any kind was the new meeting hall they built in Denton...I had never been there after it was finished for a meeting, but went once with my parents when I was passing through and staying with them for a couple weeks. It was weird...free food? No more tickets? WTF? That was half the fun!...

  Sincerely,

  District Overbeer
• 

  xjw_b12

  Here's another WBTS line their pockets story. When I was a kid, I attended a District Assembly in Toronto in the early 70's at Woodbine Race Track. My Uncle who lived in Toronto was on the Food Services Committee, or whatever they called themselves.

  I remember him telling my dad and I how they would negotiate with the local Coke and Pepsi distributors for the best possible deal on the beverage dispensing. These were the days when you actually paid cash for the confections. Assemblies in Toronto were often scheduled for 2-3 weeks in a row, to accomadate the large number of circuits in the area, so the deal could prove to be very lucrative for the succesful vendor.

  Anyways, my uncle informed me that they deal they had in place this year, was Coke agreed to supply the 8 oz waxed Dixie cups for free, and charge 1 cent for every 8 oz drink dispensed. The price charged to you the attendee................10 cents. So for every glass of pop/soda sold at the convention the WBTS was pocketing 9 cents.

  Not bad eh ! Praise God. WBTS " It's the Real Thing "
• 

  dedalus

  One thing I will never disparage about Witnesses is the way they used to serve breakfast and lunch at conventions. That was terrific! A workforce consisting primarily of nimble, nubile sisters, carefully wrapping hoagies and burritoes ... ah, yes, here was some fine refreshment after the tepid, regurgitated spiritual grub on which we'd gagged all morning. There was a genuine feeling of brotherhood (even if the lines were rather long) as clusters of Witnesses spread out over the convention site, plastic badges flashing brilliantly in the sun. How communal, how very nearly ... pastoral.

  Sure, I'm waxing poetic, but I miss the mornings of Sara Lee pastries and the afternoons of salami and Shasta. I miss the satiation of hunger and the languor with which I'd roam the premises during intermission, the skirts of single sisters billowing up around their ankles as they strolled past, chattering a lilting female chatter that I've never quite understood.

  I miss belonging to a community that fed its own with such selflessness.

  Nowadays it's all a rush, choking on some peanut butter and jelly contraption you threw together in the muffled haze of waking up, somehow at the same time dressing your brood of sullen children and hoping against hope there'd be enough gas in the car for the two hour commute ahead of you.

  Thanks for the new light, Jehoover!

  Dedalus
• 

  Ravyn

  it occurred to me when I was an adult that if I paid for the stupid meal tickets, then using them was a moot point--the Borg already got their money before the doors ever even opened! So basically I would buy barely enough tickets to get me thru the snacks and eat wherever I damn well pleased. But then again I was in So Cal and you were just as likely to run into a GB at the local Taco Bell as you were to buy an enchirito and drip sauce on your blouse...

  Ravyn
• 

  undercover

  I remember when I was very young they actually made breakfast, eggs,bacon,cereal the works, it was pretty good the only down side was you had to stand and the tables were all tall enough for the adults,when your five you can forget seeing your food.

  Boy, did that bring back memories. I remember eating breakfast in the food tent outside the arena at International Assemblies. Just like you, I was too little to see my tray of food. I can still remember the smell of hay on the ground inside the tent and the smell of the food as they dished it out.

  Thinking about standing in line at these food tents waiting on food reminds me of Jim Jones' followers standing in line waiting on Kool-Aid for some reason.
• 

  RubaDub

  Hoagies ... hoagies .... hoagies ....

  My hands still have traces of the oil.

  ****** Rub a Dub
• 

  RubaDub

  Wow ... the memories ...

  Going to the food tents across the street from Yankee Stadium in New York ... the straw/hay on the ground .. those tables made from sheets of plywood ... the big plastic slotted trays .... the juice in the little hard plastic cups ... the serving line ... and 65 cents ... when I was very young they charged 65 cents for the meal for quite a few years (I think the pioneers got one free) .... and then taking your try over to the person who would do the steam-cleaning.

  Yawn

  ***** Rub a Dub
• 

  rocketman

  I think the food was passable for the most part. I was around when the hot meals were served, and then the switch to cold sandwiches, etc. The hot meal thing was such a waste of time and energy, they were smart for getting rid of it.

  Years before the changes were made, a relative of mine who worked very hard at each assembly and convention saw that things could be simplified and made suggestions accordingly. From what I heard, the elders did not take kindly to his suggestions and thought him untheocratic.
• 

  crownboy

  I actually kind of liked the food. Next to the drama(s), lunch was the highlight of the program .

  The cheese danishes were definitely my favourite, followed by the Lays potato chips. Some of the sandwiches were dry, but not all of them. Shasta wasn't Coke or Pepsi, but it was tolerable for 3 days. I remember sometimes eating during the session, right after the chairman had made the point in his announcements that we should not be eating during the sessions. What control freaks.
• 

  undercover

  Years before the changes were made, a relative of mine who worked very hard at each assembly and convention saw that things could be simplified and made suggestions accordingly. From what I heard, the elders did not take kindly to his suggestions and thought him untheocratic.

  I remember working in the kitchens a couple of times when they were still serving hot food. It was absolutely miserable in those kitchens. You could work one shift and stink of grease and sweat the rest of the day. The "blue collar" brothers seemed to prefer to work in the kitchen than be seen in a suit and tie though. It was like some kind of pride they took in not having to join the other lemmings rushing to their seats.

  I remember that most of the elders from our area went to two assemblies. One to work in the kitchen and one to "receive spirtual nourishment".