Each Sunday, the Karma Kitchen, DC’s own gift economy cafe, takes over the Polo India Club and Robert and I are at the community table. Unlike a regular restaurant, you can choose to sit with friends or with strangers who have also come to join this experiment in dining and generosity.
What’s perhaps more unique than the community table at the Karma Kitchen is the cost: My meal–as much lentil daal, aloo gobi, and rice pudding as I want–costs zero dollars.
“Karma Kitchen is based on a universal idea,” says Aparna Kothary, one of the founders of the project in DC. “But we’re putting it in a restaurant setting.”
“Your meal is a gift,” she continues. “We don’t ask that you pay it forward monetarily. The Karma Kitchen is a catalyst and we’re looking for people to innovate in the way they pay it forward.”
Krishna Desar, who also helped start Karma Kitchen, describes it this way: “Every patron pays for someone else’s meal. Sometimes, in addition to paying for others’ meals, people will leave behind small gifts that they want to share with a community of people. We then tag other patrons with such gifts and spread more smiles.”
And it works: “We’ve been self-sustaining since we opened,” in February 2009, Aparna says. “It’s a testament to the generosity of the guests.”
The success of Karma Kitchen is also testament to Arbinda Rajbhandari, owner of the Polo India Club, who has been supportive of the experiment since the beginning.
The magic continues: “In the beginning, we did wonder about the operational aspects of a volunteer-driven restaurant,” says Krishna. Rajbhandari continues to open his doors to guests and his kitchen to volunteers each Sunday and according to Krishna, since the beginning, it has been amazing to see how smoothly everything runs.
Credit for Karma Kitchen’s operations also goes to the group of volunteers who serve the food, fill my water glass, greet the guests and wash their dishes. According to Aparna, there’s a full volunteer roster every week and often a waiting list as well. “Volunteering is part of the full experience,” says Robert.
“It’s a new kind of exchange,” he continues. “Receiving what’s given instead of demanding what you want.”
For more information on Karma Kitchen, check out their website.
Liz Whitehurst also blogs at About Homelessness.
