Peoples’ Kitchen, the community meal at the Sumac Centre.

Work in progress. Contact Sumac to check status of any information below.

For the Cooks!

So you want to cook People’s Kitchen? Here’s what you do…..

1. Contact Sumac to find an available date.

2. Decide what you’re going to cook. Ideally plan a two course menu. You might be cooking for 30 people, subject to the nature of the event, the time of the year and any publicity that you might put out. If you need ideas for what to cook, there are recipe books in the kitchen and loads of recipes online.

The Spice Bank3. Draw up your shopping list for your menu. Your cost will be reimbursed from the donations received for the meal. Veggies aims to keep a good range of basic whole foods and vegan staples in the food hub and herbs & spices in The Spice Bank.

(Tip: The ‘Anarchist Teapot Guide to Mass Catering’ booklet is in the kitchen and has a list in it of recommended quantities to use when cooking for lots of people. The booklet is available from the bookstall at Sumac and the pdf version can be downloaded from Veggies or from archive.org)

5. Work out when you’ll need to start cooking (aiming to serve at 7.00) and let us know so we can let you into the sumac and show you around. Make sure you tell your volunteers when to arrive too.

See also Kitchen Users Guide

6. Cook!

7. Make sure all the tables are clean and put out candles, a jug of water and cups. Set up a place for people to wash their plates and bowls (subject to current protocols). These things are in the kitchen.

8. Let the servers know what the portions look like to make sure you have enough food for the numbers that you expect (based on how well you’ve spread the word). Write your menu on the blackboard on the wall outside the hatch.

9. Serve.

10. Cash up the donations. Repay yourself, Veggies or others for ingredients. Sumac requests £25 for use of the kitchen, towards electric bills, heating costs etc. The rest is for your chosen fundraising cause, or to support Sumac (thank you).

11. When you have time, send us your menu so we can share it on the website.