A photo of a packed cafe offering discounted meals to struggling Australians highlights the severity of the country’s cost of living crisis.
Hare Krishna Food For Life’s Crossways vegan and vegetarian restaurant on Swanston Street in Melbourne’s CBD has been offering low-cost meals since opening in 1983.
Free meals are offered twice a day, six days a week for $9.50, with discounts for students, seniors and concession card holders.
“Generations of tertiary students have relied on Crossways meals to fuel their studies – we hope you’ll call, whether you’ve returned to on-campus classes or are still studying from home,” their website reads.
‘If you are a pensioner or a concession card holder, you just have to show your card to receive a discount. You can relax at Crossways.
“If you’ve fallen outside the social safety net, you can find a place here.”
An image of the busy restaurant shared on Reddit on Wednesday highlighted how many were increasingly relying on the restaurant due to difficult financial times.
“Celebrating Gopals Hare Krishna food charity on Swanston St – the only thing stopping me from starving on the streets of Melbourne,” the caption read.
A cafe customer shared a photo of a packed Food For Life Hare Krishna Crossways vegan and vegetarian restaurant on Swanston Street in Melbourne’s CBD.
The cafe customer claimed that the restaurant was “the only thing keeping him from starving on the streets” as it offered free, cheap meals to the homeless.
Others agreed, stating that the low-cost meals helped them overcome financial difficulties and were also delicious.
‘If you’re hungry, they don’t care about your (religious) affiliation, buy yourself some food, buddy. Mind-blowing kindness given the state of, well, everything,” one person wrote.
“If they pay you, definitely go in and contribute a few dollars more than what they ask for the food, it’s worth it, and the extra money helps them give food to people who really can’t spend anything,” commented a second.
“The food there is absolutely incredible. I challenge anyone to find similarly priced meals that are a fraction of the taste and substance of this place,” a third person added.
A fourth added: “When I was a child, after my mother and father divorced, my mother took us here frequently. We thought it was a pleasure. Years later we found out that the only reason we went was because mom couldn’t could afford to feed us for a few weeks.
However, some online commentators said they would not attend a Hare Krishna center no matter how cheap the food was.
Hare Krishna is a branch of Hindu theology and had long fought accusations of cult-like mental capture of its followers.
It comes after Foodbank, which is the country’s largest food charity, found that 3.7 million households in Australia were experiencing food insecurity.
Nearly half of those surveyed reported reducing their purchasing of fresh produce and protein to cope.
The organisation’s Victorian hub was forced to launch an emergency food truck in August to restock its shelves amid unprecedented demand and spiraling donations.
Foodbank Victoria chief executive David McNamara said working families increasingly needed support from the Foodbank.
“The middle class, who we all aspire to be, are the ones who feel this impact,” he told the Herald Sun.
“We have moms and dads who work two jobs to put families first and put food on the table, and unfortunately they are going to bed without food, they are sending their children to bed without food, and that is not our society “. that’s not who we think we are.’