The cost-of-living complaints are growing louder but a quiet ‘sospeso’ lunch movement is taking place in Canberra that’s giving free lunches to those genuinely in need.

At the Food Co-op in Civic, 50 to 100 “suspended” or “hanging” lunches a month are being paid for anonymously by random charitable customers and given away to those doing it tough.

Suspended lunches have been offered at the Food Co-op since 2015 but the actual concept has been around for more than a century. Suspended coffee, or “espresso sospeso”, emigrated from Naples in Italy to Australia in the early 1900s. When customers bought a coffee, they’d pay in advance for a cup to be given to someone else who couldn’t afford it.   

The genius of the Food Co-op’s suspended lunches, however, is that those in need don’t always have the facilities to cook for themselves (even if free food is available at food pantries).

Also, these suspended or hanging lunches aren’t your basic soup-kitchen fare, these culinary delights are an organic vegan feast that you’d expect to find in a fine-dining restaurant.

If you’ve never eaten at the Food Co-op, the cuisine has become legendary amongst its loyal regulars – queues often spill out the door. There’s only one lunch option on the menu each day, with each chef bringing to the kitchen their own rich multicultural background – Ethiopian, Sudanese and Japanese. Imagine spicy lentils, curried chickpeas and exotic veggie stews.

The suspended lunches are tracked on a chalkboard, with volunteer workers notching up each item paid for and scratching them off as they are redeemed.

The most remarkable thing about the Food Co-op, which is nestled in Civic beside the ANU campus and nearby public service offices, is its eclectic mix of humanity. There’s no class system here – no APS levels or academic hierarchy, just a scatter of mismatched furniture where overseas and local students mingle with office workers, uni lecturers and migrant workers.

The Food Co-op said that the amount of suspended lunches given away varied, ranging from eight per week to 26. On a monthly basis, suspended lunches range from 50 to 100.

This figure is slowly on the rise, perhaps due to a recent trend of customers paying for batches of 10 suspended lunches at a time, rather than just single lunches intermittently.

Anecdotally, people who are taking up suspended lunches range from struggling uni students, to people out of work or between jobs, to homeless people.  

The Food Co-op’s philosophy rings true – food for people not for profit. Something must be working because it’s the oldest Co-op in Australia and has been running since 1976. There are no bosses here, it’s entirely community-run and members own and manage the Co-op.

Another quiet achiever is the Co-op’s Community Fund, which people can dip into if they need help to pay for groceries (the Co-op is both a shop and cafe). Customers are welcome to donate to the Community Fund when they pay for their goods.

The Food Co-op is located at 3 Kingsley Street Civic and its week-day lunches are served from 12 midday to 2pm – or until they run out.

The Food Co-op is on Facebook, Instagram and online www.cbrfoodcoop.org.au