Our Board is the functionary body that makes executive decisions about the future of our co-operative, tracks the progress of the store through our General Manager, and is democratically-elected by our membership every year. Let’s learn more about the awesome people that comprise our Board. We’re starting off with our Board President, Elizabeth Teuwen!
Chloe: Tell me how you would introduce yourself.
Elizabeth: Elizabeth, she/her pronouns.
C: And who are you?
E: Who am I? I’m just a girl. (both laugh. Chloe says in background, “I didn’t know that you knew about that!”) No pretense here. That is a very, very open question.
C: Let me ask another one. What do you do, and why do you do it?
E: I work for the Montgomery County Food Council, I am a food advocate and a seeker of justice in our food system. Why do I do it? (considers) I have had several careers, some had to do with co-operatives, some had to do with food, and none of them were satisfying because I didn’t feel an immediate sense of doing good in the world. This path that I’m on has allowed me to get very involved in my community, understand the struggles of our community members, and find concrete ways of helping.
C: It feels weird to ask this question, but it feels very relevant. Where do you live?
E: I live in Takoma Park. This is my thirtieth year in the DC area! I’ve lived all over.
C: Where are you from?
E: I’m from Massachusets. I moved here when I met my husband, and had I not found Takoma Park I probably would’ve moved out of the DMV area.
C: Why do you say that?
E: I didn’t think I would stay for this long. (laughs) Coming to Takoma Park, this feels most like home. The community, the walkable nature…AND the nature, the physicality of the space. The trees, the greenery. All of the pieces fit together here.
C: Do you remember your first experience at the Co-op?
E: I remember coming here when I first started dating my husband. We would walk up here and do shopping for little dinners at home. I remember every time we would go to the checkout counter, they would ask if he was a member and he would say no! I remember thinking, “Why aren’t you a member, dude?” So I got him to sign-up. That was my first act of co-operative activism, getting him to join.
C: What made you start thinking about becoming a Board member?
E: I had been working in kitchens for a number of years, around food, and I was volunteering in the community doing a lot of demo work — volunteering with organizations around food issues, and the Co-op kept popping up. I was always impressed by the way they donated time, money, and food to these efforts. It just struck me that it was an institution that I would want to support, and I had the time and opportunity to do so.
C: What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned while on the Board?
E: That it all comes down to relationships with people.
C: That is so real. All of it.
E: All of it, yep. And it’s been such a learning journey. It’s enriched all aspects of my life. Just learning how to deal with other people, with a common purpose, with different ways of approaching every issue.
C: What is your favorite fall meal? (…) We’re not even in fall. We’re in winter.
E: The depths of winter. Very deep. Okay, favorite winter meal? My favorite meal right now? You know those Wild Harvest Tuna Bean meals you sell? I don’t buy those, I make it at home. (both laugh) That’s my latest hearty lunch. My favorite fall meal? I do like the question. I make a lot of paella. I don’t know if that’s very fall or winter-y. That’s my step son’s favorite meal. I just make huge amounts of it.
C: I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that they make ‘tons’ or even ‘a lot of’ paella. (both laugh) I confused in my head polenta and paella. Paella is the seafood stew, is that right?
E: Yeah, it’s rice and saffron and paprika and meats and seafoods and things. If this is for publication, I don’t want to say that’s my go-to meal.
C: You don’t want to say that? I was impressed by that. Your step-son is spoiled, asking for paella all the time.
E: I used to teach cooking classes, you know that right?
C: REALLY? (side conversation takes place about Elizabeth teaching a cooking class) When you were a chef, what was your thing? What were you super into?
E: I was a pastry chef. My path; when I got here, I went to law school and I was an energy attorney — I actually represented electric co-operatives. I was working in private practice, and it was not fulfilling my creative needs. I always wanted to be a chef, I always wanted to go to culinary school. So I did! I did it after law school. And I became a pastry chef. I loved fancy French pastries, all of the classic weird things that people are just now starting to see in the States in the past ten years. Classic French pastries were definitely ‘my thing’.
C: How and why did you switch from working with food in a restaurant setting, to working in food in a more policy-related setting?
E: Part of it was just that I was in my 40’s, and being a chef is a hard life. It’s a hard life if you have a family that you’re trying to take care of, and you’re working nights and weekends and holidays for not a lot of money. I wasn’t in it for the money, but I figured if you’re working that hard, you should get something out of it. It was taking a toll physically, as well. (Chloe and Elizabeth go into deep conversation about working in restaurants, as both have worked in restaurants)
C: What’s your favorite restaurant in Takoma Park?
E: My favorite restaurant in Takoma Park is Cielo Rojo. It’s easy. (The Co-op is very close to Cielo Rojo) It’s just so good. It’s consistently good.
C: Why would you tell someone to be a Board member of the Co-op? Why would you recommend it?
E: That’s a good question. Because it’s an immediate connection to your community. It is a fantastic learning experience. It’s a way to give back to the store in a very meaningful way. The store cannot operate without Board members, and being on the Board helps you to understand how critical it is to have a functioning Board even if everyone doesn’t always understand what that function is. Even without the microdetails, people should understand that the Board is a critical part of the store. And we definitely need to do a better job of articulating why.
C: I think learning how democratic governance actually works, one member one vote, takes a while. I’ve been here for a few years now and am just starting to understand the entirety of the process.
E: It can take a while to learn, right? You have to be patient. You need to be willing to accept a pretty steep learning curve.
C: Why do you believe in co-ops?
E: I think they are the only answer to a functioning economy and community.
C: That was great. Is there anything you would like to see change at the store, in the next year?
E: (ponders) The longer you’re on the Board, the longer you’re trained not to think about the details of the store as things that the Board is responsible for changing. That’s the Staff, that’s the Staff and Mike (our General Manager). What happens in the store is Mike’s domain. There are certainly some things…this makes me think. It’s hard to see the store through fresh eyes. It’s hard to know whether all of the shoppers truly understand what they’re contributing to. I don’t know how to articulate that and not make it sound like we’re not doing that. I think because we know, we see it all around us. Do you know what I mean?
C: Yes, definitely, because we’re in the thick of it. We think about that a lot, too, on Staff. If everyone on Staff is fluent in the reason why we work co-op, and don’t do something else. Why this is so important, in all the little details. Defining what the purpose of this all is, and then translating that to the membership. (someone calls the store to do a return, Chloe picks up the phone and discusses, Elizabeth is deep in thought)
E: You know what? Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, we hear the constant complaint about the prices at the Co-op. I wish there were a way to walk into the store and understand why…but I hesitate to say even that, because our prices aren’t even higher!
C: I KNOW! They’re not.
E: I wish there was a way to dispel that myth, that we’re out of touch. With natural health foods pricing.
C: Most of the time when we hear that, too, I don’t know if it’s customers actual experience with buying groceries here, it feels more just like a general perception of co-ops being more expensive than everywhere else. When we were in the tent (during our summer 2023 remodel), I was buying Johnny Pops from Whole Foods which I did not feel proud of (we didn’t have a freezer unit, just a refrigerated unit) and they were double the price there than they are here. Shelled edamame, too, I was buying that frozen. It was a lot pricier at Whole Foods, about $2.50 more.
E: There is a perception difference, especially with larger health food stores that market as cheaper, that we are more expensive because we are ‘exclusive’. And we’re not exclusive. And it’s not true!
C: (mentions a specific German grocery store)
E: I lived in Germany in college…do you know the story about the Trader Joes and Aldi brothers? There’s this book, The Secret Life of Groceries. You would love that. The guy who wrote this, he grew up in Montgomery County! He worked in the fish department of a very popular grocery store.
C: All those guys are always kind of cute, to me. You know what you would love? I’m reading this book, The Revolution Will not be Microwaved. You would love that.
E: We’re going to do a book trade when you finish that book. You need to finish that, I want to check that out.
C: What would you like to impart to readers of the newsletter and website?
E: We often struggle at the Board, because we want more engagement. I urge people to reach out to us. Ask us questions. Get engaged.
Elizabeth can be reached at elizabeth.teuwen@tpss.coop.