mylunch.ie supports Street Feast: A lovely lunch with your neighbours on July 18th!

We here at mylunch.ie strive to offer you the best deals, offers, vouchers and competitions to optimise your lunchtime experience. From the start we have always been big believers in the social side of lunch, and the importance of this in Irish society. God knows the country could do with a bit of good news now and again, and we strive to bring that news, and to put a smile on the face of you and your colleagues daily. So it was very exciting for us to hear about the Street Feast idea.

Social entrepreneurship is an area that has been dramatically growing in Ireland, as people place less and less value on material items, and more and more emphasis on relationships, community and the wellbeing of others. Ventures such as Street Feast are the epitome of this new found outlook it seems.

The basic premise is that on 18^th July 2010, a day of local lunches will be held across the country, hosted by neighbours. The aim of this, as organiser Sam Bishop states, is to “encourage communities all around the country to hold a party... and to rekindle Ireland’s sense of community which appears to be dwindling away”. This can be a garden party, a field day, street party, a plain old BBQ held on the local green, or a club or community group get together. The type of feast doesn’t matter, the main thing is to bring people together, and have fun for the day with full bellies! Each Street Feast is self-organised, and will be as different as the neighbourhood that hosts it.

The team of passionate young innovators behind Street Feast began work on the concept in September last year, and the Street Feast name was coined in March 2010. The idea is to inspire, and to aid the rebuilding of Ireland’s community spirit, through the medium of lunch, while having barrels of fun doing it! Street Feast is a not for profit venture, and is receiving backing from orgs. such as Leargas, the European Youth in Action Fund, and Challenge Europe, a British Council led Youth Initiative.

To underline the D.I.Y. aspect which Street Feast is based on, the group held a once off free lunch, dubbed Flash Feast , as a launch party on Dublin’s Dame Street on 15^th June 2010. This was subsequently featured in the Irish Times, and involved the setting up of a large picnic table on the plaza beside City Hall, (the venue was only announced earlier that day through the web) and stuffing those who got there full of a selection of salads, quiches, bread, soup and desserts!

A quote from the chef for the above Flash Feast, James Parrott, summed the idea up perfectly for us here at mylunch: “Street Feast is a chance to sit down with people you probably see every day but never talk to, sharing food is a great way to build friendships and break down barriers.”

This reflected our thoughts exactly and mylunch.ie is proud to support Street Feast, and will be attending our local feast come 18^th July. We feel that togetherness can be a big part of eating, and we have long since advocated that lunch mylunch.ie can be a bonding exercise for workplaces, so there’s no doubt it can be for communities too.

For much more information on this great idea see the Street Feast website, Twitter or Facebook, or follow mylunch.ie on Twitter or Facebook. Alternatively, why not hold your own feast in your local neighbourhood? You’ll be the talk of the street for weeks! (More info here) Oh and one more thing, check out the 6 reasons to hold a Street Feast on the colourfully designed site, as it’s sure to inspire you!