By Rebecca Mancini
Published in June 2013
The Queen Street Commons Café is a place of conversation. It happens as people meet others accidentally or purposefully – over shared coffee and lunch, in the moment of placing their orders or serving food, while waiting in line, clearing tables or hanging out at the Coffee Bar. It is a conversation that happens through an invitation to play cards, a recommendation to try someone else’s favourite dessert, the gift of music played on the piano or a quick comment across tables. It is a conversation that comes from the sense of comfort, familiarity and welcome that people extend to each other.
Food is always at the centre of the conversation. The Café serves many meals but doesn’t have a menu. Each day the food changes with a selection that is as diverse as the people who eat it. Our daily special and soup change every day and are often not repeated for weeks. Our entrees, wraps and salads are always slightly different with a flair coming from the mix of people doing the preparing in Maurita’s Kitchen. The desserts shift with the seasons, though we have learned to make sure that the tried and true favourites are always present! The food has the wholesome taste of a home cooked meal and there is always something for people with dietary restrictions and differing taste buds. Without a menu and with such a diversity of options, each order becomes a conversation and people talk with each other about the food they are enjoying.
The Coffee Bar fills the space with the deep smell of freshly roasted coffee. We have recently added the coffee bar and are delighted at the ways it engages people in more conversation. Our daily roasting of coffee is a visual display that is fun to watch while it also fills the place with the warm comforting smell of coffee. People sit with us at the Coffee Bar, watching (and offering comments) as we make specialty coffees, teas, cold summer drinks and prepare bags of coffee to sell.
There is a constant flow of people in the Café – from the rotation of volunteers who help to serve the food, prepare the drinks and keep the Café running; to the people who come for lunch or an afternoon snack; to the people who come to say hello. We work to keep our prices low so that many people can afford to enjoy a meal out or a coffee with friends but there is no need for anyone to buy anything and people are welcome to spend the day. Many people take us up on this invitation – playing cards, doing puzzles, working on their computers, doing school work and visiting with others. They are the people who welcome each other and who keep the conversation going.
Evenings in the Café are often full of events. Monday evenings are for Open Space, a time for people with disabilities and their caregivers to hang out together. Speak English Café fills the space on Thursday evenings with people practicing English while Tuesdays and Wednesdays are open for groups to host their events ranging from meetings to movie nights and speaker series. Friday evenings are music nights, with a wide range of groups from jazz to folk to punk rock sharing their music. We welcome people to think creatively with us on how the space can be used and the events that can be hosted.
Conversation can be uncomfortable and it can be unpredictable and challenging, but it can also be enlivening and exciting. For many people, the Café is the old style corner store or the village square – it’s the place to engage in discussion and companionship, it is the place to live out life’s highs and lows. You never know what a day will hold, but you do know that it will be interesting and full of people who bring themselves fully to the conversation. In her book Turning To One Another, Margaret Wheatley says: “The practice of conversation takes courage, faith and time. We don’t get it right the first time, and we don’t have to. We settle into conversation, we don’t just do it. As we risk talking to each other about something we are about, as we become curious about each other, as we slow things down, gradually we remember this timeless way of being together.” This is what happens every day at the Queen Street Commons Café.
