What is a community oven?

A few years ago I was watching a documentary series about the history of baking and there was an entire episode on baking bread! No joke, it was so interesting because I had no clue about the rich history it has played throughout time. From pita to naan, injera, simit, focaccia or a baguette, bread is the only food staple that is represented in every culture and has been a staple food for humans since the beginning.

What was so interesting is before modern day, or indoor kitchens, towns had community ovens to bake their bread. They would make their dough at home, score the tops wtih a symbol unique to their house and take it to the community oven for baking. While there neighbors would socialize, learn about news and support each other if needed. As I learned more about these ovens, I was inspired by that sense of community and how something as simple as bread would bring people together.

Community ovens have mostly disappeared, but I got to thinking, could that same spirit of community around simple food staples be reignited? We see it in different forms today with food pantries, farmer’s markets and meal kitchens because one thing still holds true, that nothing is more comforting than home cooking. 

And that is how our humble non-profit got started! When I first started dreaming up the idea of Community Oven I found myself having a hard time starting because I was so focused on big impacts, big volumens and lots of people and it got overwhelming at times. In those moments I would think back to the roots of a community oven and how it is just about your neighbors. We are a small operation and try to focus on one partnership at a time, whether it’s 5 people or 50, our goal is to bake up comforting goodness one neighbor at a time.