Hare Krishna Kai Goes Down a Treat

BY: TALIA SHADWELL

Karla Klink, from Womans Refuge, serves a meal to Aaron Bartlett
at the Hare Krishna charity restaurant, Food For Life, on the opening day
[Photo: John Stone/Northern Advocate]


Dec 15, NEW ZEALAND (NORTHERN ADVOCATE) —

They say any free meal is a good meal, but one homeless man who enjoyed four helpings of "krishnatarian" kai at Whangarei's newest food kitchen yesterday reckoned he'd had a freebie better than most.

Diners who descended upon the Hare Krishna Food For Life kitchen on Water St. for its opening day on Tuesday enjoyed a "prasadam" meal of curried rice, vegetarian kofta and potato salad, served with mango lassi, and finished off with a helping of sweet semolina pudding replete with cream and strawberries - all on the house.

Aaron Bartlett of Otangarei said he usually spent his days diving for kina and paua to feed his young children, but poor weather had brought him into the city where he had snapped up the healthy fare.

"When I'm not out at the coast, I'll be here," he said, contemplating his vegetarian lunch. "What you are is what you eat, that's what I heard."

With roots in the early 1970s, Food For Life Global is the world's largest vegetarian food relief network. Hare Krishna devotees provided plant-based meals to about 1.5 million disadvantaged people every day throughout 60 countries.

Whangarei's first Food for Life is set to open daily, supplying meals to people in need, while also providing deliveries to the city's Women's Refuges. While half of the food provided for the kitchen's opening day was donated by Pak 'n Save and fresh produce given by regional growers, the rest was paid for by Hare Krishna devotees.

Whangarei Mayor Morris Cutforth called the lunch "wonderful". He praised the generosity of the community in making the opening day a success.

Organiser Buddhi Wilcox, a classical pianist in a past life, had recently moved from Kerikeri and had high hopes that the kitchen would become a permanent fixture in Whangarei. "The support that the community has given has been phenomenal".

He had tried to initiate a similar setup in Auckland about 20 years ago which fell flat when his successors began to charge for the food, which he strongly believed should remain free.

More recently, Food For Life had a role in the Christchurch earthquake aftermath, with Hare Krishna volunteers dishing out 500 plates a day amid the turmoil period. The community planned to continue a relationship with Civil Defence planners as providers of food relief…

A devotee since the early 80s, Mr Wilcox claimed his desire to help was not propelled purely by a charitable spirit. "Basically my motivation for doing this is pretty selfish, feeding people makes me happy ... it's not even the compassion. I just want to be happy."

Read the complete article here.


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