Sage Cafe’s Genesis
Kai Meyer | March 21, 2024
It all started one dreary night last Fall, when Arlo Pogrebin, a Warren Wilson College (WWC) junior, looked down at the Gladfelter Sunday night spread. The pickings were slim, the lighting dim, and instead of wallowing, he went to Ella Rabbino, a WWC junior with an idea.
Pogrebin and Rabbino noticed a need on campus: good food and a community space that was not oriented around school or work — a third space.
The two talked and plotted and soon realized they were missing an essential ingredient –– Andrew Axelrod, WWC senior. Whose origin story with the space goes back two years, when he and Shannon Spencer, the Spiritual Life director, spent hours cleaning the space with hopes of turning it into a community center.
Axelrod was pessimistic that anything would come of their efforts, but joined in Rabbino and Pogrebin’s efforts anyway. Together the group brainstormed and wrote a mission statement to bring to the school board and WCC president, Damián Fernández.
To everyone’s surprise, their efforts were not in vain. The crew “legally” entered the space last fall, to begin the laborious process of cleaning and taking an inventory.
“We found 58 spoons, 29 knives, and a whole lotta work to be done,” Rabbino said.
Since that groundbreaking day, the crew has been working tirelessly –– through tears –– to make Sage Cafe become a reality and resource for WWC students.
The crew envisions a fully-functional, fully-licensed, full-service kitchen, that could give future crew members a vocational education experience which would enable them to step into a higher level position of the service industry post graduation.
This restaurant model would break down and restructure the traditional, male-dominated industrial model of food and food service.
“Our goal is to make it a space that is collaborative. So you can learn, but still experiment and be creative,” Axelrod said.
This creativity extends all the way to how they would source food. The crew has been in contact with the Farmer Alliance, ASAP Food and the WWC garden to source fresh, discounted and free produce for the Cafe, giving WWC crew members an opportunity to grow new varieties, and experiment with new growing methods.
If you are interested in working with any part of the food system, from food sourcing, cooking, or serving, Safe Cafe is a great place to start. Or if you are just tired of the Gladfelter grub and need a place to chill, I have got the spot for you…WWC’s hottest club is Sage Cafe.
The crew is also looking for new names for the cafe, so email them with ideas!
apogrebin.f21@warren-wilson.edu
erabbino.f23@warren-wilson.edu
aaxelrod.f20@warren-wilson.edu