The hidden space under the Sant Antoni Market where residents find help

BarcelonaHidden beneath the neighborhood market, the Sant Antoni community kitchen is a meeting place where something different happens every day of the week. Meals are prepared for the NGO Vecino a Vecino, snacks are made for the neighborhood daycare center, cooking is taught to children from nearby schools, and neighbors meet to discuss issues of concern to them. In short, many projects are spearheaded in the neighborhood. Since September 2023, the space has been managed by the Federation of Calabria 66 Entities, a group of groups and neighbors who ensure that it is a diverse and dynamic space.

Start and end the week breaking stereotypes

Today the smell of soup fills the kitchen. Davia, a regular at the community center, is busy making harira, a typical Moroccan dish. She adds chicken, rice, tomato, onion, garlic, carrots, raso-alhanut, and a long list of other spices. While it boils, she peels and cuts potatoes, although she won't be eating any of it because it's Ramadan.

On the kitchen's central table, ingredients for pear tarts and fritter batter are arranged, all under the supervision of Pilar, a regular volunteer who's come to lend a hand. Jay celebrates in Spanish laced with an English accent that the cake mix turned out well and hops around the kitchen showing it to everyone. "I want to learn all the steps for making fritters," Daniela announces to Pilar as she cracks an egg.

On Mondays and Fridays the project is carried out in the kitchen We eat together, an initiative of the Àmbit Prevenció Foundation with the Sant Antoni community kitchen where homeless people share more than just food. "We want to create community and break stigmas. We want it to truly be an intercultural kitchen, a kitchen for everyone, open to everyone, a neighborhood hotspot. To achieve this, it's necessary for residents to understand the different realities of the neighborhood, because ignorance generates fear and rejection," says Carme Vinyeta, the kitchen's coordinator.

"When we meet, we prepare recipes, eat together, tidy up and clean, and when we're done, we make coffee and chat. It's quality time spent with someone who cares about you," says Loreto, a volunteer and regular at various kitchen projects. With a nose piercing that matches her blue hair, she explains that people on the streets are suspicious because of everything they're going through. "But when they come here, they know they can leave their jackets and nothing will happen, or they can share their cigarettes. They leave here with a backpack full of good things; we form a kind of bond, and they know they're not alone," she adds.

Eat, cook, look at each other

"The idea is to share this community space, where everyone contributes a little of their cooking knowledge, and where users can share their experiences or how they are feeling that day," says Natalia Lanzas, an intervention technician at the Ámbito Prevención Foundation's Day Care Center. Lanzas is very satisfied with how the initiative is working and asserts that eating in the community kitchen is radically different for these people compared to the soup kitchens they usually attend, since "here they cook and are part of the complete experience." A few weeks ago, they also began incorporating the purchase of ingredients at the market into the activity, where they go up and stock up on what they need to cook that day. "We believe this way we create a stronger neighborhood, that participants can meet neighbors and market stallholders, and that homeless people will eat higher-quality food."

"Cooking helps me, and not just cooking, but people like Isa and Natalia, who have a lot of empathy with us. But for me personally, cooking has been a great help in working on my patience, which I don't have much of..." Harys admits. She has been living in Barcelona for five years, the last two outdoors. She currently sleeps on Montjuïc mountain and participates in the We eat together whenever he can. The descent takes a little less than half an hour, but the return journey takes three-quarters of an hour, because he's at the top. "Anyway, I participate in many spaces, and that keeps my mind busy, learning things. I won't sit idly by; I didn't come here to be a supporter and a parasite," he says.

The situation of people living on the streets influences their participation in activities and spaces like cooking. When it rains, they may not have shelter, they may be evicted, they move frequently, their belongings may be stolen, they may not have a cell phone or alarm to arrive on time, their shower shift may be extended and they may be late... Many things can happen to them, but Lanzas assures that their commitment to the project is firm and that "it has become his."

Harys says she likes to eat, but what she enjoys most are sitting around the table and gazing into each other's eyes with her colleagues. "I like that beautiful feeling of sharing a meal, which I think we've all experienced at some point in our homes," she says.

'Open kitchen', kitchen of connections

It's Wednesday afternoon, and the kitchen is gradually filling up. The first users arrive punctually at four o'clock and sit and chat around the main table. They mention that they've finally fixed the two blenders that had broken down. "A lot of people are passing by, and they've overheated," Pilar comments. They've taken them to Better than new, a program of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area that encourages objects not to be thrown away until they have truly exhausted their useful life.

The Open kitchen It's a very successful activity and is repeated every Wednesday. Around fifteen people gather to cook, chat, share moments, and practice Catalan. "We work a lot on solitude and intergenerationality, because very young and older people come, and with that we create a unique experience," explains Vinyeta. Beyond the recipe that's featured each week, what the coordinator emphasizes is that everyone contributes their own way of being and doing, and they share moments of complicity. "Through cooking, very beautiful bonds are created, which is why we say that cooking is the excuse," she adds.

"Whether you like cooking or not, you end up chopping onions or doing whatever, and that helps a lot of older people who might not have anyone at home, and other people take advantage of the cooking time to learn Catalan. It's a kitchen for everyone," claims Pilar, a user from the very beginning. She also says that the kitchen helped her get out of the house.

"I come here because I enjoy myself. I have a great time with all the groups. There are a lot of people in the kitchen; I'm from the neighborhood, and they've supported me whenever I needed it. They're extraordinary people," says Josep Maria. He says he stops by the kitchen several days a week and offers to lend a hand wherever needed. He half-jokingly protests that he's not allowed to drink sugary sodas in the kitchen, but he's happy to have found this refuge where he can spend hours of his day and meet people.

"I like to operate in an assembly, and there's no power relationship here. We do everything together, and by participating in this space, some people will understand that it can work well this way," says Loreto. "If you don't know how to cook, just peel onions and shuffle cards, no problem!" she adds.

Ousman participates in the community kitchen on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. He does it because he makes friends and socializes. "When I come, I'm happier, the week improves. We make recipes we like with whatever we have that day, and we make them as a community, and we eat them or leave them for another day or for whoever comes later," he explains. However, on the day it's time to cook with cheese, he's not seen in the kitchen because he doesn't like it at all.

Roll up your sleeves to cook as a team

Ingredients that will be part of today's two recipes begin to be discovered. There's the Filipino soup group, where some people are julienne carrots and others are slicing celery. The onions are cut into small pieces, and the green beans are halved. "This is a job!" someone protests in the background. The group making the coconut cookies is in charge of mixing all the ingredients in a large bowl, taking care to measure all the quantities according to Pilar's instructions, since the recipe is hers. They end up with more than 50 cookies, and they spread them out on the aluminum surface to cool and harden. "When they're hot, they're soft and don't turn out as well," Pilar warns.

As everyone gets ready to cook, Carme takes advantage of the opportunity to loudly review the upcoming days' activities in the communal kitchen. Then, as if nothing had happened, she takes care of the chicken, which will go into the pot to make the soup broth. Next, the vegetables and a generous piece of ginger join the dance in the pot with the chicken and simmer for a while.

Shortly before the soup is finished, the group agrees on what they want to cook next week. There seems to be a consensus on garlic soup, which they'll use up the neighborhood's surplus bread, and a pork rind cake, using Carnival as an excuse. Ousman can breathe a sigh of relief because next week, nothing will be cooked with cheese either.

On Thursdays, a little bit of everything

Thursdays are a special day in the community kitchen because each week is different. It's a catch-all day, featuring a variety of activities with the same goal of continuing to build brotherhood. The voices on the plate, for example, is a gathering where soups from around the world are cooked and tasted. It's an event promoting interculturality and respect for the different cultures and customs of the neighborhood's residents. Peruvian, Chinese, Filipino cuisines—all kinds of cuisines are served on Thursdays, and in addition to cooking, the space becomes a place to discuss the challenges and opportunities offered by cultural diversity.

On Thursdays we also do the Snacks in Catalan, organized jointly with the Consortium for Linguistic Normalization. This activity allows anyone to spend the afternoon chatting and practicing Catalan, with everyone bringing their own snack.

And the third Thursday of every month it's time for the project Neighbor, lower the chair, an initiative in which the neighborhood's residents prepare a conversation topic that might interest other residents. And although nothing is cut, fried, or boiled on this day, the kitchen is chosen as a place for confidences, "because in the past everything happened around the stove; it's a space of complicity between women," Vinyeta explains. "It's a caring space where they feel safe, because some women who have suffered violence also come here, and this is a very peaceful space," she adds. And just because they don't cook doesn't mean they don't eat! The people of the Open kitchen They always try to leave something to snack on the next day.