Vancouver Munch

During the early days of the Internet a Usenet Newsgroup called alt.sex.bondage was created as a forum for people to discuss BDSM via electronic postings. Sometime thereafter a group of alt.sex.bondage participants from the Bay Area of San Francisco decided to get together in person for hamburgers so they could meet face to face. Thus was born the first "burgermunch." The idea quickly spread and similar events began popping up all over the country. Never before had such large groups (small by today's standards!) of kinky people been able to get together like this. Kink communities began to form around local burgermunches and the scene became much more organized and tremendously more accessible. As the scene has grown over the years, the munch (as it has since come to be called) has remained an integral part of many communities. Munches are still one of the best ways for people to find out about and become participating members of the BDSM community.

A munch is simply a gathering of like-minded people who share an interest in BDSM. The atmosphere is intended to be open and friendly in order to encourage kinship and welcome newcomers. Attendance will vary, anywhere from just a handful of people to a packed house.

Munches are generally held in public places, like restaurants or pubs, where food and drink are readily available. Some people who attend will eat lunch or dinner there, while others will just have something to drink or nothing at all. It generally does not cost anything to attend a munch, apart from the price of whatever food or drink you may order.

Conversations at a munch are likely to be concerned with various aspects of BDSM, but could easily range into other, more vanilla topics. People in the scene live in the real world, too, and will have interests which lie outside the scene. Feel free to start up a conversation; you never know who will join in.

Since munches are generally held at public locations, the decent and respectable behavior standardly associated with such venues is expected. Conversation volume should be kept down so as not to bother other patrons, and especially so as not to non-consensually expose vanilla patrons to potentially kinky subject matter.

A munch is a social gathering and is not intended to be a play party. No actual kinky activities take place at a public munch, so no one should ever feel pressured. As always, "no" means "no". Simply identifying as a submissive does not make you the property of every Dominant, nor does identifying as a Dominant give you the right to tell all submissives what to do. BDSM is a consensual activity, after all.