Sunday 26 September 2010

Free Hare Krishna Food

Website: http://www.iskcon-london.org/activities/food-for-life.html
When I first came to London I heard about Hare Krishna stalls that give out free food to university students at SOAS and LSE. Ever since then the student in my has wanted to find one and be given some free food. Yesterday I finally did it!

After a quick internet search I found the above website which details when and where the Hare Krishna volunteers distribution their food. Outside of term-time I found the best option to be van distributing food between 1pm-1.45pm in Camden. Now, as far as I understand, the purpose to the free food scheme is to give "Food For All". At SOAS and LSE this essentially means poor students, whereas at other locations in the city it usually means homeless people.

I turned up to the Hare Krishna van at around 1.30pm and found a few men and women strung out on the pavement eating from paper plates. Most of the people looked hungry and homeless but a few looked like nearby office workers who had popped over for lunch. When I queued up at the serving hatch I felt that I probably looked more like the former than the latter.The woman inside asked if I'd like a plate and I happily agreed. She reached back and scooped up rice from a huge tub behind her and then ladled on some stewed vegetables. By the time she was done she was presenting me with a huge portion of rice and potatoes etc. I grabbed myself a paper cup of a purple soft drink and then stood off near the wall to eat my feast.The food was filling and hot and I wondered what I looked like shovelling it into my mouth next to the industrial curb-side bins. It was a bit of a struggle to finish everything but I didn't want to waste any so I ploughed through it like a machine. When I was done I threw away the plate and cup and went on my way calling "Thank yooou" through the serving hatch.

Summary: A very generous enterprise...

2 comments:

MIA said...

I thought I should warn you that the link you have on this blog redirects to another domain (https://www.estavisas.org/) an apparent scam site with an untrusted SSL certificate. I wanted to let you know that your blog may have been hacked or the Hare Krishna's website may have. I'm warning you in case your blog was being exploited or if the link is just outdated. This seems to a more accurate link for your blog (http://www.iskcon-london.org/activities/food-for-life.html) If you are merely peddling link bait I may have to report you to your blogging provider if you don't verify it yourself and change it. I work as a freelance IT security consultant and would appreciate a reply (info [@] coffeeandsnow.com)

SJ said...

Thanks for the comment. I've updated the link.