Pay as You Feel for Deliciousness

I am sitting in the pay-as-you-feel Lentil as Anything restaurant in the Abbortsford Convent in Melbourne. This means that you eat delicious food and then literally pay what you feel the meal is worth or what you have in your pocket at the time. It’s a Saturday afternoon and I have brought myself here to be in the buzz, drink some chai, eat some food and write some blog. It’s a beautiful chilly Melbourne day but we’re all snug and warm in here. The chatter of well-fed people fill my ears, along with the clinking of cutlery and crockery while the business of being a restaurant takes place around us. Musicians take turns at enchanting us with their piano expertise and closing my eyes I could be at any bustling, ‘normal’ restaurant. 

People are lining up along the metal bayonets overflowing with abundant vegetarian food, each person dishing up for themselves. Restaurant volunteers are as busy as anyone in the restaurant industry, and yet they’re not being paid for this – they’re giving up their Saturday afternoon to serve us. I asked one of the waitresses why she volunteers here. She’s a traveller and her only form of income, besides the food she eats here, is busking on Melbourne’s streets. She says she works here nearly every day and enjoys being part of a community with the values which this restaurant celebrates.

Once you have had your fill of delicious food and perhaps ordered a delicious hot drink, you go to the wooden treasure chest up against the wall and slip in however much money you feel you can pay. I love this concept; I love the giving-ness of it. Some would be sceptical of this kind of model working in the long term, but this place is packed every single day, there are four branches in Melbourne and a brand new one recently opened up in Sydney - the next on my list to visit!

Lentil as Anything runs on a model of trust, generosity, kindness and inclusion…without drawing attention to someone’s ability to pay. Lentil started so that people with no money can learn, work, eat, socialise and have fun in our restaurant without compromising their integrity or dignity…At Lentil, we believe in the power of humanity to create stupendous change and that everyone deserves a place at the table. Our food is not free, but you are…                                          Lentils as Anything - Menu

Imagine if there was more space for these kinds of spaces in the world? Imagine if everyone could come and find a place to be safe and cosy and call home, even if just for a little while.

 www.lentilasanything.com

Postscript: After finishing the first draft of this blog post, a guy came and sat opposite me. I felt a strange vibe from him and asked the girls sitting next to me if they would watch my computer while I went to the bathroom. I came back and this guy started to engage me in conversation. It was difficult to understand him, his accent was thick and I also felt as one feels when they’re with someone who is not quite…normal. He started speaking about aliens and anti-viruses and how he doesn't use a home phone. I cut him off, “I'm just busy working here…” I smiled at him in that sickly sweet way you do when you're trying to be nice but not nice at the same time - a part of me thought I should listen to him, who knows what he might have to say. The other obstinate part of me wanted to write my blog in peace, about the inclusion of everyone at this restaurant. He was unimpressed by my desire to ‘work’ and told me so, and I got the feeling that he was telling me that here he was trying to give me something by way of his conversation and I was rebuffing him. Soon he left, I smiled up at him, trying to redeem myself and he smiled sadly before he turned to walk away. I was filled with guilt. Here I was celebrating how this restaurant is so inclusive, and yet not even for ten minutes could I include this man in my life. Another lesson to learn perhaps, hopefully I’ll remember it the next time I am faced with a chatty stranger whom I feel has nothing to say.