Welcome to Café Kenjallys here on our beautiful coastline. That’s Café Kindness, if your Manx is a bit rusty. I’m Ed, short for Edard. It means Happy Keeper, which suits me! Nothing makes me happier than a belly full of good Manx food, shared with friends. 

I’m a circular food technician. My job is to make sure nobody goes hungry and not a crumb is wasted. I’m based here but connected across the Island. 

May I recommend the Manx broth and sourdough? The broth’s packed with barley, peas and potatoes grown here. You can add some Manx lamb if you’d like to. They’re part of the system too, keeping grass short for the lapwings, and there’s beef too from cattle helping create a mosaic of habitat. 

If you’re celebrating, it’s got to be the scampi. The langoustines are world-famous, thanks to the sustainable fishery. Take a seat by the window and you’ll see the creel pots getting sorted. Now that’s fresh. 

Our menu is full of wonderful, healthy Manx-grown produce. Our goal is for people to know and feel proud of where their food comes from. We’re more than a café. We’re one piece of a much bigger, thriving food system. 

It hasn’t always been like this. When I was small, we produced only a tiny amount of our own food. Much of the rest travelled a long way to reach us, from places facing water shortages and unpredictable growing seasons themselves. Our farmers couldn’t always compete with supermarket prices, and their costs were rising. 

Change was slow until we realised that real caution meant paying attention to what was happening around us. From extreme weather to pressures on farmers everywhere, we realised we needed to protect our food supply food for the Island. 

We still import plenty of produce, we’ve got global tastes! We’re proud of our exports too, but knowing we can depend on ourselves when we need to gives the Island a real strength. 

Behind the scenes there’s a buzzing network of growers, farmers, fishers, processors, kitchens and volunteers, moving food wherever it’s needed. There are good, flexible jobs working with food and it connects us. Schools have gardens. We’ve got community orchards and allotments. Young people learn from older folk, passing on a lifetime of knowledge. We all understand food a little better because we’ve had a hand in growing, cooking or sharing it. 

We’ve learned that looking after nature means better food too. Healthier soil, healthier seas and healthier ecosystems mean healthier businesses, happier fishers, farmers, chefs and customers. 

My favourite times are community kitchen nights. They're held all over the Island now, so you can usually find one somewhere most evenings. People say you hear them first. There’s so much laughter, chatting and the smell of something delicious cooking. It feeds the soul as well as the body. Everyone's welcome. Some people come because they need a meal, some for a bit of social time, some to share favourite recipes across generations and cultures. It’s normal for everyone to volunteer a few hours each year, and some are regulars.   

What does food mean to me?  Care. Care for each other. For our farmers. Care for nature. Care for this Island that we're lucky enough to call home.  

Nothing wasted. No one left behind. 

Finished? 

Yindyssagh. Wonderful. 

The compost bay’s just over there…