Weekly Design Dispatch: Community Fridges, Curbside Reads and One Long Hopscotch

Illustrated by Rachel Hillberg

Welcome to the weekly Design Dispatch. This week we're talking community fridges to combat food insecurity, a miles-long hopscotch course, and the TV show offering up some food for thought.

DESIGN NEWS:

Residents in Oakland have come up with a community-oriented solution around ending hunger with the town fridge network. With simple instructions to take what you need, leave what you don't, the movement allows residents to share food directly with those in need. Similar community fridges are also reported in LA, New York, and around the country.

LOCAL INTEREST:

Bookworms rejoice, the SFPL has finally announced plans to open for curbside pickup of books reserved in advance. The new service is called SFPL To Go and is expected to roll out next month, according to the SF Examiner.

This Saturday, next in a long list of ways SF neighborhoods have gotten creative in the time of social distancing… NOPA held Hopscotch Your Block, a four-mile hopscotch course, in an attempt to break the current world record.

WATCH:

It seems as though Food TV falls neatly into a handful of camps, the competition, the demonstration, or the traveling foodie. Taste the Nation at first glance, falls neatly into the latter. It's pretty, and perky hostess Padma Lakshmi travels around the US, tucking into signature dishes from different locales as she chats up the locals and gives us a behind the scenes peek into the kitchens that create them. Below the surface the show takes on a much more challenging subject matter, it pulls back the curtain on our countries complicated relationship with food, delving into the stories of immigrants who have introduced us to some of our most beloved dishes and the complicated cultural and political implications of "American" cuisine.

That concludes our weekly Design Dispatch. If there is anything you would like to add to the list, feel free to leave a comment below, and if you have a tip for a future column, feel free to drop us a line.