One World Cafe facts for kids
Quick facts for kids One World Everybody Eats |
|
|---|---|
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 2003 |
| City | Salt Lake City |
| County | United States |
| State | Utah |
One World Everybody Eats (OWEE) is a special organization that helps people get good food. It started as a community kitchen in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their main idea was "a hand up, not a hand out." This means they wanted to help people help themselves.
OWEE is like a restaurant where you can "pay what you can." Everyone is welcome, no matter how much money they have. People could also volunteer their time, like helping in the kitchen. The goal was to offer healthy, natural food to everyone. In return, they asked people to give what they thought was fair.
Contents
How One World Everybody Eats Works
The cafe served food using a unique "no-menu, no prices" system. It was based on a "pay-what-you-want" idea. This means customers decided how much to pay for their meal.
Paying for Your Meal
If customers could not afford to pay money, they had other options. They could volunteer at the cafe. This might involve washing dishes, helping with cooking, or working in the garden. For their work, they would receive meal vouchers.
Another way to pay was by donating supplies. People could bring organically grown produce from their own gardens. The cafe also kept a "wish list" of items they needed. This made it easy for people to donate specific supplies. No one was ever turned away for not being able to pay. The cafe trusted people to give what they felt was fair for their meal.
What Kind of Food Did They Serve?
The cafe focused on serving fresh, healthy food. They used organic, natural, and local ingredients whenever possible. The menu changed daily. This was because it depended on what local food was available. Sometimes, customers would even donate food from their gardens.
Daily Meal Options
Even though there was no set menu, the cafe often served "home-style" dishes. These dishes came from different parts of the world. Some common items included fresh bread, warm soup, and crisp salads. They also offered main dishes, organic coffees and teas, and desserts. Other popular items were grains, quiche, and dal with rice. The cafe tried to buy food from local farmers as much as possible.
The History of One World Everybody Eats
The first One World Cafe was started by Denise Cerreta in 2003. It was one of the very first "pay-as-you-can" cafes in the world. The idea of the cafe grew into the One World Everybody Eats Foundation. This foundation was created to help spread the cafe's social goals.
Spreading the Idea
Many people in the restaurant business thought a "no set prices" model would not work. But One World Everybody Eats proved them wrong. The original cafe kept its unique model for many years. Even though the first Salt Lake City location later closed, the foundation now helps others start similar community kitchens.
Here are some examples of how the OWEE model spread:
- In 2006, the SAME Cafe in Denver, Colorado, used the One World Cafe model.
- In 2008, One World Spokane opened, also using the OWEE model.
- In 2009, Denise Cerreta stepped down from running the cafe daily. She wanted to focus on helping other communities open their own pay-what-you-can restaurants.
- Also in 2009, A Better World Cafe opened in Highland Park, New Jersey, following the OWEE model.
- In 2010, the OWEE Foundation started hosting a yearly meeting. This meeting was for people who ran similar restaurants or wanted to start one.
- On October 19, 2011, The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation opened the JBJ Soul Kitchen. This was another community restaurant where people paid what they could afford. They could pay with money or by volunteering their time.
One World Spokane closed in November 2011. The original Salt Lake City location closed in 2012. However, the One World Everybody Eats Foundation continues to inspire and support community kitchens around the world.
