Every weekday from twelve until two, the long table fills up with whoever is hungry: builders, students, grandparents, toddlers and the man who always brings his own hot sauce. There is one menu, cooked that morning from whatever we rescued. You pay what feels right on the day, or nothing at all. Nobody checks.
Lunch is on. Pay what you feel.
Today’s menuHow paying worksThe menu changes every day with whatever comes through the door. Allergen information on this template is illustrative and not reliable: a real kitchen must tell you about the fourteen major allergens in every dish, and you should always ask the cook before you eat.
Cooked this morning, from this morning’s crates.
TODAY’S MENU · A SAMPLE DAY
The menu changes every day with whatever comes through the door. Allergen information on this template is illustrative and not reliable: a real kitchen must tell you about the fourteen major allergens in every dish, and you should always ask the cook before you eat.
Wonky carrot and ginger soup
Soup
Carrots too crooked for the supermarket, roasted with ginger and blitzed silky. With toasted sourdough from yesterday’s bakery run.
Market-end tomato and chickpea stew
Main
The last box from the Saturday stall, slow-cooked with smoked paprika, chickpeas and a big handful of spinach.
Fridge-raid slaw
Side
Crunchy cabbage, carrot and apple with a lemony dressing and whatever herbs came in.
Bruised apple crumble
Pudding
Apples with a few dents and a lot of flavour, under an oaty crumble. Custard when the dairy run is kind.
Tea, coffee and squash
Drinks
Bottomless, as long as you rinse your own mug.
Whatever feels right today. Here is a rough guide for anyone who likes a number. Paying a little more covers someone else’s lunch; paying nothing is completely fine. This template takes no payments: a real kitchen would explain how its tin or card reader works.
So what should I pay?
PAY AS YOU FEEL
Whatever feels right today. Here is a rough guide for anyone who likes a number. Paying a little more covers someone else’s lunch; paying nothing is completely fine. This template takes no payments: a real kitchen would explain how its tin or card reader works.
A bowl of soup and bread
about £2
Lunch with pudding
about £4
Lunch for you and a stranger
about £8
Washing-up instead
one hour
Not today, thanks
£0
A sample week, written in pencil. If a farm rings with two hundred courgettes, everything changes, and the chalkboard by the door always has the final say.
A week at the long table
THIS WEEK, PROBABLY
A sample week, written in pencil. If a farm rings with two hundred courgettes, everything changes, and the chalkboard by the door always has the final say.
Squash and red lentil dhal
Monday
With rice, lime pickle and flatbreads from the bakery run.
Bread and butter pudding day
Tuesday
Soup at noon, then every spare crust in the building becomes pudding.
Rescued veg lasagne
Wednesday
Layers of whatever is green, a proper white sauce and a crisp, cheesy top.
Fritter Thursday
Thursday
Sweetcorn, courgette and herb fritters with a big leafy salad.
Market stew and dumplings
Friday
Everything from the market ends, with fluffy herb dumplings on top.
Community breakfast
Saturday
Beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, eggs when we have them and plenty of toast, from ten till twelve.
The practical bits, answered before you reach the door. Plenty Kitchen is fictional, so these answers show how a real community kitchen might reply.
Good questions, honest answers.
BEFORE YOU EAT
The practical bits, answered before you reach the door. Plenty Kitchen is fictional, so these answers show how a real community kitchen might reply.
No. Walk in, pull up a chair and someone will bring you a bowl. Coming with a group of more than six? Give us a shout the day before.
Do I need to sign up first?
Not on this template: the menus are illustrative. A real kitchen must tell you about the fourteen major allergens in every dish, and you should always ask the cook.
Is the allergen information reliable?
Most days, because that is what gets rescued. When meat or fish comes in, it is clearly labelled and there is always a veggie dish too.
Is everything vegetarian?
It is good food that cannot be sold: misshapen, surplus or close to its date. A real kitchen follows food hygiene law, logs temperatures and is inspected like any other.
Is rescued food safe to eat?
Please do. Bring a tub or borrow one of ours. Whatever is left after lunch goes into the community fridge.
Can I take leftovers home?
Completely. Pay-as-you-feel only works because everyone can come. Some days you give a bit more, some days you take.