The Social Kitchen

January 21, 2016

By Yuri Kamakura and Akane Kaneta

 

The Social Kitchen is a cafe opens that changes shopkeepers every day. They think that they want to tell about lifestyle through food and use their skills in preparing it. At the heart of the Social Kitchen is the wishto be a place where people gather and engage in conversations with convivial atmosphere. The Social Kitchen cafe provides healthy and tasty food with reasonable prices while following practices that will improve the conditions related to food and farming, such as organic farming, development and preservation of the local economy, at both local and global levels. The cafe can be used for many different events.

Social Kitchen cafe

The basic philosophy of this cafe is to…

… use ingredients that are not harmful to the environment or our bodies

… use ingredients produced in Kyoto and its surrounding areas as much as possible

… value our relationship with local, small farmers and retailers and…

… try to reduce the amount of waste as much as possible.

We visited Social Kitchen Cafe on Tuesday morning. Rather than a common cafe,  it seemed to be more like a kitchen in a home. It was very friendly.

We ordered the  “croquette plate.” It  included soup, salad and rice. Surprisingly, each dish used beans. It is very healthy and filling. We were very satisfied with the dish.

The 2nd floor

Because of its nature as a social and cultural center, “Kominkan” in Japanese, the Social Kitchen is not intended to be the place where just a few people conceive and organize everything. It is an open organization or place where those who have ideas or projects  organize things by and for themselves with the help of others. The Social Kitchen has this to say about their place: “The Social Kitchen can only work if people with diverse backgrounds gather, create ideas, experiment, and contribute to  each others’ projects. This makes everyone’s actions more complex, convivial, social and beautiful. Please email us if you have any ideas for this space that can be used for lectures, workshops, debates, study groups, bazaars, exhibitions, meetings and parties.”

The 3rd floor

The Social Kitchen office is on the 3rd floor and houses offices for one designer, two programmers, and one group called OUR,. OUR is a group in a vague sense and rejects any specific definition. It does not have fixed members. Nor does it have one leader or center. OUR organizes exhibitions, parties, critiques, picnics, and lectures based on the interests of its members.

Address： 602-0898 Sokokuji Kitamonzen-cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 699 Phone：075-201-1430 Email: [email protected]hanareproject.net