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Melbourne’s soul is in danger of disappearing

Richard Fleming

by Richard Fleming

01 Apr 11:30am

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Filed under: Community, Melbourne, Refugees, Society

73 comments

After twelve months of racial intolerance and a clamp-down on live music, is Melbourne about to lose what’s left of its cultural and community flavour?

Shanaka Fernando in the Lentil as Anything kitchen. Picture: Ian Currie

As Melburnians, we tend to differentiate ourselves as more community and culturally-minded and less greedy than other Australians.  So how is it that one of our leading community venues is looking to bring an end to one of Melbourne’s most successful experiments in community dining?

That’s right, the Abbotsford Convent has refused to renew the lease on Lentil As Anything , the innovative not-for-profit restaurant that has been the heart and soul of the convent for the last five years. Is Melbourne letting go of its once famous community culture for profits?

Twelve years ago, the Abbotsford Convent was the epitomy of community action. With the impending government re-zoning of the former Convent of the Good Shepherd, the Abbotsford Convent Coalition (which founded the Abbotsford Convent Foundation - ACF) led the community campaign to persuade the government to put community and culture before potential profits.

Eventually in 2005, the community secured ownership of the Abbotsford Convent and Collingwood Children’s farm, establishing a major cultural hub for Melbourne.

Today, this same group - the Abbotsford Convent Foundation - is refusing to renew the lease on a truly unique and remarkable restaurant that has been at the Convent since 2005. 

Unfortunately, it seems that the once community focussed ACF has forgotten it roots and become oblivious to the fact that Lentil As Anything represents exactlywhat the ACF purports to stand for : “an invaluable community resource and incubator for creativity, the sharing of ideas and a place of enjoyment.” 

No one that comes to Lentils, as it is affectionately referred to by its community, can deny that this is exactly what the restaurant brings to the convent. The ACF has not publicly commented on their stance, however it is rumoured that the ACF is driving for greater revenue from the location (despite the fact that their website boasts that the foundation ‘is evolving at a rate that has surpassed even the most optimistic predictions’).

The non-profit vegetarian restaurant was founded by Shanaka Fernando, who subsequently received the 2007 Australia Day Local Hero Award . He founded Lentil as Anything around a simple philosophy that allows each customer to decide what they want to pay for their meal.

It is more than just a restaurant that serves 600 meals-a-day: it is a truly multi-cultural community that provides training, jobs and support for refugees, unemployed and homeless people.

If this is not enough to convince the ACF that Lentil As Anything belongs right where it is, perhaps they should consider that ‘Lentil at the Convent’ has become a tourist attraction that epitomises Melbourne’s community and culture.

Whilst it will never be a three-hat restaurant, you are still likely to see community minded celebrities visiting for a quick meal and fun time. It has the attention of the Lonely Planet , along with numerous other guides to Melbourne. It brings people to the Convent, more than any of the convent’s other venues.

If the restaurant’s lease is not renewed by the Abbotsford Convent Foundation, it will be another black mark for Melbourne’s reputation for strong community flavour.

Fortunately, Melburnians are not pushovers. When the things we love about our community are under threat, we stand up. We proved this when we united tokeep The Tote open , and when we booked out Indian restaurants across the city for Vindaloo Against Violence.

The Abbotsford community did this when they won the right to run a place that allowed Lentil As Anything to exist in the first place.  Now, Melburnians, it’s time to stand up for Lentil As Anything.

Let’s stand up for the individuals who rely upon the jobs and support provided by Lentil As Anything. Let’s stand up for the restaurant that forms a shining light within our community and culture. And most importantly, let’s stand up for our reputation as a city that cherishes culture and community.

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73 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Eric says:

      10:41am | 01/04/10

      “After twelve months of racial intolerance”?

      What “twelve months of racial intolerance” would these be?

      Are you just making things up?

      Reply

    • Eric says:

      11:14am | 01/04/10

      Heh. I was so gobsmacked by the stupidity of the first sentence that I failed to notice the arrogance of the second one.

      “As Melburnians, we tend to differentiate ourselves as more community and culturally-minded and less greedy than other Australians.”

      So, you’re saying that Melburnians are a bunch of bigoted snobs who think they’re better than everyone else? Is that really what Melburnians believe?

      Reply

    • Henry says:

      11:37am | 01/04/10

      “As Melburnians, we tend to differentiate ourselves as more community and culturally-minded and less greedy than other Australians.”

      Hilarious.  Have lived in all capitals bar Hobart and Melbourne was the biggest show-off cliquey w*nker city of the lot.  Coupled with a nasty violent edge.

      You need to travel more.

    • Jack Thomas says:

      01:24pm | 01/04/10

      Poor Henry, what a bitter and twisted little petal you are.

      Thanks for your opinion though, really useful.

    • henry says:

      02:46pm | 01/04/10

      And what is your opinion Jack Thomas?

      Play the man but don’t have an opinion huh?

      You poor little cup cake.

    • truckle the uncivil says:

      09:23pm | 01/04/10

      Ah, a sydneysider.  Funny how there is supposed to be this Melbourne/Sydney rivalry when in reality there has only ever been Sydney jealousy with the odd irritated response.

    • Observer says:

      02:57pm | 06/04/10

      Eric and Henry are right on the button. The statement is massively chauvenistic. Cop that rest of Australia, you selfish greedy savages!

      No, I’m afraid the poor columnist is a hipster D-bag, in love with a hipster D-bag institution that is going broke because people aren’t as generous as they say they are. He makes the mistake of thinking his hipster clique IS Melbourne, when he couldn’t be more wrong.

      Melbourne has three souls:
      1) Chadstone shopping centre, AFL football, overrated dimmies at south melbourne market, Calder Park, Moomba, DFO and all things boganic.

      2) The Melbourne club, swanning around at brighton beach, Buying overpriced baguettes in Toorak, cycling on Beach Road and all things eliteist.

      3) Lentil as anything, Northcote social club, Smith street, buying vinyl records, reading Catherine Deveny and all things hipster D-bags do to create their own brand of eliteism.

    • James says:

      11:59am | 01/04/10

      I think this is more of a reflection on the ‘community’ eating there. If they were such strong supporters they would part with just a little bit more cash each and the restuarant could be viable and survive.

      Reply

    • AdamC says:

      12:08pm | 01/04/10

      This Shanaka fellow is an extraordinarily good self-promoter. This story has got a run all over the place in Melbourne, and he and the restaurant were the subjects of an SBS doco a while back. But let’s not go overboard: Lentil as Anything is a cute novelty (with a terrible name), but that’s it. And what on earth is ‘community dining’; I mean, really!

      Reply

    • Frank says:

      01:18pm | 01/04/10

      Yeah I saw that. “Lentil” is broke as hell. Have they paid the vege man yet? He was getting raped by these hippies.

    • Nathan says:

      03:56pm | 06/04/10

      If these guys weren’t in good with the leftist media collective, they’d be getting doorknocked by TT.

      “Tonight: How far would you go to do a good deed? A melbourne vegetable supplier thought he was doing a good deed when he supplied vegetables to a supposedly ethical restaurant chain. What he got back, was not good Karma, but a metaphorical kick in the teeth. Join us as we investigate Shanaka Fernando and his band of fourty thieves, who even cheek to set up shop in a former convent.

      And! They call it a miracle drug, but ...”

      I’d watch that episode!

    • Jack Thomas says:

      12:16pm | 01/04/10

      Sorry, did you just say “after twelve months of racial intolerance”?

      What a silly little man you are.

      Instead of hating yourself and your family for being white and middle class, disparaging your community and fellow citizens at every holier than thou opportunity, try looking at what a great job they have done at the Convent to get to this stage.

      Drop your Greens mentality of telling the populace what evil people we are and how everything should be free, while working in a taxpayer funded $100k+ a year job and living in an inner city terrace.

      Do I even need to ask whether you get paid for writing this (crap though it may be) or do you leave it to the editor to pay what he thinks is fair?

      Reply

    • Frank says:

      01:08pm | 01/04/10

      Earth to Jack! Earth to Jack! This is a Murdoch publication. WTF are you talking about “working in a taxpayer funded $100k+” ??? Lay of the grog buddy. Oh and I agree “after twelve months of racial intolerance” is totally incorrect. Its more like 200 years.

    • acker says:

      02:40pm | 01/04/10

      @Frank…not only is it a Murdoch publication, it is an article about Rupert’s home town and where his mother still lives.

    • Young Conservative says:

      05:25pm | 05/04/10

      HEAR HEAR Jack, that is exactly how I felt when reading this article. Disgusting hippies and/or hipsters.

    • Lee from WA says:

      12:21pm | 01/04/10

      For those outside Victoria, I think Melbourne is more associated with Underbelly that any of the wankery that author espouses.

      Reply

    • Zeta says:

      12:21pm | 01/04/10

      If Melbourne has a soul, it’s actually mine. The soul I lost in ‘06 at Pony, taken by psychic hipster vampires that talked about Nic Littlemore’s creative genius for nine hours before forcing me to drink can after can of VB until I drunkenly stumbled into Crown to blow $500 on a Roulette table in an effort to wash the last of their stinking authenticity and alternative relevance out of my brain. After being escorted from the gaming area, I recall dimly forcing myself into a circle of large Lebanese youths, begging them, while buying them endless shots of whatever sugary liquor they desired, to show me their ways, to make me a man again after the emasculating experience of listening to twee girl-driven Strokes inspired Shoewave, drinking blue collar alcohol and pretending to be vegan in aid of courting some thin hipped tomboy beanpole who’d only give her name as ‘sandwich’. Later, they’d try to run me over in their Nissan Skyline. My last real memory was of two exceptionally overweight Greeks girls suggesting I buy them a kebab, and me vomiting, not from alcohol sickness, but from disgust at how far I’d fallen. I needed to be taken to a hospital, but the only Greek words I could remember were ‘kapusi’ and ‘iassu’ which lead to me chanting ‘Hello Watermelon’ over and over and until they left.

      Nursing a hangover, I’ve never ran so fast for a plane before in my life, and upon arrival in Sydney, swore never to return.

      Suck Melbourne’s soul out with giant blood funnels until it’s skinny jeans split and crack, bulldoze it and build Sydney her own nuclear reactor, I don’t care.

      Just never send me back to that God forsaken place…

      Reply

    • Scott Glennon says:

      02:46pm | 01/04/10

      Geeez Zeta! I thought your bear arms would swoon towards the danger of drunken Skyline driving Lebanese youths possibly carrying concealed weapons, like Lindsay Lohan to a bottle of cheap vodka… or more recently to sick African children.

      Melbourne taught me, that Queensland’s mutlicultural efforts work better and that I’m a suprisingly good dancer.

      PS, Molly called and wants his skinny jeans cliché back!

    • Hades says:

      03:11pm | 01/04/10

      Zeta, I laughed and laughed and then fell off my chair.  Now everyone in the office is looking at me strangely, probably thinking that I’m on drugs.  smile

      Made my day.

    • Peter says:

      07:39am | 04/04/10

      Zeta, your jealousy of all things Melbourne is very obvious. We don’t need bells and whistles like Sydney to be the best city in Australia, we just are!!

    • Kate says:

      12:50pm | 04/04/10

      freaking aewesome, i too fell off my chair smile

    • Peter says:

      05:40pm | 05/04/10

      Greeks don’t eat kebabs… call it racist…

    • Bob H says:

      12:29pm | 01/04/10

      @Erik “Melburnians are a bunch of bigoted snobs who think they’re better than everyone else”   
      Yes, which is a surprising self image as Melbourne is predominately bogan and the only genuinely Melbourne culture to be experienced,(if you can call it that) is a dull AFL match, in a large ugly concrete bunker, in the rain.  There is a very thin veneer of copycat Euroculture, but this is not Melbourne.  My interstate friends would always try to say something nice about the place, which was always “you can get a good coffee there” praise indeed.  To live there for a long period is to isolate oneself from reality, and start to believe:  that AFL is important,  that Melbourne is just as good as Paris and the F1 is an interesting car race.  Thank goodness the Melbourne mentality does not spoil the more appealing parts of Australia.

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      01:06pm | 01/04/10

      Bobby H, at least we have our own sporting code (unique), the race that stops a nation, the Melbourne Cup which we have a day off for (and which the rest of you watch in envy). Ive been to Sydney over 50 times and the people in that place are just like those you would find in a country bumpkin kind of town but i just so happens they live in a big place. Take the harbour away from Sydney and you have nothing left. A bum sniffing football code and a jealousy of Melbourne that causes you to call us mexicans. Get some class and your welcome down here, otherwise just hang out with your mates in Cronulla..

    • Saskia says:

      01:24pm | 01/04/10

      I’m not from Melbourne but you seem to knock the only true distinctive cultural edges the Melbourne possesses - AFL and a vaguely Euro edge.  If these two things are as bad as you suggest what do you see as being the true Melbourne?  Or are you just an Australian suffering from cultural cringe?

    • Bob H says:

      02:43pm | 01/04/10

      @Peter, Exactly, you think you have a race that stops the nation, I have never been aware it was on.  I am glad that you are so excited that you get a day off for a horse race, nothing country bumpkin about you is there.  Such sophistication, I can just see you now with your pipe and cravat at the AFL. 
      @Saskia, True Melbourne?  it is just a medium for AFL, AFL permeates every pore of the city.  No conversation is complete without a reference to it.  I was warned but until I lived here I never realised what a one topic town it is.  There are some that try to avoid it but are burnt for being witches or run out of town.

    • Peter says:

      06:39am | 02/04/10

      Lol Ben.. Yes we loving wearing our cravats when we go down to the bottello to get our smokes and six packs for the evening. At least when we get pissed we do it with some style..

    • S says:

      12:27pm | 01/04/10

      Melbourne might be just about to disappear up its own ****hole if the views expressed in this article are representative of the majority of the city’s inhabitants.

      Reply

    • Marco Polo says:

      12:44pm | 01/04/10

      For anyone North of the Murray, Melbourne is located right down at the bottom of Australia and is the bit on the map that looks like an ****hole Apparently God did that deliberately.

      Reply

    • iansand says:

      01:12pm | 01/04/10

      It seems a reasonable assumption that no one from Melbourne reads The Punch.  Or the place is closed for a horse race or something.

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      02:57pm | 01/04/10

      Please don’t tell me your jealous of our Melbourne Cup? The only true Australian Cultural event and ummmm Aussie Rules. At least we are actually Australian in Melbourne!!

    • Ben says:

      01:31pm | 01/04/10

      What “racial intolerance” are you talking about, Richard?  Seriously mate explain yourself.

      I’m laughing at the thought of hundreds of people sitting down for a “vindaloo against violence” dinner to make themselves feel better about incidents that it turns out had absolutely nothing to do with “racism” at all, and thinking they’re making the world a better place by creating an imaginary problem and then solving it with empty tokenism!

      Reply

    • Richard Fleming says:

      02:14pm | 01/04/10

      Ben and others - I understand your issue with the term “racial intolerance”, and I do not pretend to be an expert on race relations in Melbourne. (and nor is this what the article is about)

      However - when this issue that has been constantly in local, national, Indian and international papers, you have to admit that there is some form of a racial issue here in Melbourne. This issue has seen our PM, the foreign minister, the Victorian Premier settling our foreign relations with India.

    • Peter says:

      02:35pm | 01/04/10

      Racial intolerance is so bad in Melbourne Ben that those awful Anglo friends of mine are putting on a lavish seafood dinner party for my 40th birthday, and im just a downtrodden Greek just trying to get by in this racist city of ours. Some violence against indians were perpertrated by indians themselves, so spare us please..

    • stephen says:

      02:42pm | 01/04/10

      ‘Vindaloo against violence’ is a new dish from a restaurant called ‘The Ring of Fire’
      (Spend so much time on the dunny, ain’t got time to pick a fight.)

      PS apologies 3MMM radio, early ninties.

    • Charlie says:

      03:05pm | 01/04/10

      “Nothing to do with racism”? I can’t stand the absolute denial of the racial intolerance that is so rife in this country. It is constantly veiled in other terms, which is partly because it’s such a complex phenomenon, but if you’re going to tell me it’s has nothing to do with the colour of a person’s skin or their cultural background, it just doesn’t stick. What do you suggest that the surge of attacks against Indians have been about? A result of them flashing their phones around or being in the wrong place at the wrong time? While ‘Vindaloo Against Violence” probably didn’t change much, it was an attempt of some Australians to show solidarity.

    • Eric says:

      04:29pm | 01/04/10

      Uh, no, Richard.

      When this issue has been constantly in local, national, Indian and international papers, without any sort of factual backup whatever, we can recognise it as a media beat-up, which is what it is.

      So far all the investigations have revealed is ordinary crime, much of it perpetrated on Indians by other Indians.

      By falsely claiming that this is a case of “racial intolerance”, you are racially smearing Australians in general.

    • Ben81 says:

      05:06pm | 01/04/10

      Richard, thanks for the reply.  Sorry if I sounded a bit harsh by the way, I often re-read things I type and realise I’ve come across like a bit more of an arse than I intended.  Only a bit though smile

      I don’t think Rudd and others jumping on the race hate bandwagon before the results of the various police investigations come out and prove those accusations wrong says too much about the violence actually being ‘racist’.  I’ve actually been reading the Indian news websites like the Times of India and Hindustan Times whenever an incident has occured, and they’re pretty much sensationalist tabloid crap that hysterically paints Australians as racist and makes all kinds of silly demands that we change, and then never bother to follow up the stories nearly as prominently when another Indian is arrested for the crime, or if it comes out that it was a gang of asians or africans for example that robbed someone.  When they rarely do follow up these stories without burying it down the page somewhere they go to pains to avoid mentioning the names of those who were arrested if they have a non-Australian sounding name.

      And Charlie, the point is that this violence has been happening to people with vulnerable jobs like taxi drivers, and most of the time by either other Indians or people of many other races.  I don’t think that justifies the white guilt i’m supposed to be feeling about the issue.

    • notsurprised says:

      07:08am | 02/04/10

      Just to clarify a couple of things for those that wish to bang on the racist drum with your tamborines and uninformed cliches. Please read this article: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/indian-tvs-unsound-fury-20100106-lu8y.html ( A Melbourne publication at that…), and if you still want to carry on about how bad everything is here, I’ll toss in some plastic drums, crayons and a few streamers for you to play with.

    • Jack Thomas says:

      02:29pm | 06/04/10

      For over twenty years thugs and junkies have been robbing and bashing taxi drivers late at night, then it was just scumbags and the inner city latte lefties ignored it. Especially since it was largely something to do with those awful bogans who live in the suburbs.

      Anyone flashing a phone or jewellery late at night is silly. A junkie or thug robs them and it’s a sign of “our” racism?

      Now a taxi driver gets robbed and bashed, and it’s clear sign of our racial intolerance.

      Same with sitting on a dark train platform or walking through a park late at night. You did that and you’re nuts, but now it’s again a sign that Melburnians are an awful racist bunch.

      A local man gets stabbed by a Vietnamese gang for being a good samaritan outside a 7-11, the media reports it as senseless violence. The perpetrator skips off to his country of origin in front of the police, and it gets reported as police incompetance.

      Prior to the last Federal election, Kevin Andrews raises the issue of African gang violence in Dandenong and the fact that violence perpetrated by Africans is 4 times that of the local population, and that there is a real problem there. Labor’s appointee Christine Nixon falsely claims otherwise and the Liberal MP is painted as an awful racist white. 

      A reknowned hysterical media in India is somehow a reputable authority in the eyes of the Left looking for another means to pander their latest guilt trip. When did this happen? Bollywood in print becomes a valid source of information.

      A young Indian child is murdered in Melbourne and again the Indian media and left self haters wail about our local racism. Silence and no further media mention as the alleged killer is found to be an Indian friend of the family. Same goes for an alleged bashing and robbery, the Indian ‘victim’ is now on charges of staging the attack for insurance.

      Foreign students are worth billions in revenue to Australia now, so quelling any hype and other assorted lies with a visit by our PM or Premier is simply sound business sense.

      Cue the self-flaggelation of Melbourne by it’s Left, “we’re all racist” is a lie, not even a mile from the truth.

      I’m not saying Melbourne is not without its racists, but then again no more than Delhi, Sydney or any other city.

      “Twelve months of racial intolerance” is completely false but it doesn’t sell papers, get you your grant, gain you support at your Northcote dinner party, etc. Sorry Richard, but you are just part of the self hating Left who put 1 and 1 together to make 10 racists.

    • Charlie says:

      11:03pm | 06/04/10

      All that I can say is that in the last 6 months I have personally witnessed two acts of violence against Indians on the street, that were most definitely a result of racism (I say this because other groups of people passing by were ignored and the Indians were specifically targeted, and specific racial slurs were used). I’m not just talking about attacks against taxi drivers. Yes, these things are complex and not solely about race. But a lot of the fights that are started are racially motivated. This is not to say that if we were a completely homogenous race, people wanting to start a fight wouldn’t choose some other reason to do so, but I don’t think we can deny that racism plays a part.

      To the person posting under ‘notsurprised’: that article you posted is actually full of clichés and generalisations of the type “Australians instinctively know that their parks are not safe places at night”. While the information in the article about may not be uninformed, it is taken out of context. I don’t think it’s valid to compare the number of murders in India to what’s happening in Australia. They’re completely different issues. It is an opinion piece, written by one person, and not an article merely reporting the facts.

      I do agree that the attacks have been sensationalised in India. However, I don’t believe that this takes away from the fact that there is racism here, and I think that pretending it doesn’t gives justification to those who start a fight with someone of a particular ethnic background and excuse it by saying, “Oh, he was being arrogant and that’s why I started the fight” or “He should know better than to walk around our area at this time”. If we admitted it was a problem, perhaps they’d be forced to think a little deeper about why they’re targeting certain people and the real reasons behind their frustration and aggression.

    • bella starkey says:

      03:35pm | 01/04/10

      I love blogs about melbourne. It always goes:

      “Melbourne is full of wankers”

      “No, you are all just jealous of our laneways and AFL”

      ““no one likes AFL, and sitting on a milk crate in a lane way isnt sophisticated, it’s what homeless people do everywhere else”

      “well we have really good coffee”

      “you have the exact same coffee as the rest australia, you just charge more for it”

      “yeah well people from sydney are shallow and not cultural”

      “yeah well none of youse are as good as adelaide”

      “STFU no one gives a shit about adelaide, you repressed serial killer”

      ““STFU yourself you scarf wearing twat.”

      *repeat as required*

      Reply

    • Paul says:

      04:55pm | 01/04/10

      this is better and more accurate than every bernard salt and hugh mackay column put together.

      look, i’m from adelaide and it’s ok - grotesque mass killing every so on aside - but i wouldn’t claim it as the last outpost of civilization on the planet (whatever our hyperbolic premier may say); but this melbourne as europe schtick has to be the longest joke in recent history.  my memories of melbourne stem from first going there when it was the Detroit of Australia (late 80s, early 90s)...that was a real place… a fading tart of a torch singer waiting patiently for death.  then Jeff put on some new paint, a casino and a lot of LSD in the water and voila! it’s the Paris of the southern ocean…I think not. let’s just get our hands off it, OK?

      Oh and Brisbane, Sydney and Perth you can get on board the STFU express too - you all suck in your own unique way.

      Hobart I like.

    • Clementine Ford says:

      05:05pm | 01/04/10

      Sorry Bella, but no one in Adelaide would ever say ‘youse’. We may be a state full of serial killers and batty pensioners, but we have the nicest accents in all of Australia..

    • Andy says:

      03:55pm | 01/04/10

      What did ACF management say when you approached them (as I’m sure you did in the interests of fair reporting) for comment on your accusations that they were forgetting their roots and pushing for greater profits?

      Also, in what way does it provide “training, jobs and support for refugees, unemployed and homeless people”? (I don’t doubt that it does, but for someone like me who doesn’t already know, that sentence isn’t very meaningful without further information.)

      Reply

    • Charlie says:

      11:09pm | 06/04/10

      Andy, I have a friend who is in his late fifties and has a mental illness that means he can’t work. He rarely looks after his nutrition, and the only good meals he gets are from Lentil As Anything. Admittedly, it’s the branch in Footscray. I know there are others that do the same, and I think what they offer is invaluable. He doesn’t work there, but most definitely gains a lot from this type of establishment - he is able to sit down and have a meal at the restaurant and not be stigmatised for what he cannot afford to pay. He contributes what he can when he can, and it’s not the same as being dished up something from a soup kitchen - he feels like he’s going out for a decent meal.

    • Andy says:

      04:00pm | 01/04/10

      The article would also probably attract a higher quality of comments if you avoided stirring people up with weird generalisations about Melbourne and Melbournians

      Reply

    • Nelly says:

      04:03pm | 01/04/10

      Tee Hee. I moved to Melbourne from Sydney 18 months ago and actually like the place, but the levels of wankerism are frequently amusing. Loads of pseudo-intellectuals prattling on like Rick from the Young Ones. And the chips on the shoulder about Sydney is unbelievable.  Also, Sydney has a thriving “community catering” outlet in the Hare Krishna restaurant in Newtown, so stick that up your altruistic, culturally sensitive, non-property obsessed Melbourne jaxie.

      Reply

    • sha says:

      05:02pm | 01/04/10

      Melbourne has soul?Why?How?What?

      Reply

    • James says:

      05:35pm | 01/04/10

      Melbourne is in danger of losing is amenity that is for sure, not because of the wankers (although they are very annoying I agree), but because of a chronic lack of good planning and governance.  Melbourne is developing like a disease not a good city, its arteries are clogged badly planned suburbs are springing up like mushrooms.

      It certainly has its good points but it does sort of feel like a great city that is going a bit rotten.

      Reply

    • Daniel says:

      06:40pm | 01/04/10

      This is what we have to deal with in Sydney.We have been dealing with thi for years.

      Reply

    • Aida says:

      11:45pm | 01/04/10

      I’m laughing so hard, I think I’ll have a heart attack!
      This opinion piece - which I do believe was slightly arrogant (But whom am I to judge, it’s an opinion piece)
      I just find it funny that it has lead on to patriotism, racism and child-like comments. However, instead of really reading Richard’s contention, you’ve analysed his article like some year 12 doing a language analysis.
      Who cares how better Hobart, Sydney or Brisbane is? I believed and do still now that I don’t look at myself as a Melburnian but an Australian, even though I come from an East-African background.
      Being a first generation Australian, I grew up believing Australia is a place of egalitarianism and hope.  I guess it is also my parents reason of coming here from - Eritrea. They came her for hope, and brought some of their own culture with them – Lentil As Anything absorbs the diversity of not just Melbourne but Australia.
      But you guys are pretty much fighting state to state as if we’re not a federation anymore.
      Richard is pretty much saying, with the Abbotsford Convent closing down.
      Has Melbourne lost the richness in multiculturalism?
      Save Lentil As Anything!
      It’s his way to save this youthful restaurant.
      Yay or nay.
      I say yay smile

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      06:55am | 02/04/10

      Why is everyone so anti-Melbourne? and ps. the coffee is not as good as you think. You can get a better coffee at a truck stop in europe than you would at Melbourne’s finest cafe’s. Unfortunately the EU and the USA hog all the good coffee beans…

      Reply

    • Robert Smissen of Rural SA says:

      11:04pm | 03/04/10

      You ask why everyone is so anti Melbourne? ? ? It just saves time! ! !

    • Nathaniel Try says:

      07:37am | 02/04/10

      I’m from Newcastle.

      One of the things I look most forward to when visiting Melbourne, once or twice a year, is eating at Lentil As Anything.

      I first went there when I was 18 years old, and very snotty towards vegetarian food in general.

      Now, 23 years old, I have been vegetarian for 2 years and look even more forward to visiting Lentil when in Melbourne. I even ate there for my 23rd birthday last year.

      But, compared to other restaurants, there’s so much more to Lentil than just the food. It’s the whole concept, the vibe the restaurant creates and the opportunity it offers to the volunteers working there.

      Add me to the list of ‘People who would be devastated to see Lentil dissapear.’

      Reply

    • Matt Dee says:

      09:07am | 02/04/10

      I’ve been born and raised in Sydney, lived in the suburbs and lived in the heart of the city of Sydney. Melbourne eats this city (excuse the pun) on all levels hands down. Why? Because Melbourne is a city where you feel welcomed and invited to stay. Sydney is a city where you feel as though you’re being ushered through as quick as it can.

      Don’t go changing Melbourne I love you just the way you are.

      Reply

    • Robert Smissen of Rural SA says:

      11:06pm | 03/04/10

      Matt Dee I suggest you go west to WA Perth is hands down the friendliess city in the country.

    • Jasmine says:

      09:25am | 02/04/10

      Thank you Nathaniel for commenting on the article as it was intended…to be about a not-for-profit community organisation at the risk of being shut down.

      Like it or not in Australia, all capital city slanging matches aside, we are a multicultural society, which thrives on good people doing good things to make the world that little bit better place to live in. Any organisation focused on skilling people, integrating migrants etc should be high on our agenda for supporting as this is what makes our country the beautiful place that it is and the people accepting (mostly).

      If your biggest worry is who’s city is better for whatever pathetic reason, you probably should rethink what you get up for each day. I would cry myself to sleep if the most productive thing I could do to contribute to the world that day was to throw my opinion around on a forum about “MY” city, rather than doing something constructive like asking the question, how do I help save a community organisation from the capitalism black hole? Just wack a Maccas in the building, up the lease by 400% and rub your hands together whilst you see the dollar signs cha-ching before your very eyes.

      So what is it that makes us who we really are, what makes us Australian? What makes OUR city Melbourne, or Sydney, or Adelaide? Was it the fact we were here first??? Born here? Moved here? Have the best coffee? God I hope not but based on your hideous comments I’m sure some of you would actually think that.

      I absolutely love this country and yes I have travelled a lot, seen what I could have if I wasn’t one of the lucky ones in the “lucky country”, just before a bunch of people make personal attacks on me and my background. Any yes, I lived in Sydney for 5 years and am now studying in Melbourne but am from a place outside of the cities altogether…they do actually exist I promise! So I am lucky to be able to have an open mind and pour my energies into things other than MY city is better than yours…

      Hey just a crazy thought, I have a teaching prac and am undertaking a photography project in the NT with remote Aboriginal communities in June/July this year which I am happy to let anyone else know about if they are happy to give their precious time for a month. Just to clarify, that means volunteer (give being the operative word there). The only catches… no coffee shops to get that “best coffee”, no booze ups allowed as these are Dry Communities, and funnily enough, no casinos. But you might get access to running water and a flushing toilet. Bonus!   

      Thank you Richard for doing your bit to bring to our attention the closing of Lentil as Anything. I hope to be able to dine there and experience the culture of such a brilliant concept into the future. Please let us know what we can do to help for those that have the time.

      Reply

    • Saint Kilda says:

      12:25pm | 02/04/10

      Boasting about charitable work is not the same as charitable work.  You appear to be giving, in order to gain kudos and superiority,. I’ll put it down to your youth and that you’ve been Melbournised.

    • VOice of Reason says:

      10:47am | 02/04/10

      The conclusion is, a resounding save “Lentil as Anything”.  Purely on a name basis it trumps most restaurants by miles.  If all the ‘Chez Simone’, ‘Tony’s’, Ricardo’s, put as much thought into their food as they have their name, then they are best avoided.  According to some commenters Melbourne desperately needs it and its the best place there (and thats from a guy from Newcastle!).  But the place does appear to be quite special and I wish them luck and only wish I had a Lentil near me.
      @Aida - don’t worry about the animosity between all our beautiful cities - we love each other really (except Canberra who we all genuinely hate).

      Reply

    • Jen says:

      11:53am | 02/04/10

      Nathaniel, thanks for bringing the conversation back to the actual issue - the closure of Lentil As Anything. Melbourne vs Sydney is irrelevant. It is a great restaurant, which encourages community interaction, not only through the tasty food it serves, and communal dining, but also the local musicians who play there and the great community atmosphere. Andy, you asked about the “training, jobs and support for refugees, unemployed and homeless people” - Lentil is staffed by refugees, unemployed and homeless people who are able to develop workplace skills by working in the restaurant, as well as connecting with other people in the community. It would be a great shame to see the loss of such a Melbourne icon as Lentil As Anything. Hopefully Melbournians can band together - as we have for other issues in the past - to keep Lentil operating at the convent.

      Reply

    • HomeTruths says:

      01:53pm | 07/04/10

      Hi Jen,

      I’m someone who’s worked at Lentil as Anything and I’m not a refugee or homeless person, nor was I long-term unemployed when I got the job. Many of those working at Lentil are migrants and many of them are taking a substantial wage for a relatively small amount of work. Many staff, especially at management level, are absolutely employable elsewhere yet work at Lentil for the kudos, earn a substantial wage, and also earn money via other business interests. Very few staff are refugees. There has been support for refugees at Lentil in the past, when there were people in management roles that actually had a social conscience, but currently that is not the case. There are lots of new migrants that volunteer at the restaurant but a lot of them are not paid. Those that are paid are given a ‘volunteer allowance’ - $50 per shift (a shift is usually about 8 hours long) and expected to work bloody hard for that measly sum. It works out to be about $6 per hour, far far below a minimum wage. There is no official training scheme in place for them. If they’re lucky enough to work shifts with others who are generous with their time and good at their jobs, they’ll learn some valuable skills. But unfortunately the reality is that many of those who volunteer/work at Lentil have absolutely no hope of moving on from Lentil into gainful employment. They are simply not given the chance to learn enough and they become set in bad habits due to those higher up saying things like “We can’t expect them to be on time for their shifts”. This is a patronising attitude and it causes a vicious circle that sees many people trapped at Lentil, earning next to nothing but having no chance of finding employment elsewhere because they are simply not skilled enough in hospitality.

      People like to put on rose-coloured glasses and think that the organisation is a beacon of goodness. Unfortunately, having seen it from the inside, I can reveal that there are indeed a huge amount of unethical business practices going on.

      Check out the recent SBS doco to see some of the financial problems in all their glory. Whilst some of the documentary showed events happening out of context, the debt that is owed to fruit and veg supplier Bruce Standish is very, very real. And huge. People in management were very happy to ignore the debt and go on trading and paying high wages to those in management positions, and two thirds of f***-all to those who worked extremely hard to keep the organisation going.  I believe that Bruce’s debt is being slowly paid off now, after it was exposed via the documentary. Had it not been there on our screens, I highly doubt that anyone at Lentil would have actually bothered to take it seriously.

      The philosophy of Lentil - that of “no set prices” in order to facilitate social inclusion for all in the community - is a wonderful one. Many people in the community are more than generous when it comes to supporting the organisation - both through donating money and through assisting the organisation in many other ways. Pay-as-you-feel can work, but it needs ethical management, and Lentil lacks this.

      It may be an icon, but sadly, Lentil is actually quite rotten at its core due to greed and stupidity of many of the people in charge there.

      Hope that clears a few things up.

    • Shaun says:

      02:38pm | 02/04/10

      Nooooo! I don’t want Melbourne to turn into Adelaide!

      I live in Adelaide, Melbourne is my only escape. I’m cetainly not going to bloody Brisbane (eeeew).

      The only time Adelaide is even remotely interesting is during the Fringe festival, the rest of the time I have to dodge crowds of stepford wives and avoid being run down by fleets of OAPs. Seriously Melbournians… Look at Adelaide and see your future if you continue down this path. Save yourselves, it’s too late for us.

      Reply

    • Chewy says:

      08:02pm | 02/04/10

      “As Melburnians, we tend to differentiate ourselves as more community and culturally-minded and less greedy than other Australians”
      What is it with so many Melbournites that spill this kind of crap. Look into second city syndrome boss, you and so many Melbourne folk have it in spades. Heck my grandma still has it and she moved to Sydney in the 1950s. We are all Australians for crying out loud.

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      07:36am | 04/04/10

      “second city sydrome”? I don’t think so. Is that why Sydney is having a go at stealing the GP? Australian Open? Tiger Woods? Even our Grand Final? Who is envious of who? Sydney is a tart and still can’t get an event of any significance. Many more Sydney siders come to Melbourne for a good time than the other way around, and you call us Mexicans. I suppose you can only go to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge so many times before you get bored with them. I love Sydney though..

    • Chewy says:

      11:37am | 05/04/10

      Peter Dont confuse a B grade NSW government poor atempts to steal events with a city, the facts is most people in Sydney dont think Sydney is the greatest place in in the world unlike er Melbourne. BTW I didnt call you Mexicans, but many a Melburnians do suffer from Australias cultural/food/coffee capital syndrome shheeez nobody up here gives a hoot about being labelled capital for anything that would be a sign of insecurity wouldnt it?
      My point incase you missed is Melbourne is the only city in this country were I see a greater allegiance to the city/state than the nation.
      Peter I hope you and other good Melbourne folk keep fighting the battle because honestly nobody in Sydney could not care less.

    • Peter says:

      05:46pm | 05/04/10

      Chewy, neither do I. If you read my last sentence, i said I loved Sydney. But there are times when anybody should stand up for their city.. like this one.. You tell me you don’t care while at the same time having a dig at Melbourne and Sydney’s lack of events more than pre-date the Government you have now…

    • Peter says:

      07:08pm | 05/04/10

      @ Chewy, i dont subscribe to Melbourne having great coffee, its quite ordinary actually. You can get a better coffee at a truck stop in Europe than you would in Melbournes finest cafe’s. I will agree with at the pretentious coffee scene in Melbourne, they are drinking crap and they think its good… Give me a lager any day…

    • B Proletariat says:

      10:36pm | 04/04/10

      I cannot work this out? Why in France/Italy you can buy a beer from a street vendor and drink while you walk along the street. I don’t see any ratbags or violence.
      Why in France/Italy restaurants and bars are open till late morning and yet I never see any ratbags or violence?
      Why my business parter from Italy come to stay with me and he cannot believe you cannot go to restaurant at 11pm for dinner because all is closed for business? I am 6th generation Australian and wonder what to say to my business mate from Italy?

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      10:21am | 05/04/10

      In Australia, we like to eat a little earlier, we have no siesta and jobs to go to in the morning.. Agree with you on the Alcohol bit, we are a nanny state, but some ratbags ruin it for the rest of us., but that shouldn’t be the case. Im sick of the behaviour of the minority restricting the freedoms of the majority.. Also we do have a culture of getting “smashed” like its a good thing…

    • eza says:

      12:48am | 16/04/10

      So many comments about Lentil As Anything going broke and not paying the vegie man.  Since when did we start believing everything we see on TV?  Is everyone planning on going down to Ramsey Street to visit Bouncer this weekend?

      Reply

    • mimi says:

      02:01am | 05/09/10

      Ok people, please don’t attack an entire city based on an unintentionally arrogant comment in a blog… Not all Melbournites are so critical of other cities.

      I used to live in Melbourne and while I love living in Edinburgh, I miss Melbourne immensely.  It IS a great city.  Art, live music, interesting fashion (and no I’m not talking about the unattractive skinny jean fad, eek), awesome cycling, delicious restaurants, great cafes serving strong coffee etc etc.  But that’s the reason I lived there, I loved it.  I’m sure people living in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Hobart etc have their reasons for loving their own cities.  Great architecture, bigger, smaller, faster, quieter, better weather, great national parks, beautiful beaches or whatever gems your city has.  No need to compete and get nasty…

      Reply
 
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