Karma Kitchen Arrives in Burgos
April 12, 2016 — An evening that transformed strangers into family
On Tuesday April 12th, a group of 14 volunteers and more than 40 guests got together in Burgos to experiment with an idea and space that speaks loudly about the joy of being human.
Karma Kitchen is a glocal (global and local) experiment which aims to create a space for the practice of generosity through the simple act of preparing food for others.
In Karma Kitchen, you cannot pay for your own food. The bill at the end of your meal is always €0. Someone who came before you has paid for your meal, and now you are free to keep the chain of gifts running with your voluntary contribution — which will allow someone else to enjoy the same experience in the future.
The Inspiration: Seva Café
Each Karma Kitchen in the world has the peculiarities of the local culture and the people who are part of each group. In Ahmedabad, India, for example, Karma Kitchen has been going for more than 10 years under the name Seva Café. The owner of the place decided to donate it so it could be used to spread generosity on a daily basis! Many social leaders donated resources, time and love to start the experiment, and countless volunteers have spent hours offering meals and practicing unconditional service.
For the Spanish volunteers who visited Seva Café, it was one of the places we enjoyed the most. The sense of community and abundance there is not found in many places in the world. It is a place where nobody expects anything from you — one feels as part of the family since you walk in. It was that feeling we wanted to bring to our part of the planet.
Finding Mercedes
Among various volunteers we started to move threads to make a first attempt in Burgos, and on the way we found Mercedes, the owner of a restaurant simply called "Things to Eat." She connected with the idea and the essence from the first discussions and decided to embark on the adventure with us.
She offered us her space for this first experiment — and not only that, she and her sister Mari Carmen participated with us as volunteers, helping enormously with shopping, cooking and management. ¡Gracias Mercedes y Mari Carmen!
A Very Special Night
The whole process was great — a noble pleasure to watch the smiles of the people and realize my own. Many of the guests were volunteers' friends, but others were regular customers of the restaurant, and the surprise they received was huge. Many couldn't believe what they were seeing.
We welcomed everyone with a flower on which some of the values of the experiment were written: love, trust, compassion... All the walls were decorated with beautiful pictures, phrases, fabrics. The tables had mandalas made with vegetables and rocks. Menus lovingly explained the concept and process while in the kitchen the volunteer team continued to prepare the dishes with care.
We even created a Kindness Table for everyone to give and receive gifts with no strings attached. The whole atmosphere was vibrating with love.
"The whole process of creating the space, the previous meetings, the decoration works, and the day of the event itself, have been examples of fluency, understanding and collaboration. All volunteers involved have had a remarkable spirit. On D Day, the space was transformed into a community space not only with the guests, but also in the kitchen where we all understood each other as if we had been working together for years or even spoke the same language."
— Rina, volunteer (just arrived from 4 months volunteering in India)Our Beautiful Volunteer Family
Magic Unfolds
There were very beautiful and spontaneous reactions: a group of people offered their organic vegetables for next time, a director of a large company in Burgos said he wanted to bring their employees to volunteer, people who came alone mixed with unknown friends at the Community Table, and even a girl from Madrid has already contacted us to replicate the experiment in the capital.
Karma Kitchen is not an experiment to change anyone — it is a space to change oneself. Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." All sustainable external revolution begins in some kind of inner revolution and transformation. The night passed by in that spirit of transformation and service.
In my personal experience, it is in these environments of Happiness, Abundance and Altruism where the potential magic in all of us arises. It is as if, when finding these spaces, our hearts open to what they really are — a source of joy and generosity.
"When we give without expecting anything in return, you never know what has been generated. The consequences travel the world touching many lives we will never know about."
— Miki, in the closing circleAnother of the most important insights I've taken from this process is that there was almost no outreach and everything was perfect like that. The organic and humble progress of the experience is an essential part of the ideals Karma Kitchen holds for the world.
In this dance of giving and receiving, the goal and the process merge into one. It doesn't matter how many people get to know Karma Kitchen, it doesn't matter how many dinners we end up serving — the altruistic process of creation holds so much value itself.
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