{"id":2694,"date":"2018-09-11T19:00:46","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T13:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/34.22.110.190\/english\/?p=2694"},"modified":"2018-09-11T19:16:14","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T13:46:14","slug":"four-cafes-in-kolkata-where-the-marginalised-are-finding-their-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/four-cafes-in-kolkata-where-the-marginalised-are-finding-their-feet\/","title":{"rendered":"Four caf\u00e9s in Kolkata where the marginalised are finding their feet"},"content":{"rendered":"

What can you find at caf\u00e9s beyond good coffee, sandwiches, quiches, and cupcakes? In Kolkata, you\u2019ll find some caf\u00e9s that not only produce the standard of their food with conviction, but also display a rare quality of working with the abused and marginalized, and are giving them confidence to work and wings to fly.<\/p>\n

Many working in these caf\u00e9s have been through tough battles with various social and financial challenges in the past but they are now culinary experts who find new meaning in life through the work they do. Small in size with dreams to grow big like their corporate counterparts, these cafes are doing pretty well too. Here\u2019s a list of four:<\/p>\n

Le Caf\u00e9<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who would have thought that the young women and men serving mouth-watering French quiches and coffee had to spend days without any hope for a better future? The Life Project 4 Youth (LP4Y), an international nongovernmental organisation found these young people who had the potential to engage in creative and constructive pursuits, and provided them with a platform to go beyond the future that could have been possible under usual circumstances.<\/p>\n

The grand Victorian premises of the Allaince Francaise Du Bengale have allotted them space inside its premises for a cafeteria managed by the youth trained in the LP4Y project. Akash Biswas, who cooks and serves desserts and refreshments at Le Caf\u00e9 said, \u201cMy grandmother enrolled me at an educational home. From there I found work at a catering service and eventually I was enrolled at the LP4Y team this year. I feel very happy that they are teaching us to communicate with customers, learn English and computers. On Fridays and Saturdays we serve at Le Caf\u00e9 when there are special events. On the other days we are trained at cooking and serving food at the Mamagoto Restaurant on Park Street. We learn computers at the Calcutta International School premises.\u201d<\/p>\n

The LP4Y project enrolls batches of 10-15 students and offers them a year\u2019s training. Many youngsters like Akash are now dreaming of becoming chefs and cooks, thanks to this initiative.<\/p>\n

What about the menu? At Le Caf\u00e9, the menu is an absolutely French affair. There\u2019s quiche au poulet, a chicken quiche with bechamel sauce \u2013 creamy and delicious with hints of herbs like rosemary and thyme. There\u2019s crepe au poulet, a light crepe filled with juicy chunks of chicken, carrots and shredded cabbage. There are sandwiches, chocolate and banana chocolate cakes and sweet crepes, and everything is reasonably priced.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Le Cafe;photograph from the website<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Caf\u00e9 Positive<\/strong><\/p>\n

In south Kolkata, a group of 10 HIV positive persons faced enormous struggle to find a place from where they could run a small business of their own. Their mentor Kallol Ghosh, founder of The Offer Group, an organisation that works for marginalised children, took part in their fight.<\/p>\n

It was his dream to see these children who previously stayed at a shelter home he looked after, independently running a business of their own. Caf\u00e9 Positive is now a small garage space, with plans for expansion. The 10 youngsters have found a teacher in one of Ghosh\u2019s erstwhile students who has experience of managing cafes and continental food outlets. Sonia, in her twenties and part of the crew, said: \u201cI used to worry that people may not eat food cooked by us because some think (wrongly) they might contract HIV positive this way. I would keep asking dada<\/em> whether the caf\u00e9 will be a successful venture. But one month into our journey, I feel confident about its bright future.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their spare time, Sonia and some of the others are trained in customer handling at retail stores. From the difficult time when even finding a space was difficult to running the caf\u00e9 with regular customers, it is a huge progress. And if things go positive the way they have been so far, things will get only better from here.<\/p>\n

The food is yummy and is reasonably priced. The main attraction here is the Coffee Latte. There are loads of sweet delicacies and different kinds of coffee. There’s also blueberry, chocolate muffins, chocolate cream cakes, sandwiches. Do remember, Caf\u00e9 Positive takes bulk orders too!<\/p>\n

Amra Odbhut Cafe<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a tiny alley of south Kolkata\u2019s Jadavpur there is a slightly unconventional space called Amra Odbhut Caf\u00e9. Not run-of-the-mill, a bit strange even \u2013 that\u2019s what the phrase amra odbhut<\/em> means \u2013 and that\u2019s because that is the general perception of people about the LGBTQ community. The d\u00e9cor is a burst of creative work \u2013 amateur yet youthful and free. Small fairy lights entwined around posters of films and books that talk of alternate sexuality and queer narratives is part of the d\u00e9cor. It\u2019s a small, cosy two room space where special evenings are hosted celebrating performances by artists and activists. A special initiative by five friends led to the transformation of this old house on Jadavpur\u2019s Ibrahimpur Road specially dedicated to the LGBTQ community to express their art and creative voice. And you\u2019ll love the food here.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Amra Odbhut Cafe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Crust and Core Cafe<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a narrow Chetla lane close to the Chetla police station is Crust and Core Caf\u00e9. An initiative of the nongovernmental organization Iswar Sankalpa, for the residents of the Chetla shelter, this caf\u00e9 is an inspiration for women who had to battle hardships to find their voices.<\/p>\n

Most women here are battling social and psychological pressure and trauma. The caf\u00e9 is a very recent foundation opened in February 2018. Around 12 women work here preparing desserts and delicacies, all in a battle against mental illnesses like depression, schizophrenia and other mental health issues.<\/p>\n

Work at the cafe has breathed new life into them. They are excited about baking and preparing coffee. It hasn\u2019t been an easy venture however. A year back when the project started with 22 women to train, ten of them opted out midway. The remaining trainees completed the course and are working here now.<\/p>\n

When you visit Crust and Core, do try the paprika pasta, a delicious spaghetti pasta made with red sauce and cheese. There is regular coffee and cookies, with some new addition to the menu like almond barquette, spinach and corn cheese quiche, tarts and brownies.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Crust and Core<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Cover photograph: Cafe Positive)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What can you find at caf\u00e9s beyond good coffee, sandwiches, quiches, and cupcakes? In Kolkata, you\u2019ll find some caf\u00e9s that not only produce the standard of their food with conviction, but also display a rare quality of working with the abused and marginalized, and are giving them confidence to work and wings to fly. Many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":2695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"tmauthors":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cityscapes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2694"},{"taxonomy":"tmauthors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tmauthors?post=2694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}