Bristol’s first International Peace Café will open on 21st November at The Kitchen on Silver Street. The ground-breaking project will introduce the real food and flavours from our diverse communities across the city. Providing a relaxed space to talk, hear stories from people from different backgrounds, its aim is to build greater understanding between different cultures. The first pop up café will showcase the incredible flavours of Syria, Sudan, Russia and Iran among others.
Everybody is invited to come and celebrate Bristol’s rich cultural diversity by eating food – not widely available in Bristol – and listen to the stories that surround why the authentic dishes are meaningful to those making it. The lunchtime event will offer a fresh perspective and a human face to far-flung countries, some of which are in the midst of terrible conflict.
The pop up café is a partnership between “91 Ways to build a Global City” and The Kitchen – Bristol’s YMCA café. The 91 Ways project launched in Bristol in June, with the ambition of using food to bring together the 91 language communities of Bristol. The pop up Peace Café is the latest step in this campaign.
The YMCA, with its own long-standing tradition of helping to build strong communities in which young people can thrive, can see how this partnership will further strengthen Bristol’s diverse community – across age, background and race.
91 Ways Founder, Kalpna Woolf says: “As the old saying goes, ‘an enemy is simply someone whose story you haven’t heard’ and I’d add ‘or someone you haven’t shared food with’. We want The Peace Café to provide a relaxed space for people to communicate and connect with each other through delicious food. It is one way to naturally integrate communities all over the city, not to mention to celebrate the common humanity which binds us together.
While there are many community groups all over the city that gather and cook, there isn’t one place where they gather all together. It is hoped that the café will be a regular fixture on the calendar where anyone from any culture can come and eat new foods and make new friends. Events will be publicised on the 91 Ways website.
The event on 21st November will start at 12 and finish by 2pm. Suggested donations of around £5 towards the cost of the food will be appreciated. To register your interest, fill out the form on the website at www.91ways.org.