{"id":117376,"date":"2013-12-24T13:35:59","date_gmt":"2013-12-24T08:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=117376"},"modified":"2013-12-31T08:07:07","modified_gmt":"2013-12-31T02:37:07","slug":"shanakas-utopia-in-melbourne-lentil-as-anything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/shanakas-utopia-in-melbourne-lentil-as-anything\/","title":{"rendered":"Shanaka\u2019s Utopia In Melbourne: \u2018Lentil As Anything\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laksiri Fernando<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. Laksiri Fernando<\/p><\/div>\n

It is a crazy idea but it works. Shanaka Fernando is a Sri Lankan origin migrant living in Melbourne, Australia. Although he is my \u2018namesake,\u2019 we are not relatives. I didn\u2019t know him personality until the last meeting and only acquaintance was through information. He perhaps didn\u2019t know about me, but I knew about him because of his \u2018Lentil as Anything.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Lentil as Anything\u2019 is a multicultural and refugee friendly \u2018not for profit\u2019 restaurant network with three outlets in Melbourne metropolitan area, at St Kilda, Footscray and Abbotsford. \u2018Pay as you feel\u2019 is the principle. There is a big wooden box like a till for people to contribute. I had the pleasing opportunity to visit his outlet in Abbotsford, thanks to my friend, Saman Halgamuge (Professor of Engineering at the University of Melbourne). He took me there for lunch when I visited Melbourne recently. I ate the stuff and it was good, rather excellent. We met Shanaka briefly and he was there at Abbotsford.<\/p>\n

I asked Shanaka why it is \u2018not for profit\u2019 and he said \u201cI believe in people\u2019s honesty and generosity. I trust them. \u201d Then I quipped, \u201cIs that the case in Sri Lanka?\u201d Then he replied, \u201cThat\u2019s in politics, but not in ordinary life.\u201d Although I was not sure about the second remark, or he didn\u2019t either, we kept talking. He had to leave soon as he had to fetch his daughter from school and he is apparently a good family man also.<\/p>\n

From all counts, the place appeared Pop, very much similar to some restaurants in Balmain area in Sydney, Inner-West, I am familiar with. I remember a restaurant called \u2018death by chocolate,\u2019 some time back, where you can go and pay a sum, I think it was $ 15 that time, and eat or drink as much as chocolates, of different exquisite varieties, as you can. That was like our old Hospital Street Jaffna Hotels in Fort, where we used to go and pay just Rs 1.20 and eat as much as you can.<\/p>\n

\"LF\"<\/a>Shanaka\u2019s joint also reminded me the Jaffna Hotels in another respect. It was completely vegetarian, the animal rights and health matters are all respected. It also reminded me our Parippu<\/i>, the old delicacy of our childhood. But at \u2018Lentils,\u2019 there were all kinds of lentils and many other vegetarian food items. One can also say, it is like a \u2018parippu dansala<\/i>\u2019 but with a difference. Shanaka also brought the concept of \u2018dansala<\/i>\u2019 to the discussion. But obviously complete free meals cannot be served every day and it is not at all necessary in Australia. People are asked to make a reasonable donation. Some apparently give more, some less of the cost. The three restaurants cater to over 3,000 customers per day, Shanaka told us. When we were there at Abbotsford, there were around 100 people eating.<\/p>\n

It was a pleasing atmosphere quite serene with the former Abbotsford Convent in the background and being part of the old building. It was a multicultural place in its true sense. There was light music playing, changing from one cultural tradition to the other. \u2018OneMan\u2019 Celtic band playing on some days. This is what I heard from others. When we entered, there was a corridor with dim lights and no reception. Walls were decorated with paintings and artefacts of different cultures. Then we turned left to the main serving area with buffet arrangements. Perhaps it was the nun\u2019s old dining room before. There were about fifteen people before us in the queue. We served ourselves our meals from a number of delicious dishes as we liked and several attendants were filling the utensils in a quick succession. We could see the kitchen area behind, several cooks with their white aprons and hoods, like in any other restaurant, attending to their chorus. There was a seating area in the main hall with woodwork tables and benches, but Saman preferred to go outside and sit. There were tables and chairs with umbrellas covering the sun in the advancing summer.<\/p>\n

\"LF2\"<\/a>There were waiters or rather waitresses only collecting dishes and used cutlery and cleaning the tables. They also bring water for you if you ask or didn\u2019t collect yourself! The idea is for you to help yourself. I asked Shanaka whether they have \u2018too many cooks,\u2019 so to say. Because I have seen a web comment on the venture saying that it once got bankrupt because of debt and the commenter opined perhaps too many people are working at the restaurant. Shanaka said that there are around 150 people working at all three places but half of them are volunteers. They also have trainees to learn professional cooking, catering and other restaurant services. \u2018The Lentils\u2019 help the new migrants and refugees, and many others, that way.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lentil\u2019 at St Kilda is where it all started in 2000. St Kilda is situated on one of the picturesque points in the Melbourne Bay not very far from the city. As its website said,<\/p>\n

\u201cAn idea of meals without borders took root here. \u2018Lentil St Kilda\u2019 is a venue where the previously marginalized, fashioned the standard. Care took a new form. Pride, ownership and struggle blended uniquely. Sincerely filled the shoes of convention and Lasagna came with a Roti and Chai. Becky from the Mavis on the coffee-machine \u2013 Soma from Sri Lanka at the stove<\/i>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Be sure, \u2018Mavis\u2019 is not an unknown country like Sri Lanka, but a pop music group in Victoria. There are many volunteers and social workers involved, but no government or church funding like in other NGOs.<\/p>\n

Shanaka Fernando was born to a Sinhalese father and an Irish mother in 1968 and brought up at Thimbirigasyaya, Colombo. He had attended Ananda College like Saman, but much later. It was at the age of 30 that he had moved to Melbourne in 1998 to study law but had dropped out to involve in other adventures including his idea of \u2018pay as you please\u2019 restaurant. One time he was living in a tent, along the banks of the Yarra River, but perhaps not during winter! Now he lives in a modest house keeping all doors open, with his second partner, and a daughter and a son. He has extensively travelled in Asia and Latin America and has a deep respect for the indigenous people and the villagers as they live closer to the nature.<\/p>\n

Now he is 45, but still young in his ideas and habits. He has always been a party man but not at all taken into drinks or drugs. He rather helps people to move away from those habits. He has an unmistakable penchant for banter and humor and those are a part of his life and ideology. He has also taken into public speaking and even to become an amateur comedian. If the following link could be clicked successfully you may see for yourself of what the man speaks of himself and on social issues.<\/p>\n