Lentil as Anything was a volunteer-run restaurant chain in Australia at which you could get delicious vegan food available for free without obligation to pay.
I was personally involved with this revolutionary community food sharing initiative since nearly 8 years ago. Here's an old photo of me volunteering there :)
I remember the first time i visited one of the restaurants. It was 2013, and i was 23 years old. After four years traveling in Europe, I was making a short break to visit Australia on my way back home to New Zealand. I hitchhiked to Melbourne from Sydney and spent three nights in the city before returning hitchhiking to Sydney again. During this short trip i accompanied my host, a friend from Germany i had met during my travels in Europe, to their famous Abbotsford Convent location.
The Abbotsford Convent lies by a bend in the Yarra River a short train or tram ride from the Melbourne CBD. It features a huge and ancient nunnery with extensive buildings and gardens, including a children's farm. The Lentil As Anything restaurant was situated in same location that used to be the main mess hall for the nuns during the Convent's previous use. Upon entry you could serve yourself buffet style a variety of tasty and healthy food. On weekend nights the cue for service would extend far out of the building. Often restaurant patrons would sit in the sunshine on the verdant grassy fields outside, which look like this:
On my first visit, i watched my friend arrive for their volunteer shift, parking her bike on the terrace around the restaurant without a lock. There was such an atmosphere of trust and safety that she wasn't worried at all about her bike being stolen. At that time even cafe drinks like a flat white or a chai latte were available for free on demand. Some years later this practice was ended, the food remaining free but the cafe requiring 2 dollars for a coffee.
A few months later i was living in Melbourne, sleeping in various free, open houses in the inner city. I started visiting and volunteering at the restaurant regularly.
My main goal at the time was to work on my music dreams. I would carry all my music production gear in a backpack and cycle from the place i stayed (usually along the forested river trails that connect the inner suburbs of Melbourne) to the restaurant, where i would plug my computer into the PA system and perform my original for the guests present.
As well as tasty vegan food, the restaurant offered a free and open space for many people from different walks of life to come together and explore their creativity. It was a rare night that the evening did not feature live musicians or an open mic night or poetry jam.
The place was a focal point for my life, a space where i met my friends, ate, relaxed, played my music, and generally got along with my life.
Some years later after traveling in Asia and Europe i returned to Melbourne with a different goal. Now my main focus was to gain as many useful skills as possible. I made my first ambition a simple challenge: to volunteer for a full shift at the restaurant every single day for three weeks. I chose to work in the kitchen. I slept on the floor of my friend's room and commuted each day by bicycle.
I am a big proponent of the theory that it is possible to learn new skills more quickly and thoroughly while volunteering for organizations. I believe this because there is not the same pressure to do things quickly that often arises in a working situation in which somebody is paying you. The volunteer is permitted to go at their own pace. Furthermore, in standard workplaces a person relates their professional role to their livelihood and territorial behavior is common. Consequentially, it is harder to try out all of the different jobs that there are to do, especially those ones which are higher up the professional ladder. In the open, free and friendly Lentils ambience capable new volunteers are encouraged to take on jobs that carry greater responsibility that would otherwise be kept for more experienced staff. I work best in environments like these which value the free will of the individual.
During this three week volunteer challenge I made many friends, one of whom was working for a catering company. They mentioned that there was an opening for new workers and i applied and got a job based on the skills that i had learned during my time volunteering.
Some weeks after I was there and i met another volunteer while chopping rosemary for the roast potatoes. She was a young graduate from one of China's top universities who was taking a gap year in Australia to follow her dreams of being a professional dancer. We fell in love rapidly and shared a lot until sadly we split up due to cultural differences. I was left pretty heartbroken by this and my self-motivation was very low. I didn't want to do anything or see anyone and it wasn't healthy, so i made a new challenge to volunteer for three weeks again, this time helping the wait staff.
The deep and powerful pleasure of being useful and providing a valued service for others during this second challenge re-awakened me from my sorry state. I could feel in my work role that i was not just delivering a meal or chopping a vegetable but that i was instead dancing.
I will now try to explain the history and operation of the business in greater detail, as well as begin to explain how and why it has been forced to close.
Lentil was started by Shanaka Fernando, an asylum seeker from Sri Lanka, in 2000, and expanded to many locations in Melbourne, Australia, and one in Sydney. Most of the Staff working at the restaurant are volunteers. The operational costs of the business are entirely funded by voluntary donations.
International travelers volunteer kitchen, restaurant and cafe service work in exchange for a free meal and a home away from home. International exchange students volunteer for a chance to practice english and get to know some local people.
These two categories of people make up many of the volunteers. Lentil As Anything also provides a very valuable service to the greater Australian society by offering pathways to employment for unemployed Australian citizens who are often otherwise dependent on social security payments.
Lentil As Anything is being forced to close due to issues related to the COVID19 pandemic.
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On February 23 Lentil As Anything founder Shanaka Fernando released this message:
"I’m sad to say that lentil as anything will close on the 27 th of this month. Circumstances we face have made it impossible for us to go on. Thank you for giving us the privilege to serve you."
The motto of the company is "Food Without Borders". When Australia closed its external and internal borders from the beginning of March 2020 until December 2021 an incredibly difficult period was endured by the Lentils community. As noted, a major percentage of the volunteers that were necessary for the business to function were international travelers or students. Furthermore, Melbourne suffered particularly harsh and lengthy lockdown rules, which meant that people could not come and patronize the restaurants, nor donate as they normally would.
Many efforts were made to keep the restaurants alive, including takeout deliveries and food vans offering ready made meals. However, under the conditions adaptation to the new norm was impossible and the difficult decision to end 21 years of service was made.
In my opinion, the most important issues we face as a species are the issues of food and sustainability. The concept of sharing meals as a community is an embodiment of the most important issues we face as a species.
Hearing news that Lentil is closing saddens me alot. At this place i made friends, filled my belly, explored creatively, did useful networking, learned a wide variety of practical skills, and fell in love. It triggers in me this fear - that our addiction to control as a society has led to the strangling of what i view as one of the most important collective creations of our species: our open, free communities.
I am sorry for the 25 people who were paid by the Lentils organization who will lose their job, many of whom were refugees or asylum seekers.
I am sorry for all the people who were dependent on the Lentils restaurants for food due to economic or personality reasons.
I am sorry for the people who will have nowhere to go and feel like home now that this is gone.
I am sorry for the dream and the ideal of freedom and respect.
My thoughts go out to all of the people affected by this tragedy.
I know that the memory and the spirit of this place will live on through the many many people whose lives have been touched its magic.
I hope that the story that i have told in this blog post can help us to recognize the true value of these special communities around the world, which value equality, free will, and serving something greater than ourselves, many of whom are struggling with the current conditions, in order to learn from our mistakes and support these places better during this difficult time.
