Farm to Table Kitchen Lead

InanItah Fire Season, Ometepe, Nicaragua

MINIMUM COMMITMENT: 6 mos, full time

THE VISION

Fire Season is looking for a Kitchen Lead to join our team of InanItah Fire Season Space Holders for the upcoming season from August 15, 2022, to February 15, 2023.

The Inanitah Fire Season vision is to be a model for regenerative living. Inanitah Fire Season is a vibrant community for personal growth and development where community members are invited to be themselves. InanItah is also an education center for living in harmony with the earth and being aware of our consumption patters. We practice living in conscious relationships with nature, others, and themselves. 

We live our vision in the kitchen by sourcing our food from our property and the local farmers of Ometepe Island. This guideline supports the local Ometepe economy and limits the environmental impact of food purchasing and consumption. The InanItah Fire Season Kitchen Lead is the holder of this vision and its guidelines.

By living this vision, community members explore how to live more sustainably by changing their food consumption and purchasing habits and considering the impact of their waste production. 

THE OPPORTUNITY

  • Become part of a vibrant international community of people who gather to experience regenerative living on both personal and planetary levels
  • Gain experience in community vegetarian farm-to-table culinary management in the context of permaculture and regenerative living.
  • Work closely with the local Nicaraguan community and learn about the local culture and agriculture
  • Learn about local products, fruit, and vegetables
  • Explore creativity in the kitchen
  • Build your own side business by offering culinary workshops and food products
  • Live in a stunning natural environment on the tropical volcanic island of Ometepe
  • Participate in daily yoga and meditation classes, workshops of all kinds, and weekly cacao celebrations
  • Receive one-on-one mentorship with community founder and transformational facilitator, Gaia

THE REQUIREMENTS

  • Strong ecological values
  • Strong passion for permaculture ethics of earth care, people care and resource share
  • Dedicated spirit and a strong work ethic
  • Passion for creativity in the kitchen
  • Desire to be creative and to explore cooking with only Ometepe grown foods (There is a minimal list of exceptions which include mainland Nicaragua grown flax, chia, dehydrated cane sugar, and garlic when available)
  • Leadership and teambuilding skills
  • Ability to uphold boundaries and hold others accountable
  • Language requirements: Spanish: Be able to order food, via telephone, with Spanish-speaking vendors English: Be able to provide a kitchen orientation for new arrivals and coordinate with predominantly English-speaking community members who collaborate in making meals
  • You will be expected to work 25 - 30 hours each week, and most importantly be responsible for the kitchen area. (Responsibilities are defined below)
  • Attend volunteer logistics meetings Monday - Friday and one weekly community sharing circle that we call the Transparency Circle. 

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
(helpful but not required)

  • Experience in community kitchens
  • Experience in a farm-to-table kitchen environment
  • Volunteer coordination
  • Experience in tropical Permaculture environments
  • Health and nutrition
  • Experience cooking with fire, and wood ovens

RESPONSIBILITIES

Hold the Kitchen Vision

  • Provide kitchen orientations, onboarding new community members to the kitchen guidelines, and the use of kitchen resources
  • Understand and explain the InanItah Fire Season kitchen vision and how it forms the foundation of the kitchen guidelines 
  • Communicate and apply kitchen guidelines and educate about the intentions behind them

Source Local Ingredients

  • Encourage and empower community members to use what is available in the InanItah Fire Season garden
  • Purchase food from various local farmers and businesses and educated about where to buy locally grown food on the island

Streamline Kitchen Logistics 

  • Ensure that kitchen is kept clean and hygienic by applying the kitchen guidelines
  • Oversee community contribution shifts for meal preparation and clean-up
  • Ensure that community meals are available from Sunday dinner until Friday dinner.
  • Lead preparation of meals with community members
  • Empower and select other community members to lead meal shifts
  • Support community members in the use of the kitchen and the foods available for meal preparation
  • Support community meal planning, including special dietary considerations of community members
  • Engage the community in kitchen projects such as food preservation, dehydration, fermentation, baked goods, healing tonics, herbal remedies etc.
  • Maintain a creative spirit alive in the kitchen by nourishing an environment for experimentation with innovative dishes

Be a Team Player

  • Manage the kitchen budget and track spending
  • Communicate kitchen needs to the Space Holder Team
  • Setup and breakdown kitchen setup at the beginning and end of the season
  • Be a part of the Space Holder team supporting the overall wellness of the community

COMPENSATION

A combination of exchange for room and board, cash stipend and community credits that can be applied to workshops, housing upgrades and stays for you and your friends. The total value of cash and community credits will be $500 - $1000/month depending on your capacity, skills and experience. Specific details of the package will depend on your personal choices.

APPLY

If this opportunity sounds right for you, please send a resume or a letter of interest to letting us know about your skills and experience that make you a fit for the role.  Reach out via our contact page or email us at fire.inanitah@gmail.com.

To learn more about InanItah Fire Season, visit inanitah.com

August
15

Partial Work Exchange Option

Dates: August 15, 2022 - February 15, 2023
Location: InanItah Fire Season, Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua

APPLY HERE