“Table for Six Billion, Please!”
“Table for Six Billion, Please!” is our international sister restaurant project in which sister relationships are formed between the White Dog Cafe and restaurants in countries where there is poor dialogue with the U.S. Our purpose is to promote better understanding in the world community by opening up new avenues of communication, beginning with our mutual interest in food. We envision a world where everyone has a place at the global table, believing that world peace is achieved through dialogue and understanding, and the achievement of economic justice, rather than through military and economic domination.
International Sister Restaurants
Paradox Cafe, Amsterdam, Netherlands -
El Bambu, Havana, Cuba - Stikliai, Vilnius, Lithuania -
La Casa del Pan, Chiapas, Mexico - Selva Negra, Matagulpa, Nicaragua -
Cabbages & Condoms, Bangkok, Thailand - La Bibliotheque, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Educational Tours
The major part of the program is sponsoring educational trips to our sister restaurant countries which are led by nonprofit educational groups specializing in those countries. The tour group comprises approximately 20 White Dog customers along with proprietress Judy Wicks and chef/partner Kevin von Klause. We not only experience different cuisines, cultures, economic and political systems, but also gain a better understanding of the important issues in each country and how U.S. foreign policy affects the lives of other people. Exploring the food system from farm to table is a way we use to understand the realities in the countries we visit.
Culinary Exchange
Our chef works with the kitchen staff of the sister restaurant to exchange recipes & cooking techniques, and to learn about local foods. Back at the White Dog, a dinner is prepared using ideas from the culinary exchange, followed by a slide show and discussion of the trip. In some cases, the sister restaurant visits us in Philadelphia to prepare a meal and talk about issues in their country.
People to People Diplomacy
By traveling to other countries and hosting international visitors we hope to foster interest and discussion at home and broaden understanding and citizen activism in foreign policy issues. Through direct links with the people in other countries we gain knowledge not available through the mass media, which enables us to develop opinions about foreign policy issues independent of U.S. government positions, and to work politically to change policy.
Advocating Socially Responsible Business
We are active in the international movement to promote “fair trade” with developing nations and advocate business practices which are responsive to the well being of the community and the protection of the environment. As a small, socially responsible business, we offer another face of capitalism from the international corporations which have often taken advantage of the people and environment in developing countries.
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