Ecovores, Dartmouth’s sustainable food-focused student group, is trying out a new structure this term, allowing for more community-led initiatives.

Ecovores’ goal, according to president Rachel Carter ’14, “is to create a sense of community around food — by cooking, by eating, by talking about food.” The structure of the group in the past included a weekly dinner accompanied by a guest speaker or discussion about pertinent food issues.

“We’ve had some excellent events, from workshops to farm visits to conference attendances,” former Ecovores president Annie Laurie Mauhs-Pugh ’14 said. ”I think Ecovores’ greatest value might be in the tight communities that have come together around food.”

The structure of the group, however, lent itself to creating exhausted leaders, Mauhs-Pugh said. She had been leading the group for five terms before deciding to “pass on the reigns” to Carter.

“Rather than burning through more leaders,” the group has decided to try a less formal structure that will hopefully prove to be more sustainable (ahem) for its leadership to manage, Mauhs-Pugh said.

“In past terms we often ran into the issue where only a few people cooked, a few more washed dishes, and a ton of people came to eat; which was fantastic — we had great conversations, delicious food, and people who love to be in the kitchen in the kitchen, but a lot of students miss out on the fantastic sense of community that cooking provides, and the Ecovores organizers were left feeling a little drained,” Carter said.

Ecovores will continue to support anyone who wants to organize a sustainable food-focused event, but they should be prepared to take some initiative in organizing the event, Carter said.

“Ecovores will now rely on individual initiatives, and I’m excited to see what comes out of this experiment,” said Mauhs-Pugh. Carter is currently involved in planning an event featuring guest speaker Dailan Long ’07, who will discuss sustainability and social justice in Native American communities.

Long will speak on April 9 at 7 p.m. on the ground floor of Cutter-Shabazz Hall. The event is open to campus.