How was the Recho born?

In 2016, we were faced with very harsh images of the migratory crisis; We wanted to answer it, positively and joyful. With 7 friends, we had the idea of ​​leading collaborative workshops in the camps, so that local populations and refugees meet through simple gestures: cooking and eating together.

We launched a crowdfunding campaign (to buy a foodtruck and raw materials) which has received a lot of support! In August we were on the Grande-Synthe camp after approaching local associations and the town hall. 

What was your goal? 

We wanted to drop the barriers and drop the fear of the other, restore in the first sense of the term, that is to say repair the link. We wanted to come with spice boxes, ingredients that came from the countries of the refugees, so that they could convey their cuisine! 

We arrived in the morning, we cook with volunteers, we brought 150 meals in the foodtruck and after lunch we returned to the cooking workshops until evening. We could thus offer an average of 500 meals per day. This also allowed us to restore movement, to animate a site that served above all as a huge waiting room. We cook together in a fairly rudimentary way, with a barbecue made in a can and with great will and conviviality! 

Why did you choose the kitchen?

Because it's a great medium! It is a pretext for meeting, a simplifier, a bit like dance or music, but which also carries memory, memories. And sensory memory is one of the strongest. We are really in sharing. In sharing intimacy in terms of gluttony and pleasure. It's just very strong, happy and simple!

I also remain convinced that when you put people in the same room and offer them to build something together, whether it is a house or a dish, immediately the machine is set up, beyond the language and differences. There is nothing stronger, more binding, than a collective project to bring people together. 

How did the project evolve?

The experience was so strong that we wanted to push the cursor further. We asked ourselves the question of what an association was, what could be the entrepreneurial scope of our project, etc.  We thought that if we wanted to have an impact in the long term, we had to build a financial component, convince foundations, donors, set up a vision over several months, several years. We had a lot of committed chefs with us so we started responding to calls for projects, team building requests, caterers, etc. This allowed us to leave on a mission on the camps. We have returned a second time to Grande-Synthe, in partnership with the European Commission. In August 2017, we went to Belgium to be active in the reception of refugees in Europe. This time we collaborated with the reception centers, so we no longer had the problem of feeding many people, but that of creating fun activities. We were doing top chef competitions, with points, etc. It was very funny!

At the end of 2016, the mayor of Arras asked us. The Grand Recho - Ephemeral Solidarity Catering Project - was born, with the same desire to meet local and refugees around the kitchen. We all cook together about 200 meals a day and there was also an artistic program. We asked for all audiences to meet: business clubs, wealthy people, precarious audiences via collaboration with other associations, etc.  All accompanied by a collective of brilliant chiefs, such as Olivier Roellinger, Florent Ladeyn, Michel Troisgros, Amandine Chaignot, Manon Fleury, etc. 

Have you also created the Recho table? What is it? 

We were contacted by the Aurore association to support it on the development of a restaurant, in the heart of its reception center located in an old barracks: the Recho table was born. This allowed us to unroll a little more the thread of our commitments with market cuisine and a professional integration mission. We also wanted to push our reflection further on the impact of the plate and the charter that we want to continue. You cannot take care of a single end of the chain, an injustice made on one side without including the injustices that are done on the other. So we decided to exclude everything from the food industry, and to work only live with producers, on organic and reason. This also allows us to transmit the values ​​of seasonality, and of the premises, but also their preparations and their conservations. 

What was the reaction of people in the neighborhood? 

Like everywhere, there was first a time when it was necessary to convince. With the barracks, what happened is that before the opening of the table, the doors were closed; And the doors closed, it gives free rein to all fears. Once you open the doors, it changes everything. We have a super warm, super welcoming place, with children running everywhere. It necessarily changes people's gaze!

In an interview, you are talking about "a place that restores"? Are you playing on the double sense of the word? 

Yes, it's even our baseline! Cook together to restore the world!  We cannot dissociate social commitment from ecological commitment. The environmental and political impact of the plate, I cannot not see it, so food is a huge lever to understand these issues! 

A feel-good ritual? 

Be together! Hashtag heart heart. And eat together. Eat good things to eat from the inside! 

Your greatest surprise? 

The kindness, benevolence and global solidarity of humans. You realize that the majority of people are still nice, that they want to help and come to meet others. It’s super moving to see the craze around this project! From the start, all the fires went green, we received so much support - 750 people participated in crowdfunding, simply on this story that we have around the kitchen. 

A souvenir in jar? 

From the start, it is in our DNA to recover unsold and transforming them.

So the jars, the can, the lacto-farmentation ... allow us not to throw away and to fight against food waste!