About the Buddhafield Café
Visit the Café at Trirtana International Retreat, 1 June—5 June 2012
We have a full crew for this event, but we’re going to more festivals
Afternoon shift, Glastonbury 2010 | Image © Satyadarshin
If you’re interested in working in the Buddhafield Café, but haven’t worked with us before, please visit the Café volunteer page and make sure it’s what you’re up for. Check out the Buddhafield Café Flickr collection to get a flavour of what we get up to.
If you’re ready to join in, contact the Café .
Who We Are
Washing up under the watchful eye of “god”. The van was originally owned by a laundry company, but during re-paint job a waggish Buddhafielder left the face. His vacantly benign stare earned the van it’s ironic nickname | Image courtesy and © Nealey
The Buddhafield Café is part of the Buddhafield community, a registered charity which exists to teach meditation and Buddhist practice outdoors in beautiful places, mainly on camping retreats. We are linked to the Triratna Buddhist Community and some of the people involved are ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order.
Working in the Café we can temporarily experience the benefits of Team-based Right Livelihood, i.e. working together on an ethical project, consciously generating friendliness and harmony within the team while developing positive communication and mindfulness skills.
The Café began as a fundraising venture to cover the cost of a small group teaching meditation at Glastonbury festival back in the early nineties. It has now grown into one of the largest festival Cafés on the circuit feeding hundreds of people a day on delicious freshly cooked organic, vegan food, and providing a welcoming haven of warmth and friendliness. In 2008 we won the Silver Award for Green Traders at Glastonbury festival.
Our ethical and environmental policy are a core part of our beliefs, to look after ourselves, those around us and our environment; and to treat ourselves, each other and our world with the respect they deserve, with the understanding that they are not separate. We keep waste to a minimum by recycling and composting whatever we can. All the food we prepare is fresh organic and/or fairtrade and is bought from local growers and suppliers wherever possible, supporting local economies and small businesses and massively reducing food miles: using local organic produce supports sustainable methods of food production. We mostly use real crockery and cutlery to reduce waste and deforestation — our crockery comes from the local recycling depo. All our vehicles run on locally produced Bio-diesel (90% recycled chip fat), and power for the music and lights in the Café comes from solar panels.
Our Tent
Our tent is a large open space, 25m x 8.5m with the busy open plan kitchen completely on view behind a colourful and inviting counter. The eating area is light and airy with low level seating at beautifully painted tables on colourful rugs beneath a ceiling canopy of billowing sail-like fabric in blues oranges golds and pinks, creating a warm and cosy yet spacious feeling. We have made the tent, the tables, the seats and the canopies ourselves, as well as the adjustable-height stainless steel tables we use in the kitchen area. All canvases and hangings are fully treated to be fire retardant. The outside is decorated with prayer flags, painted banners and bunting and large colourful flags.
What We Cook
We are well-known for our full, cooked vegan breakfast, soups and the Buddhafield Coconut Curry — a lightly spiced vegetable curry served with brown rice.
However, thanks to the brilliantly creative cooks who have joined us, the menu changes daily: it depends on what we have and what we feel like cooking! So our Daily Special might be Baked Marinated Tofu with a Bulgar Wheat Pilaf, or Indonesian Stew with Satay sauce. We always have a variety of salads using rocket and other salad leaves grown by our friend Dharmamrta, and are generous with toasted seeds, olives and tasty dressings etc. Our soups are also interestingly different each day and there is usually fresh, homemade soya yoghurt to go with fruit salad and organic muesli as a breakfast alternative. See a sample menu.
We ensure there are always wheatfree options available and can give assurances on other ingredients such as yeast or nuts where relevant. We order a wide range of organic vegatables, salads, herbs and fruit, as much as possible from our local organic growers and friends, and the rest through a Welsh growers Coop, to make sure there is an exciting selection for the cooks to choose from. Wholefoods, other cooking ingredients and our wholly biodegradeable cleaning products come from a workers coop in Bristol, are GMO free and organic and fair-trade whenever possible.
Insurance, health and Safety
All food is washed and freshley prepared on site according to strict food hygiene guidelines. We observe a thorough food, health and safety policy. We are registered with our local authority — Mid Devon District Council — and have full public and employment liability insurance. All documentation is available on request.
The Take-Away Tent
We have a smaller tent which we run as a take-away café for use at smaller or one-day events. This is more versatile, quick and easy to erect and does not require the large teams we need to run the full shebang (as few as seven people per shift). The menu is simpler, with crêpes, veggie burgers and baked potatoes served all day. With this set-up, we use fully compostable plates and cups with wooden cutlery from sustainable forestry.
