FERN held its first soup night this week, serving up organic, vegan meals to homeless people.

Raw foodie Karen Bartz is bringing the international Food not Bombs idea to the Fremantle Environmental Resource Network, and a grant has let the group put on 12 work-for-the-dole participants to harvest and cook the food.

She says “traditional soup kitchens too often focus on processed and unimaginative meals. That is our point of difference. We aim to offer organic, vegan meals with a high emphasis on nutrition”.

• FERN co-convener Karen Bartz and Clotilde Franco serve up some healthy food. Photo by Matthew Dwyer

Ms Bartz says focusing on healthy meals means “the future health savings could be enornous,” and adds “with so much food being thrown out, why can’t we feed all Australians to the best of our ability?”

The first week in they’ve had a couple dozen people down for a bite to ear, and since it’s also near the FERN cafe (where customers buy food) there’s a good mix of people and not as much stigma as a traditional homeless food service.

“It makes it a nice environment… it’s a good vibe with a good variety of people.”

The project runs for six months and Ms Bartz is hoping the support will be renewed.

by DAVID BELL