We’ve found quite a few people interested in the story of our communal table. Where’s it from? Who made it?
Gord, who has been one of the stalwart people behind getting the deli up and running, put together a bit of information on the table for us.
Apart from the food, one of the most unique aspects of the Urban Deli, if not the most unique, is our communal table, a concept that finds its roots in Europe – food and community, natural companions.
There is a local history behind our communal Table. The wood itself is pitch pine from the United States and is reported to be between 400 and 500 years old.
It was originally a single support beam in the Saint John Lantic Sugar Cane factory, which was built in 1912 and decommissioned in 2000.
The table is made of approximately 400 square board feet of lumber. The tabletop is fourteen feet of continuous lumber, made of two-inch thick, six-inch wide single strips, which have been laminated together to create the 36-inch width. The base is made in two sections with the total weight being well over 400 lbs.
The beam was purchased from and milled by Hunter Lake Lumber of New Brunswick.
What you see today in the Urban Deli is a table commissioned and created by local carpentry artisan (via Germany) Christoph Malinowski of CM Woodcrafters Inc.
The end result is a beautiful, lovingly made communal table, an idea that allows patrons to sit down and enjoy our Urban Deli food while also enjoying the friendly Saint John community as they meet both new and old friends.
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The history behind the making of the wonderful communal table is breath taking. The years in which the trees grew, the stories they could tell. The careful handling and preparation of the strong beam, that stood in the sugar cane factory and heard stories of the workers each day. Now, the beauty of the trees, sits and lisens to the happy stories while people enjoy their food, this is the rightful place for them to lay, a beautiful, lovingly made, communal table.
What a great story! I can’t wait to try the communal table.