Conflict Café: Peace promoting pop-up restaurant returns to London
Run by peace-building charity International Alert, the restaurant features food from countries currently affected by conflict and aims to show how food can unite, inform and provoke discussions with the intention of bringing about peace.
Conflict Café will open at House of VANS at Waterloo in partnership with Grub Club and Cult Events from 9 September to 3 October with a different region covered each week.
Chef Haitham Yassin of Ayam Zaman in White City will kick off the series with Conflict Café: Syria before Honey & Co's Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich create a special brunch.
They said: “For us, food is beyond conflict. Our cooking is a labour of nothing but love and an extension of our home. Food has that priceless power to bring people together around a table for a shared moment in a hectic world."
Other regions covered include Nepal where Rajiv Kc, who runs a Nepali supper club Rajiv’s Kitchen will give diners the chance to find out more about the challenges facing the country following the recent earthquakes and end of the civil war and Colombia where Esnayder Cuartas will introduce visitors to Colombian cuisine.
Turkish chef Önder Ṣahan, chief executive of Tas Restaurant Group, will then join forces with Armenian cook Natalie Griffith, who runs Natalie’s Armenian Kitchen in the final week to devise a unique menu which celebrates the similar culinary traditions of these divided countries.
Ilaria Bianchi of International Alert, said: “The restaurant provides an interesting and unique platform for breaking down barriers and getting people talking about peace and conflict issues around the world.”
