Why I Love Open Source & Other Canadian Thanksgiving Stories...

I've been following Open Source Food for a while now. It was only this morning, while I stood basting my second turkey that it occurred to me that the website "Open Source Food" is NOT open source at all. (Neither in code or theory)

CANADIAN THANKSGIVING
So far thirty people have RSVPed for dinner. It's 8:58 am, the second bird is in the oven and I'm trying to dust things that have never been dusted ever before. On Thanksgiving, you are supposed to be thankful - for health, wealth, good fortune and love. But as I stand here in the early light of the morning, I am pissed off thinking about my mom sweating over a hot stove a thousand miles away while my brother and dad watch football.

My boyfriend knows that if he were to berate my cooking or kitchen organizational skills after my long day at the office, he would go to bed hungry. Some men would consider that strange. To that I'd reply, "When male baboons become obsolete as contributors, the rest of the tribe often refuses to share food."

WALK LIKE A MAN: THANKSGIVING LAUNCH 1.0
Everybody/nobody is a helper monkey. Consider this the launch of our Thanksgiving product. The turkey, stuffing, yams, gravy, cranberry sauce, potatoes and pumpkin pie are obviously non-negotiable 1.0 key product features. The hot vegetables and additional pies are the 1.5 release features; the green salads and appetizers are the third party applications (which are often unexpectedly great); and humus and chips, well that's like a Bebo page. (You don't prioritize the Bebo page.)

Anyways, the point is, friends are part of a team. You can complain all you want, but ultimately you're going to solve your own problem. This, along with the below tenets are the fundamental truths to the open source Thanksgiving kitchen:

1. TRANSPARENCY: What you see is what you get. If you don't know where the whisk is, I don't know where the whisk is. I'm drinking whiskey and I can't remember my own name right now. Deal with yourself.

2. PEER REVIEW/CONTRIBUTION: Feedback is only welcome if you're asked for it or if you're willing to do the job right. Otherwise, you're just a Debbie Downer and nobody likes that whiney bitch.

3. LOWER COST: Cooking costs time. If we all pitch in, we all help lower the time it takes to turn all of those raw ingredients into a delicious turkey reveal.

4. JOINT OWNERSHIP: You cannot leave your stuff for others to deal with unless you're willing to breed ill will in the Thanksgiving community. In other words, I found your green ham on top of the kitchen cupboard 5 days after our last dinner party. If you blow it this time we're coming over and putting our moldy plates in your pillowcase. Respect the team jackass.

5. QUALITY FROM DIVERSITY: Our Thanksgiving product is much better when each group member taps into their area of expertise. As long as you don't stray too far from the code base and complete your key feature to the best of your abilities, we don' t care how you do it. It's Thanks-freaking-giving guys! We could sweat the small stuff, or we could remain a cohesive team of friends who might one day drive matching Ferraris.

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