Coexist Community Kitchen

🌞 Important Update from Coexist Community Kitchen 🌞

After careful consideration, we've made the decision to cancel all activities and sessions at Coexist Community Kitchen this week due to the extreme heat.

The safety and wellbeing of our staff, volunteers, partners, and the people we support must always come first, and we feel this is the most responsible course of action under the current conditions.

We will be contacting all partners and participants who are booked onto sessions as soon as possible. However, if you see this message and have any questions about an activity or session scheduled at the kitchen, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

📞 Call us on 07592 470624 and we'll be happy to help answer any questions you may have.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Please take care of yourselves, look out for one another, and stay cool out there, people! 💙

— The Coexist Community Kitchen Team

🍽️ A Supper Club Inspired by 'Blessed Hands' | 24 September

You've heard of "dinner and a show"... well this September, we're doing it the other way around: a show... and then a dinner!

The day after Kiota’s powerful new production 'Blessed Hands' arrives at The Wardrobe Theatre join us at Coexist Community Kitchen for a very special Sephardi-inspired supper club exploring the stories, flavours and themes at the heart of the show.

Through a delicious three-course feast, we'll gather to explore migration, memory, food, family, identity and belonging. The evening includes shared dining, conversation and a talk from writer and social anthropologist Dr Michal Nahman, who will bring to life some of the rich histories and traditions behind the dishes we'll enjoy together.

At the centre of Blessed Hands is Savta – a sharp, funny and unforgettable Turkish grandmother whose story is woven through food, family history and questions of what it means to belong. Inspired by her journey, we'll spend the evening reflecting on how recipes, traditions and memories travel across generations and across borders.

✨ You don't need to have seen the show to join us (or to enjoy the food!), but the supper club has been created as a companion event to Blessed Hands for those wanting to delve deeper into the cultures, stories and food traditions that inspired the production.

What's on the menu? Fragrant flatbreads and mezze, crispy aubergine schnitzel, warming chraymeh stew with rice (fish or vegan option), and delicate kataif pastries finished with rose syrup, seasonal fruit and pistachios.

📍 Coexist Community Kitchen
📅 Tuesday 23 September
🎟️ Supper club tickets available now https://coexistcommunitykitchen.as.me/blessed-hands

Please note: Tickets for Blessed Hands at The Wardrobe Theatre and tickets for the supper club are sold separately. Show tickets can be booked directly through The Wardrobe Theatre.

🎉 BIG NEWS! 🎉

Thanks to your incredible support, we've now raised over £2,000 through our Crowdfunder!

This means we can officially purchase our new e-bike and start making more sustainable food deliveries across Bristol. 🚲💚

For us, this is about much more than a bike. Our catering work helps fund community cookery classes, shared meals and outreach programmes across the city. Every delivery made by bike is one less car journey on Bristol's streets.

And we're not finished yet...

Every pound we raise from this point onwards is going towards our new Outdoor Cooking & Nature Programme. 🌿🔥🍲

Many of the people we work with face challenges such as social isolation, poor mental health, displacement, low confidence or financial hardship. We also know that access to green space is not something everyone can take for granted.

Through these sessions, people will visit farms, allotments and growing spaces, learn about where food comes from, cook outdoors, share meals together and spend time connecting with nature, food and each other.

At Coexist, we know food can be a powerful starting point for connection, wellbeing and belonging — whether that's around a kitchen table or a campfire.

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated, shared and cheered us on so far. We couldn't do this without you.

If you'd like to help us fund our first outdoor cooking sessions, you can still support the campaign here:

💚 https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/climate-action-at-coexist

Climate Action at Coexist Help us deliver food sustainably, connect communities with nature, and build greener, healthier streets across Bristol.

There’s so much more to Mexican and Central American food than just tacos and guacamole 🌽

For this Supper Club recipe kit, we’re heading into the rich culinary traditions of El Salvador - where Indigenous and Spanish influences come together to create something truly special.

Chef Kelly has chosen Pupusas (Cheese-Stuffed Corn Cakes) for this supper club kit, a true Salvadoran street food classic. Warm corn dough filled with melted cheese, finished with a squeeze of lemon, and served alongside salsa and coleslaw. Made for sharing.

Bring a little Salvadoran flavour to your next gathering 🍅
Head to https://www.coexistcommunitykitchen.org/fundraise and download your FREE Supper Club recipe kit!

🍴 Applications are now open for Food Futures Level 1!

Are you interested in food, catering or hospitality? Join our FREE 5-day foundation course and gain valuable skills, confidence and experience in a supportive environment.

✨ Gain professional skills and experience
✨ Learn about food businesses and hospitality
✨ Experience what it's like to work in the food industry
✨ Achieve a Food Hygiene Certificate
✨ Explore pathways into FoodLevel 2 & 3 training, employment and further opportunities

📍 Coexist Community Kitchen, Easton, Bristol
📆 Mon-Fri 9:15am - 3pm, 10th - 14th August 2026
💚 Free to attend

This course is open to people who are seeking asylum, have refugee status, or have experience of the asylum or refugee system in the UK, including people who now have the right to work but may still face barriers to employment or training.

No professional cooking experience is needed — just a willingness to learn and take part. Please only apply if you can attend all five days.

Priority will be given to people facing barriers to work or training and those who are not currently employed or in secure employment.

⏰ Applications close Friday 3rd July.

Apply now via the link in our bio or visit:
www.coexistcommunitykitchen.org/food-futures-level1

This course has been made possible through funding from

Community kitchens are about so much more than food.

They're about the cups of tea shared between strangers, the friendships formed around a table, the volunteers who show up week after week, and the collective care that helps people feel they belong.

We've just published our 2025–2026 Impact Report, and as part of it, Ari Cantwell, our Managing Director, reflects on the role of care in creating thriving communities and why it remains at the heart of everything we do...

"Who cares? We do.

Sometimes, when I think about making a statement like that, I feel a little cringey. Words like 'love' and 'care' can become overused when we talk about a better world..."

After a year that nearly saw us close our doors twice, this is a reflection on resilience, belonging, and the power of people coming together to support one another.

Read the full article on our blog https://www.coexistcommunitykitchen.org/blog/who-cares or download our 2025–2026 Impact Report from our website: bit.ly/4xeldKv

Long evenings, sunny weekends and good food...supper club season has truly arrived☀️

A supper club can be whatever you want it to be — a laid-back dinner with friends, a themed feast, a picnic in the park, a potluck where everyone brings a dish, or even a shared meal here at Coexist Community Kitchen.

There’s no right way to do it. Cook your favourite dishes, try out a new cuisine, add music and games, or keep things beautifully simple. At the heart of it, it’s really just about good food and good company.

And by asking guests for a small contribution, your gathering can help support programmes like our free Monthly Meals and community cooking classes!

To give you an idea:
🍲 Cooking a big feast for 10 people and asking for £30 each could raise around £300
🧁 Hosting a picnic or cake afternoon for 15 people with a £10 contribution could raise £150

Every bit makes a difference, and every shared meal helps keep community cooking alive.

If you’re thinking about hosting your own supper club, our FREE recipe kits are waiting for you on our website 💛

A little shout out to Finn from Pleco Kitchen & Bathrooms for his masterful handywork in the kitchen recently 👏

We sourced some reclaimed wood from and Finn turned it into these beautiful shelves, designed to blend seamlessly with our mural wall while giving us some much-needed plate storage.

He also helped us wrestle an enormous shelving unit into a much better position, making way for our new tea & coffee station ☕️

These might seem like small changes, but they make a huge difference to the day-to-day running of the kitchen and help us make the space more welcoming, practical and enjoyable for everyone who uses it.

Thanks Finn — absolute legend 💚

✨ BIG NEWS FROM COEXIST 📣

We’ve just launched a new Crowdfunder to help us build a greener, more connected Bristol through food ❤️

We’re raising money to:

🚲 Buy an e-bike for cleaner, greener food deliveries across Bristol
🌿 Run outdoor cooking, foraging and farm sessions for people with limited access to green spaces

Food has always been about more than eating for us. It’s about connection, wellbeing, community and care, and through this project we want to make the work we already do more sustainable too.

AND there’s one very exciting extra bit...

✨ Every donation will be MATCH FUNDED by ✨ The Aviva Foundation

Which means your support goes TWICE as far.

So whether you can donate, share the campaign or simply help spread the word, it all makes a huge difference to our small community kitchen ❤️

🔗 https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/climate-action-at-coexist

Climate Action at Coexist Help us deliver food sustainably, connect communities with nature, and build greener, healthier streets across Bristol.

When most people think of Thai food, they picture pad thai or a red curry 🌶️

Delicious? Always. But Thai food has so much more to offer.

For this Supper Club recipe kit, chef Kelly is taking us north, where the flavours are bold, punchy, herb-filled and beautifully unexpected. Think spice, tang, crunch and deep umami all layered together in dishes made for sharing around a crowded table with friends ✨

Perfect for spring, the kit includes Het Paa Naam Tok — a fiery forest mushroom salad packed with fragrant herbs, lime, chilli and rich earthy mushrooms 🍄

For the full recipe, head to https://www.coexistcommunitykitchen.org/fundraise and download your FREE Thai Supper Club recipe kit!