A pop-up community restaurant is set to run again next month following six successful sessions over the last 15 months.
Canteen, Frome Food Networks’ pay-what-you-can community restaurant, will see Frome’s best chefs dishing up more affordable and wholesome food at Trinity Hall on 6th February.
The event will mark an end to the Green & Healthy Frome (GHF) project – a partnership between Frome Town Council, Edventure, and Frome Medical Practice – that helped make projects such as Canteen possible. GHF is drawing to a close in March.
Canteen Co-organiser Hugh Thomas, said, “Having now served 898 meals over six pop-ups and across two locations, the idea has quite dramatically started to prove itself and that, with some tweaks, it could function to some degree without the funding that’s supported it thus far.”
To participate, diners can buy a Canteen token at the till (or ask for ‘a token for Jo’ to receive one for free), exchange the token for a meal, then find a space at the table to eat together.
Diners of all ages are welcome and there will be a designated children’s table for kids who want to eat with one another. Food will be served from 5pm to 7.30pm or until it runs out. No reservations are needed.
Canteen’s dishes are based around seasonal fruit and vegetables with meat sourced from local, regenerative and ethical suppliers. On the night there will be a choice of dishes (vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free options available) and pudding served up by some of Frome’s best chefs. Previous dishes have included pork, leek and cider pie; Somerset beef stew; and apple crumble and custard.
The model has been designed to make it affordable for all with the cost of a meal dependent on how much the diner would like to pay. Diners can pay over or under the actual cost of the meal or you can eat for free. On the day there will be an indication of how much a single meal costs to make and as Canteen is not-for-profit, it only seeks to cover that cost.
Information about Frome Food Network, Canteen, and further pop-ups can be found at https://www.fromefoodnetwork.co.uk/canteen and on Facebook and Instagram.
Pictured: The canteen at Trinity Hall. Picture by Peter Halpin
