We thought we’d make the most of the August quiet season by doing a bonus spotlight blog: on Kingswood Arts Community Kitchen- which is also the latest addition to our online food map.

Kingswood Arts took over Kingswood House in West Dulwich in 2023, with a mission to transform it into a community arts space offering free and affordable activities. Since then, many community projects have sprung up, including a café, a garden, and a weekly community kitchen. The community kitchen provides a hot and healthy meal for free, and is open for anyone to attend. It takes place every Tuesday from 6:30-8pm, and there is also a takeaway service at 7:30pm (it’s advised you bring a Tupperware for this!)

Whilst during the summer the café closes, the community garden and kitchen sessions continue to run. So, we went on a Tuesday evening in late August to see the kitchen in action (and sample the meal of course!)

We arrive and are welcomed by Phoebe, who helps to run the community meal. There is a big group already sitting at one of the tables, chatting away. Phoebe tells us that they all met and formed friendships through the community meal. Soon more groups join the other tables, mostly families and friends who live on Kingswood estate or nearby.

At about 7pm the food comes out, a delicious and fresh pasta dish of courgette and ricotta in a lemon mint sauce, accompanied by tomatoes picked fresh from the community garden!

The meal is cooked by a volunteer chef each week, who has the freedom to cook what they would like. They are given a budget to buy their ingredients and lead other volunteers to cook the meal.

After the meal, Patrycja- the new Food Strategy Coordinator for Kingswood Arts- shows us around the community garden. Once a disused space, it’s been converted into a thriving garden packed with ripe veg- courgettes, tomatoes, cucumbers, borlotti beans- to name a few!

Patrycja tells us that voluntary support is essential to keep these brilliant community projects running. The kitchen relies on people to support the head chef in preparing and serving the food. The community garden also welcomes volunteers at their sessions on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, to help with planting and propagating.

If you have a spare few hours in your week and would like to do some volunteering, Kingswood Arts might be a great option for you! It’s a welcoming and friendly place and could be a chance to build new culinary/gardening skills, as well as connecting with your community.

You can sign up to volunteer at the community kitchen here.

The gardening opens up to volunteers on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, email info@kingswoodarts.com to find out more.

Thanks so much to the Kingswood Arts Community Kitchen team Patrycja and Phoebe for having us and showing us around, and to the volunteers for the delicious meal!