Always vegan, always fun: student-run Community Kitchen thanks to The Hague Market
Healthy communal meals that also prevent food waste. On 4 March, Hague alderman Robert Barker came to see what was cooking at the LUC Community Kitchen, a partnership between students and The Hague Market.
Hissing pans, fragrant spices and the sound of chopping: the Community Kitchen is in full swing when Robert Barker, Hague alderman for Outdoor Spaces, Animal Welfare and Environment, visits the kitchen. One student is chopping dozens of avocados, another is stirring a massive pan of lentil soup and yet another is mixing huge piles of beansprouts and cabbage. ‘We’re proud of our Community Kitchen, and it’s fully vegan and sustainable too’, says head chef and student Rosa.
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Head chef Rosa talks to alderman Robert Barker. -
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Preparations in the kitchen. -
LUC Dean Giles Scott-Smith welcomes the delegation. -
Student Isabel explains about the rooftop garden.
Partnering with the market
‘How did you come up with this idea?’ Barker asks. A few hundred students live in this Leiden University College (LUC) building at Anna van Buerenplein, Rosa explains. LUC encourages its students to develop sustainable initiatives, which is how the idea for the Community Kitchen came about. A group of students discovered that market sellers throw away masses of vegetables each week because the market isn’t daily and fresh produce does not keep for long. The market sellers found this difficult to stomach, so when the students came knocking it was the start of a great relationship, says Rosa.
Sustainable and sociable
The students now return from the market every Monday with bagfuls of free vegetables and supplement these with a few products they have purchased. On the next day, a rotating kitchen crew prepares a healthy vegan meal for three euros. Great for students who want to eat well but don’t have much money. ‘So we fight food waste and students really enjoy eating a healthy meal together’, Rosa tells the guests.
Barker praises the initiative. ‘It’s sustainable and sociable. And it’s great that you cook vegan-only food. Was that a sticking point?’ Vegan is actually an inclusive solution, Rosa explains, because it means all students can participate.
There’s another advantage too, she says, ‘We learn organisational skills and how to cook for big groups – at least 60 students are eating here this evening. That’s valuable work experience for later.’
‘As an animal fan, it’s great to see that it’s always vegan here!’
More green, community initiatives
Then it’s time for another student, Isabel, to give the alderman and three municipality advisers a guided tour. She shows them other green, community initiatives, such as their rooftop garden with its compost system and waste recycling. The Municipality of The Hague is also running some sustainable initiatives, say Barker and his team. With its school gardens and learning materials, the municipality is encouraging schools and schoolchildren to be green. It is also helping sustainable food initiatives.
LUC Dean Giles Scott-Smith and Educational Director Hanne Cuyckens are interested in these examples from The Hague. ‘It would be great to deepen our collaboration with the municipality’, says Scott-Smith. ‘And our students could help secondary schools. They want to integrate in the city.’ The alderman and advisers are keen to hear more.
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Links: Caitlin Utama (LUC Educational Policy Adviser), Robert Barker (alderman), Brenda Poot (municipal adviser). Right: Hanne Cuyckens (LUC Educational Director), Giles Scott-Smith (LUC Dean). -
On today’s menu: lentil soup and cabbage and beansprout salad with a dash of lemon and guacamole.
Meal in the canteen
After the tour, the group take a seat at one of the long tables in the canteen where dozens of students are enjoying a meal. The lentil soup, guacamole and beansprout and cabbage salad with a dash of lemon prove popular with the guests from the municipality. Barker, an alderman for the Partij voor de Dieren (an animal welfare party), says, ‘It’s currently National Meat- and Dairy-Free Week. As an animal fan, it’s great to see that it’s always vegan here!’