Women feed communities. That is the reality of these seven communities within which the enumeration took place. All the community kitchens participating in the research were started as a response to hunger and in some instances petty crime as a result of hunger in these resource poor and food insecure communities. The women heading these initiatives collaborate with one another to secure donations and often share what they have in surplus. The Alcardo Andrews Foundation, Callas Foundation and Ubuntu Rural Women & Youth Movement have been the centres of support for all or some of these kitchens. Caroline Peters and the Callas Foundation, was the convener/host of the kitchen’s network and collection point for kitchen data for 18 months during the final phase of the research. Caroline and Callas are inseparable, people call her Auntie Callas. The Callas Foundation also trained the other kitchens to be GBV first responders as a result of the high levels of GBV experienced in these seven communities. During the final three months of wrapping up the research process Avril Andrews of the Alcardo Andrews Foundation stepped in as the convener, giving Caroline Peters, who was recovering from a health scare, a break. 

From Research to Action 

The four years of research did not stop at analysis. It nurtured networks of sisterhood and solidarity across Cape Town’s communities, built trust between academics and activists, and co-created strategies for engaging with policymakers. Pots and Pens to Parliament is the result of this process: a campaign that insists on bringing the voices of community kitchen leaders into public and political debate, demanding recognition of care as political work and the Right to Food as a core responsibility of the state.