Loaf Thy Neighbour Book

The aim of the project was to use food as a tool to create communication opportunities and improve interaction and social bonds between people.

As a solution to this, I created a community organisation called Loaf Thy Neighbour that works alongside a local bakery to improve residential community bonds. It is an organisation that holds 13 events a year, representing the bakers dozen. These events create opportunities in the community for interaction and for people to form long lasting neighbourly relationships.

I chose to focus on bread for this idea for many reasons. The main reason being that crops of wheat, the basis for bread, was discovered in the Neolithic Age and this led to civilisation and the building of communities. If bread influenced community life surely, bread can be used as a tool to revive community spirit and residential relationships in modern society.

Whilst researching, something I came across that interested me was the word ‘friend’ is translated in french to ‘Le copain’. But the original root meaning of ‘le copain’ is co=with pain=bread. So this can be translated as a friend is someone who you share bread with.

The events that the organisation provides the community are all created from influences from the past. From the culture, history, traditions and superstitions regarding bread. This influences a modern take on past experiences, connecting people with the history of bread aswell as each other.

It’s a chance for people to learn about the food that helped create communities in the first place, whilst making new friends and creating a better, stronger community.