Cult of Generosity

Monday, June 30, 2026

Over the weekend, someone sent me a screenshot of a Reddit thread on the Dubuque subreddit. The title caught my attention immediately: "Convivium cult?" The post itself asked, "Anyone else get sort of a commune culty vibe here? Great coffee though."

People, people, people...

I've come to see these kinds of social media comments as opportunities—not to argue, but to explain.

So here goes: We are not a cult.

We're an organization built around the values of connection and generosity, and we use food to model those ideals. I realize that's a pretty unconventional approach in today's world. But a cult? Come on.

One of the Reddit commenters said it better than I ever could: "Not associated with them, but it's cool that our culture's become atomized to a point that someone looks at a healthy community with shared beliefs and 'cult' is the first term on their lips."

That observation stuck with me because it points to something much bigger than Convivium.

We've never fit neatly into a category. We're a restaurant—but not just a restaurant. We're an urban farm—but instead of one large farm, we grow food in a network of donated backyards throughout our neighborhood. We feed people facing food insecurity—but without applications, qualifications, or strings attached. We teach cooking classes, host celebrations, create gathering spaces, and invite people to linger around a table.

None of those things are especially radical on their own. But taken together, they challenge some of the assumptions our culture has quietly accepted—that success is measured by accumulation, that transactions matter more than relationships, and that scarcity should guide our decisions instead of abundance.

I've come to realize that many of the ways Convivium doesn't follow conventional business wisdom are really small, quiet acts of anarchy in a world obsessed with accumulation and consumption. Choosing generosity over accumulation. Connection over convenience. Community over individualism.

So, yeah, that might seem cult-like to some, but I'd argue that is a Cult of Generosity. Come join us. We've got the Kool-Aid ready for you.

Yours convivially,