Golda and Khailill developed an app that helps communities come together over home cooking. Can a recipe of technology and food help people get to know their neighbors? And, more importantly, is that cool?

“If your neighbor’s cooking this lovely meal and they would love to share it with you, they don’t know that you would like some, and you don’t know that they’re cooking it. You can’t be going in and bothering your neighbor all the time, asking them what they’re making for dinner.”

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Listen to Golda’s and Khailill’s submission featured in Episode 78 of How Cool Is This? and read a transcript of the full episode below:

Golda: Hi, I'm Golda Velez and I'm one of the Co-Founder of What’s Cookin’.

KP: Hi, I'm Khailill Knight-Papaioannou, or KP, and I'm also one of the Co-Founders of What’s Cookin’

Golda: We started What’s Cookin’ in 2019 to deal with the problems of social isolation and the fragmentation of our society. And, let me tell you, 2020 has not made those problems any better. 

KP: What’s Cookin’ has a shared idea of bringing communities together, one meal at a time. 

Golda: And the way we're going to do it is with an app. Even though getting together in-person is the important thing, to do that actually requires information. Because if your neighbor's cooking this lovely meal, and they would love to share it with you, they don't know that you would like some, and you don't know that they're cooking it. And you can't be going in and bothering your neighbor all the time, asking them what they're making for dinner.

Having a really easy way for people to share their wishes and what they might be offering to each other, whether it's meals or walking or activities or anything, is really critical. So we have an app for that. And the app itself is built by a community. And What’s Cookin’ is actually a B-Corporation with a commitment to being democratically run.

KP: And what that means is that if we come into your community, you can help us build your community the way in which you would want it to operate with you and your neighbors. Find out more information at whatcookin.us.

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Nick: Brian, how cool is What’s Cookin’?

Brian: What’s Cookin’ is cool, and it's a fun name.

Nick: This does seem like a good idea to not only share what you have to offer to your community, but to get what you need from your community. That's what community is for. 

Brian: I like that it's a way to use technology for the betterment of a community rather than what seems to be the commonplace with tech right now, which is tearing communities apart.

Nick: So it sounds like what you do is you go on this app. you say where you are, and then you say what you have to offer to your community. Maybe you make a really good vegetarian chili, maybe you make some delicious fish tacos. You offer that up, someone in your community that needs some of that food can then come get it from you. 

Brian: It seems like something that can get the neighborhood together to talk about What’s Cookin’, and I think that's cool. If you are living alone and want to make a recipe, but it's a recipe for four and you're by yourself, you feel lonely. This allows you to feel less lonely, which is cool. 

Nick: Food is one of the coolest ways to come together with other people.

Brian: We all eat food. I like eating food. I also don't like that I have to eat food because sometimes it's an inconvenience. 

Nick: Your community could come to the rescue and offer you some food that you didn't have to cook. Brian would you offer on What’s Cookin’? What's Brian's signature dish?

Brian: I think I would have to look at what is already on there and then make an evaluation from there.

Nick: You're going to find the white space in your food community.

Brian: Yeah, you have to establish a niche.

Nick: I get that. You're a smart businessman.

Brian: I hear that you make tacos, and breakfast tacos at that.

Nick: I can't claim to be a breakfast taco expert, but I do enjoy making them. And I have heard from many people that they're pretty good. 

Brian: B-Corporation... democratically-run apps built by community. Is that cool? 

Nick: Yeah, I think if you're trying to create an app that's supposed to serve a community, it has to come from the community. Just having venture capitalists kind of swoop in and say that they know what's best for the people that are living somewhere is never going to be cool.

Brian: This might be the biggest innovation of What’s Cookin’ more than anything. My father is in a Facebook group with a bunch of people in his region who are tomato growers. They do need some infrastructure and algorithms that are designed by their own people instead of a group of white men in a Silicon Valley basement.

Nick: If the tomato growers can find a new platform that's not Facebook, that's going to be cooler.

Brian: With an app like this, you could give those tomatoes out or you could arrange some type of neighborhood gathering where the local pariah who's been canceled gets tomatoes thrown at them. And then they won't just be growing tomatoes. They'll be growing their community.

Nick: That's what's cooking.

Learn more about bringing What’s Cookin’ into you community and download the app by visiting whatscookin.us. And if you want to organize a festival for your community to throw tomatoes at local pariahs… get in touch!

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