On April 26th, a big community of friends came together to create our first Karma Kitchen in Vienna, Austria!



Hosted at Markhof ("Village in a City" experiment) in partnership with Dream Academia, the day was filled with unending joy and co-creation. In the heart of Vienna, Markhof has been a co-working and co-learning space that combines all community needs: learning, working, celebrating and living. It's vision is to create spaces where the WE is more important than the I. Dozens of volunteers, from kids to grandparents created a special atmosphere in a brand new kitchen that was used on that day for the very first time.



Ashima flew in from Romania, Carollyne from Netherlands -- and in many ways, it was mini reunion of our time at Karma Kitchen in Auroville last December!

In fact, we were also inaugurating the superb kitchen at Markhof. What an auspicious opening!



Oh, and the food was absolutely royal, with multiple rounds of delight. Before you even taste the food, you can feel the love just with the thoughtful presentation:



That, by the way, is an Avocado wrap with Pad Thai Dip. The whole menu was vegan, incidentally.



We had to have vegetable curry, of course! A nod to our India brothers and sisters. :)



Cornelius Pietzner was attending for the first time: "'Liebe und Begeisterung' are the words that come to mind with the magic you all created yesterday. I felt nourished in many ways, and loved your culinary creativity! Sweet potato, nuts, lemon sorbet! Thank you!" Yes, that's right, that was one of the desserts:



There was Carmel Brulee too. :)



As you can see, it was a pure labor of love. There were certainly many volunteers, but chief among them was our Michelin star chef! Alma (the invisible mastermind behind the scenes!) had met him two months ago, told him about the concept, and asked if he would be open to serving -- and he not only said yes, but shared the inspiring story of how serving food had changed, and saved, his life. (More on that story, coming soon!) We were all just deeply grateful for his open-hearted generosity. Below, Katzi is introducing the chef (in the hat) to another young member of Austrian parliament:



Stefan, co-Founder of Markhof puts it like this: "The day was not just an amazing experience, but I think I've rarely had experienced such an enriching day in my life . That is your energy coupled with ours. Your serving enthusiasm is unique. Let us create together many other such nourishing moments and encounters."



We are so grateful that Nipun could enjoy those very special moments with us! Everyone more than paid forward for having Karma Kitchen experience, and already, there are talks to other restaurants who want to participate, so the ripples will surely continue on.

As we ended, all the volunteers came together for one final act of kindness. First there was a song offering (with beautiful Austrian lyrics), and then we went outside. Both my and Katzi's car had broken down, so everyone surprised us each one of us with a used car. Yes. It's simply unbelievable! They crowd-funded it the week before. It left us in tears. Where else but in the Dreamicon Valley?!?



It is giving that we receive. Quite literally. Thank you, all, for your belief in a new dream for a world that works for all -- a world of big hearted love, generosity, and kindness.