Guests Who Pay For Dinner In Your Home

[zoramargolis]

click

[DaveO]

That is fascinating. Would you do it, Zora?

Its a tremendous idea and application for wonderful cooks and for travelers, let alone local foodies.

[lizzie]

This had been a very common activity among some Amish friends of my family, opening their homes to tourists for a traditional seven sweets/seven sours meal that also let you experience a few hours of PA Dutch and the Amish experience generally. That is until one family feeling jealous or slighted or something (there was much gossip in their particular Amish community at that time), reported the others to the PA health authorities who, backed by the PA restaurant association, then ruined the fun by requiring our friends to operate as a restaurant with all the certifications, inspections, etc. Some families still offer these dinners which are often grouped with tours or stays at BandBs, but our friends no longer do it.

[LauraB]

That is fascinating. Would you do it, Zora?

Its a tremendous idea and application for wonderful cooks and for travelers, let alone local foodies.

I was just thinking the other day that Zora could easily open up one of those 'secret' dining experiences in her home, if she wanted to. The dinners Zora cooks almost every night rival the fare that you'd find in a lot of official restaurants and are far better than many others. I know I'd pay to have dinner at Zora's!

[DonRocks]

click

This is awesome - it's like a bed and breakfast, without the bed and without the breakfast.

Zora, you could *absolutely* do this, as could many members here. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that I'll organize the service here if people are interested in doing it.

[zoramargolis]

Yikes. thanks for the compliments, friends. I was urged to consider this "private supper club" concept some years ago by a friend who is from Chile, who says it is quite common there. The main problems for me are: I have a tiny house and very limited dining table space; the people who do this in Chile undoubtedly have household help to prep, serve and clean up, not to mention cleaning the house before guests come. I'm on my own doing all of that, getting up there in years and have a bad back. I don't entertain very often as a result of the above. And I would feel weird about charging people for a meal in my home--a reciprocal invitation is a hoped-for gratuity, and even that is not expected. Seriously, I would love to have all of y'all over for dinner. (I invited Don over for about five years before he finally accepted, and it is such a pleasure to cook for him. He is so appreciative and complimentary. After all the years I've been married to J., the feedback I typically get is a fairly tepid "this is good, Zora.")