Crossroads Kitchen

C R O S S R O A D S K I T C H E N

A cultural movement that aims to constructing a dialogue and meaningful interactions between Icelandic locals and tourists through an alternative tourism experience.

C R O S S R O A D S

“According to an old saying, when traveling from place to place, one has to sit down at crossroads at a given time interval and wait for the soul to arrive before continuing or settling down.”

From The Destination Within by Hildigunnur Sverrisdóttir*

Immersed in the world of capitals, the idea of tourism and particularly mass tourism sacrifices almost every environmental and social good practice to fulfill economical interests. In the context of a fast-speed warming world looking at the levels of carbon emissions produced by leisure international flights, should be a good enough reason for us to lower down the global travel industry.

Living in the fast-speed vicious ecosystems we call cities, both tourists and locals are taking part.

Our human selves, minds and bodies, are getting standardized; moving, producing and consuming fast. Stress has become normal as our souls find no chance to settle down; to heal and nourish.

Scholar, activist and artist Lucy Lippard writes about the huge positive impacts intercultural exchange can prompt into local cultures.

The development of this project seen as a system, starts from renaming the actors: hosts and guests are invited to a hybrid space that is either an alternative travel agency and a cooking room. We see the first crossroads as a starting-seed where roles are switched. International guests offer a meal to local hosts during their trip. Food becomes a holistic, horizontal experience for mindfully connecting and engaging.

We see Iceland in the future as the country of difference and diversity, where both guests and hosts Our project is precisely about a crossroads stopping feel at home. We expect this rhizomatic cultural space. Where through the ritual of preparing and movement to grow slow, enriching culture through sharing organic-local foods, the “tourism” conflict is producing locally, cooking and sharing between to be transformed into a fertilizing network. cultures all over the place.

C R O S S R O A D S K I T C H E N

Iteration Line

Ecosystem

Kitchens of the world collaborators Frúlauga Shop Byli-Nethyl (Akur) Tómas Ponzi Farmer Módir Jórd (Organics) Wanderlust Agency Hálendisferdir Agency Icelandic Tourism Board City of Reykjavík HÍ Kitchen Waldorf í Lækjarbotnum Kitchen Local’s Kitchens

World

Countries

CITY OF REYKJAVêK LINE

Kitchen Travelers seeking for authentic experiences.

Locals wanting to share with diverse cultures Supplyers

Virtual kitchens links Happycow.com Facebook.com Twitter.com Wanderlust.is Reykjavik.is Grapevine.is Vedur.is hi.is Waldorfskolinn.is

C R O S S R O A D S K I T C H E N

Consumer journey

FOR WHOM

HOW TO JOIN

Crossroads aims to people who choose alternative options in travelling. Those that like to travel on their own and participate rather than observe. Terms on payment, booking and other regulations will be on the Crossroads site though the relationship relies on trust and safety. By doing that, communications between hosts and guests will be much easier and the traveller can easily plan the trip independently.

THE BUDGET COLLECT MOMENTS, NOT THINGS

The price that is paid for participating in an

Meeting at Crossroads is a valuable

to keep the community running. Crossroads

moment where people rely on trust, they feel secure and what they experience is brought back home. It does not take up any space in the luggage, but it will hopefully be kept forever in the hearts of the participants.

event covers the cost of the ingredients and welcomes support from people that understand what the community is about. Collaborators can advertise on the site for a reasonable price and those that feel like expressing gratitude for this community can contribute anonymously. The intention is to keep the program affordable, and sustainable, and it will always be about sharing.

C R O S S R O A D S K I T C H E N

Our Virtual Kitchen

The

C R O S S R O A D S K I T C H E N

Project

A group of international students from the Academy of the Arts, (a German, a Honduran, a Mexican and two Icelandic females), had been wondering whether or not the growing masses of tourists coming to Iceland could be transformed into a smarter and thiner fertilizing layer.

“We want to believe it is possible: chances for switching from

“Why don’t switching roles? Guests can become our hosts and we, become their guests. That would be soo nice!” —Breaks out Gunna Maggy.

Andrea had bought candles and cleaned her kitchen in Norðlingaholt Reykjavík on the weekend. The group of designers would invite the travelers to cook for them. In exchange, they would give their presence and advice for traveling in a more authentic way.

quantity to quality are literally flying in the winds. We just have to catch them.” —Says Lisa.

Despite an unpromising gray sky, on October the 12th the five chicas decided to go downtown Reykjavík finding some tourists to take them home.

“We don’t want to call them tourists anymore. They are our guests. Or are we theirs?” —Points Andrea.

This might be the key question for a radically new experiential movement as a way of making tourism.

“As common dwellers in this incredible Island we can offer a human scale interaction with the real culture. It’s not a lot, but we’ve seen tourists don’t get to engage with Iceland since they don’t find ways to speak with us.”

After five or six unsuccessful attempts there were they: sitting and chatting in a coffee shop. The two young madrileños had been driving around Iceland for a week. A bit disappointed about not finding the expected emptiness in the Icelandic nature and a bit tired of each other,

they accepted to try the magic journey on offer joining the chicas.

“We are very glad the thing worked out. This was the first Crossroads Kitchen. We took them in our cars and went to get some organic groceries all together. Then headed to Andrea’s home. At the beginning Pablo was a afraid of us and he didn’t know how to cook. At the end he surprised us, his tortilla española was amazing! Alberto is just an expert cook. He is a vegan so prepared gazpacho, babaganus and escalivada. We also had water, pan y vino tinto. I wanted to be in the middle of an empty track. We asked for information and they told us we couldn’t do that by ourselves, we had to join a tour. But we didn’t want that so we rented a car and drove through main attractions. They are just too crowded.”— Commented Alberto.

“It turned into something quite magical. That day people in Spain and Latin America celebrate that Christopher Columbus “discovered” America. They have the day off in jobs, schools and everything”, said Leiry.

Alberto was very conscious about the absurdity of this celebration but Pablo not as much.

“We spoke about it and I think he got a real feeling of how painful the moment of the conquest still feels for us. Angela, she is from Mexico and I expressed what we think about this strange national date. After cooking and laughing around the table without caring about our poor english, —enjoying this calmed time without even looking at the clock—, I felt like an important symbol of conscious cultural reconciliation. I mean, we know none of us took part in the colonization, but we are still affected by it. It’s just nice to think about how we act or participate as humans co-inhabiting this world”.—Explained Leiry.

C R O S S R O A D S K I T C H E N