Hundreds of NYers feast together on the streets of Chelsea at ‘Longest Table’ potluck party

Try reaching for this table for salt and pepper.

Hundreds of New Yorkers gathered at a city block-long table in Chelsea on Sunday afternoon for the third annual “Longest Table” potluck lunch party – where foodies from Chelsea to Harlem, New Jersey to Lithuania gathered for community connections. Broke bread in the name of promotion.

“We live in this city that’s so densely populated, and it’s easy to walk by people who are just having a conversation about ‘what’s the weather like,'” said longtime Chelsea resident and event volunteer Nathaniel Hawkins. “

“I think now on (important) issues, when we need people to show up, more and more people are coming out,” Hawkins, 52, said.

Large scale lunch programme, organized car-free open road The event, on West 21st Street between Ninth and 10th Avenue, began in 2022 after pandemic lockdowns forced event co-founder Maryam Banikarim to find safe, new ways to reconnect with her Chelsea neighbors.

Banikarim, another longtime resident of Chelsea, told The Post, “I knew my neighbors (before), but during COVID I really got to know them because we were in each other’s lives. Was Rekha.”

“There’s also this epidemic of loneliness and mental health issues,” she said. “People have this incredible desire, especially post-COVID, to connect with each other in real life…(The Longest Table) has changed my experience in the neighborhood.”

A photo circulated on social media of neighbors sharing a large outdoor meal in Egypt inspired Banikarim to set up a similar outdoor dining experience with the help of about eight volunteers. News of the event spread on the neighborhood-based social media website Nextdoor – more than 500 people attended the opening ceremony.

“Table Captains” were designated to host the table, bring chairs, and coordinate their potluck contributions—which ranged from baked goods to Chinese food and Indian dishes to a great big hero sandwich.

“This is the diversity of the city,” she said. “Everyone is curious what everyone else has brought.”

Banikarim said the second iteration of the program in 2023, which attracted about 700 participants, was also studied by Barnard’s college students to understand the impact of the project.

“What we learned was that a lot of people came from Chelsea, but also from other parts of the city, it’s a microcosm of New York City,” he told The Post, noting that 92% of the people who came were able to Connect with other attendees. By the end of the program, more than 60% of people felt less lonely, she said.

Banikarim reports that, in her own neighborhood, the project has fostered more communication and helping hands, from borrowing stairs to facilitating conversations about new projects in the area — like a recent one by Vanderbilt University. acquisition in Site of the General Theological Seminary.

“Most people start talking to each other and then they can be there (for each other) in times of need,” he said.

Both newcomers and returnees seemed to agree that the bustling event helped New Yorkers get to know each other better.

“The biggest surprise coming here was the community,” Ilma Tiki, 41, a Chelsea resident who moved here from Lithuania two years ago, told The Post during a Sunday afternoon gathering. “That’s why you want to live in the neighborhood and this city… it was the thing to do.”

“I’m so excited to be here,” said Eleanor, an 82-year-old Chelsea resident who declined to give her last name. “Chelsea can be very divisive… bringing everyone together, it’s really great.”

“In a city where it’s so hard to find community or (where) sometimes you don’t know who your neighbor is, this is an opportunity to meet all your neighbors — to meet them in a fun, unconventional setting,” said Council Member. Eric Bottcher, who represents Chelsea, told The Post. “And it happens to be on one of the most beautiful blocks in Chelsea.”

Since its inception, the longest table has been maintained in Kansas City, Mo., using an online toolkit. It has been replicated in other cities as far away as Paris, France, made available online by Banikarim.

Chelsea residents George Duval and Lisa Lindo-Duval recreated the project in Harlem last week, and plan to bring the tables to disadvantaged neighborhoods in Manhattan and the Bronx.

Lindo-Duval is also planning a similar event in her mother’s hometown of Kingston, Jamaica.

“It’s not just for the sense of community, but also for safety,” Lindo-Duval said. “This is so everyone can get to know each other, so they can meet each other.”

Banikarim says she has big dreams of one day bringing the longest table connecting the boroughs over the Brooklyn Bridge — and next year bringing another table uniting the coasts for America’s 250th anniversary.

“Wouldn’t it be a beautiful thing,” she thought, “to share a meal and come together to celebrate humanity?”