A B R FESTIVAL

An article by Christothea Iakovou in Parathyro｜Politis, told here in English

Food holds a special place in who we are, writes Christothea Iakovou. It can also be the reason people meet, get to know each other and start doing things together. On a Tuesday in October she visited the community kitchen at OPU House in Agioi Omologites, Nicosia, during an open conversation organised by ABR as part of TY-CO.

Every Tuesday at around 8pm, people from very different backgrounds gather in the courtyard of OPU House, a space made for citizens to meet and talk. The ideas behind it have grown into collective initiatives over about three years, and the model is spreading: two or three similar kitchens have started elsewhere on the island.

A table that fits everyone

It began with occasional barbecues and an open invitation. When a weekly meal was first suggested, Elena Georgiou recalls, the first question was who would take on the extra work. Iakovos Sierifis volunteered, and the table has been set almost every week for a year and a half, August included.

A WhatsApp group does the planning. At the end of each month people pick a Tuesday to cook, and others help, kitchen experience or not. The team estimates numbers, tries to cut food waste and thinks about dietary needs, so nobody who turns up goes without.

Alicia joined only this summer, after months of a neighbour's invitations, and offered to cook the very next week. She remembers an August night with about 90 people, when the blender broke and someone ran home for another.

Maria, from a village in the UK, described a gleaning project there: volunteers pick fruit that would go to waste and give it away, bringing young and old together.

Martha from ABR, speaking as an introvert, said the kitchen gives you a reason to start a conversation without knowing anyone.

A REASON TO START A CONVERSATION

A space to talk about the city

Georgios Sotiropoulos, one of OPU's two founders, came back to Cyprus after seven years in Amsterdam and found it hard to enjoy the city in the same way. The difference, he felt, was in how people move, spend their time and meet.

He cycled to a municipal consultation on transport and met Iakovos Loizou, who had also come by bike. They swapped numbers, had a beer and started meeting every Thursday.

Those conversations needed a home. When they found OPU House they had no clear plan, and at first many activities were just the two of them. Then others joined, proposed their own ideas and spent more and more time at the house.

The spaces are there. How do they open up?

Could more empty buildings come to life this way? Owners, the municipality and the state all need to be involved, Georgios said, and temporary uses should get more room. Others named the obstacles: owners abroad, access, bureaucracy.

Elena pointed to schools, which every neighbourhood already has, with space, kitchens and water, and suggested opening them to residents after classes.

The talk then turned to Makariou Avenue. A community kitchen alone will not change a street, Georgios said. The aim is the conditions for more initiatives, including a place where architects, planners and citizens can look at maps together and talk about the city's future.

He described Amsterdam's Red Carpet approach, where the city makes walking easy, pleasant and safe, and explained the name Organisation for Positive Urbanism: believing change is possible, and helping it happen.

The spaces we have forgotten

The article closes with Cyprus's traditional community associations, the σωματεία. Built as meeting points, many have narrowed over time. Could they open again to workshops, talks and projects led by residents?

The point is not only to make new spaces but to give existing ones back their role. As the Tuesday kitchen shows, a space, the will to take part and a chance to share can be enough.

Read the original article in Greek on Politis →

Original article: Christothea Iakovou, «Από ένα γεύμα... στη διεκδίκηση της πόλης», Parathyro｜Politis, 26 October 2026.

Photos: George Stylianou and OPU Community

TY-CO (communities in conversation) · ABR – Alternative Brains Rule · Co-funded by the European Union

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.