It’s a sunny Saturday morning, and my wife and I turn into a residential neighborhood of Santa Rosa, California – the only sign of commerce is a beleaguered shopping mall a few hundred feet away. I glance down at my GPS to make sure this is where we want to be and in doing so I almost pass my destination. There it is tucked away to the left, sandwiched between two homes: Worth our Weight (W.O.W)
The whimsical name brings to mind a weight-loss program or some sort of preemptive apologetic reassurance for long lines. This restaurant has neither. The front is clean, simple and inviting, with large colorful posters on the front window explaining the mission of W.O.W.
So here we are, to experience what the output of such an ambitious undertaking might taste like.
We are seated promptly. Looking around, we see a Spartan but inviting configuration of wooden community tables and booths; an enthusiastic yet quiet energy pervades the space. Order, efficiency and warmth are the dominant vibe. The maître-d has a gregarious liveliness to her as she seats us at our booth. Our young waiter, an exceedingly polite youth whose tough look and genuine warmth seem to be at odds with one another, promptly brings out a small dish with scones and coffee cake, and hands us the menu.
Our menu has no prices on them.
Worth our Weight is founded and run by Evelyn Cheatham, an accomplished culinary chef, and a teacher at the culinary program at Santa Rosa Junior College. As a culinary trainer for incarcerated youth in Sonoma county for over two years, she found the power that growing,cooking and eating good food has on troubled youth. She moved to Sonoma County in 1987 and soon became part of the local food scene, first as a pastry chef at Downtown Bakery and Creamery in Healdsburg and then at Tweets in downtown Santa Rosa. She founded W.O.W in 2006 as a culmination of her years of work in the food industry and her passion for helping underserved youth.
Unburdened by the price tag of our meal, we pick what looks best among a few interesting brunch choices.
The food is beside the point at this point, but it helps that it is absolutely delicious. And since this meal does not come with a price tag, we are left with the difficult task of figuring out how to appropriately acknowledge this gift that we received today. Money alone seems insufficient, but we make some sort of awkward calculation in our heads – this is a different experience: having to figure out what things are worth to us. And this brings home the realization that there are certain experiences that are best left without a price tag. We leave much happier than when we arrived, and though the taste of the food vanishes from our palettes soon, the experience lingers in our minds for many weeks after.
Authors note:
Factual details for this article were sourced from the WOW website, PressDemocrat and Bite Club Eats.
This article was printed with permission. Rish Sanghvi is a business consultant with over a decade of experience working with biotechnology and technology companies. He is passionate about finding ways that organizations can supplement critical thinking skills with collaboration, creativity and spontaneity. Rish is a founding member of the Bay Area improv troupe The Streetlight People.
I am so grateful for this article and also, that only love and compassion for one another will heal us all. Our society has trained us in 'more' is better, and left us cold and disheartening to one another. We urgently need to get this!!
1 reply: Carol | Post Your Reply
On Jul 1, 2012 Cathy Yang wrote:
It gives me a life vision in the new space.
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