Peace-building café set for London next month
Building peace through food is to be the focus of a pop-up restaurant which will launch in London at the end of September.
Conflict Café, founded by the peacebuilding charity International Alert, will return to the capital for its third year.
Cuisines from Lebanon and Sri Lanka cuisines will be served at communal tables in the underground tunnels of House of Vans in Waterloos on the South Bank, while diners find out more about the issues facing the two countries.
The event is part of the Talking Peace Festival, organised by International Alert.
Rebecca Crozier, the charity's head of emerging programmes, said that food has the power to bring people together and encourage the act of sharing across different cultures and continents.
"In some Middle Eastern countries, it is custom for the perpetrator of a crime to cook a meal for the victim and their family as a way of fixing broken bonds," she explained. "In Europe, too, we find ways of using food to calm domestic storms, to unite communities and bring neighbourhoods together.
"We hope that Conflict Café will give diners a glimpse into the diverse cuisines and complex histories of some of the countries where we work, highlighting the positive role that food can play in peacebuilding."
International Alert was founded by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others 30 years ago in a bid to secure an end to some of the world's most bitter disputes.
The café runs from 22 September to 2 October. For ticket sales and further details of the Conflict Café, visit: http://talkingpeacefestival.org/food-2016/
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