A community cafe in Swansea has been praised for offering free three-course meals every week to anyone who needs them. Phoenix Cafe at The Phoenix Centre in Townhill offers a "safe, welcoming space to share food and conversation" and is now serving up free meals every Monday evening.
The cafe, run in partnership with FoodCycle Swansea, aims to help strengthen the local community and "enhance the health and mental wellbeing of people from all backgrounds and walks of life," while ensuring no-one goes without a hot, nutritious meal.
The 'free dinner on Mondays' scheme started earlier this month and saw 25 happy guests at its launch night on May 9. Kind-hearted volunteers cooked up a storm with a spiced cauliflower soup, vegetable chilli and rice, and a lemon drizzle cake. For more Swansea stories, sign up to our newsletter.
Other meals cooked for diners at the cafe have included a frittata served with guacamole, tomato and cheese pasta, and a plum and banana cake served with custard - all of which would have gone to waste if not served to local people. The free community meals are open to all, and diners range from people on a low-income, those affected by homelessness and those who simply cannot afford to buy food.
FoodCycle Swansea is part of UK-wide organisation FoodCycle which runs community projects across the UK and aims to bring people together in need of a hot meal and friendship. As well as the scheme on Mondays at the Phoenix Cafe, FoodCycle also offers free meals in Newport every Tuesday from 6.30pm. To find out more about FoodCycle Newport, visit the FoodCycle website here.
South west regional manager at FoodCycle, Alex Hatherly said: "We are thrilled to be opening our second project in Wales and introducing FoodCycle to the Swansea community. As the rising cost-of-living hits people across the country, our service is more vital than ever and we look forward to providing a welcoming space and a nutritious, three-course meal to anyone in the community who needs it, no questions asked."
A statement on the FoodCycle website added: "We connect communities, reducing loneliness and food poverty – working with thousands of volunteers and surplus food to help everyone who needs us. By creating welcoming spaces for people from all walks of life to meet, eat and have conversations, and by offering a weekly telephone check-in and chat, we are supporting people's health and mental wellbeing.
"By cooking with surplus ingredients, we promote healthy, sustainable attitudes towards food and its impact on the environment, and help people to learn more about healthy food. We aim to inspire greater change by sharing the impact of our community dining spaces and the voices of our guests to encourage more people to join and support FoodCycle, so we can help more people and more communities."
So far this year, the Welsh branch of FoodCycle, aptly named FoodCycle Wales, has seen 1,007kg of surplus food saved from going into landfill - and more than 400 people fed in cafes and diners, with a further 200+ having been offered take-away meals.
If you'd like a free meal, no questions asked, go along to Phoenix Cafe at The Phoenix Centre, Powys Avenue, Townhill, Swansea. Meals are available on Mondays, from 6.30pm. Alternatively, if you'd like to volunteer with the charity, volunteers and drivers are needed in the Caerleon and Cardiff areas and cooks and hosts are needed in the Swansea and Newport teams. To apply, or for more information, visit the Newport and Swansea pages of the Food Cycle website.
