On a balmy summer’s evening in Frome, 222 plates of locally sourced, nutritious and delicious food were served at Canteen’s outdoor pop-up in Victoria Park. Some meals were paid in full, others subsidised, and a few gifted entirely. But the principle was simple: everyone is welcome. What unfolded was far more than dinner; it was a celebration of community, fairness and connection.
For the first time, Canteen — Frome’s pay-what-you-can community restaurant — stepped outdoors. At the heart of the menu was a potato salad made with 600 potatoes, grown by more than a hundred families, schools, care homes and businesses across the town. Coordinated by Kerry from Frome Seed Library, each potato represented a small but meaningful act of participation. Surplus food from the Community Fridge became pudding, and any leftovers were redistributed back out again, ensuring nothing good went to waste.
It was, in many ways, a simple community supper. But it raises a bigger question: why don’t more towns and councils create spaces like this for people to eat together?
Eating together as a public health policy?
Around the world, shared meals are not an exception but a way of life. In Spain, vast paellas are cooked to feed entire towns during festivals, often using surplus food, with the express aim of building intergenerational connection. In Japan, children eat identical school meals side by side, learning nutrition and reinforcing community bonds that reflect a deeper cultural value of shared experience and harmony. In India, Sikh gurdwaras have served free, communal meals ‘langar’, for centuries, embedding equality and dignity into every dish.
Britain, too, has a precedent. During World War II, government-backed British Restaurants provided communal, non-profit dining centres that served cheap, nutritious meals for workers and those made homeless by air raids. Run by local authorities, they were part of a National Food Service designed to preserve health and morale during wartime shortages.
The benefits are as relevant today as they were then:
Nutrition – communal meals encourage healthier diets and reduce food insecurity.
Social connection – eating together combats loneliness, bridges generations and strengthens community ties.
Education – shared meals teach children where food comes from, how it is prepared, and why it matters.
Resilience – local sourcing and food-sharing reduce waste, support producers, and lower environmental impact.
Frome’s experiment
Run by the Frome Food Network and supported by Future Shed, part of Green & Healthy Frome, Canteen is part of a wider effort to link health and climate. The principle is simple: what’s good for the planet is often good for our health too.
With two-thirds of British adults now overweight or obese, and “The False Economy of Big Food” estimating that the UK’s unhealthy food system costs around £268 billion a year, projects like Canteen offer a glimpse of a different future. From sustainable farming practices that produce nutritious food, to reducing food miles by buying locally, to giving everyone access to affordable, healthy meals and increasing social cohesion – the benefits are cyclical. Better food systems support local economies, improve public health, reduce strain on the NHS, and build resilience against climate change.
As laughter rose over the long tables, children dashed across the grass and strangers became neighbours. Frome offered a vision of a fairer, healthier, more connected society – served up on real plates, not buried in policy papers.
The bigger question
By the evening’s end, 222 meals had been shared. With an average spend of £10.83, the generosity of some made it possible for others to eat for less, or for free. Because at Canteen, no one eats alone, and everyone is welcome.
But the real question is not whether Frome can keep Canteen going. In an era of rising loneliness, growing health inequalities and strained local services, shouldn’t councils across the UK be investing in communal eating as part of public health?
If other countries treat shared meals as central to wellbeing and education, why not Britain too?