Amelia Brookes
Last Friday, Impact‘s Amelia Brookes experienced Nottingham’s New Art Exchange’s Cafébar. Here are her thoughts.
On a bright Friday afternoon, I travelled to Hyson Green’s New Art Exchange, to observe the new plant-based launch of their café, CaféBar. Being greeted by a plant-based and vegan maker’s market, a cooking demonstration, and a friendly introduction by New Art Exchange’s Marketing and Communication Lead, Maria, I knew that there was going to be a lot to see, and certainly a lot to review!
At the market on the second floor of the building, I encountered several stalls sharing plant-based goodies, such as soaps, baked food and jams. One stall that I found particularly interesting was The Soap Dragons, which centered around vegan handmade soaps with punny names- of course, I bought three. It seemed to be a local business, as were most of the stalls in that room; the fact that there was a space for communities to gather to sell local produce and raise money for good causes, like the Nottingham Refugee Forum, made me very happy.
Bags full of goodies
I talked with a few of the vendors about vegan and vegetarian baking, something that I’m interested in myself, and received a few tips, but most of the things I received from that spacious room were bags full of goodies- some to tuck into, some to display in my home.
Downstairs, on the first floor, Food for a Future performed a cooking demonstration for us, making red lentil fritters with cucumber dip. They spoke a little bit about supporting accessible veganism in local communities, and I saw a similar ethos in CaféBar itself, with their affordable prices, nutritious options and savoury across to sweet options.
Would consider returning another day just to visit the gallery in full
It’s also notable to me that the CaféBar does accept student discounts, making it accessible to many students in Nottingham, and living in and around Hyson Green. This also seems to apply to the New Art Exchange itself- while I was there, I had a look at some of the exhibitions, and would consider returning another day just to visit the gallery in full- admission is fully free, and the artwork centres young and talented voices.
There was a variety of savoury and sweet
At the end of the CaféBar’s plant-based launch, vegan canapés and little treats were brought out for us to sample as we chatted. There was a variety of savoury and sweet – Peri Peri Chick’n cups, Medjool dates stuffed with lemon cream cheese and pistachio, Pani Puri and vegan sushi with tofu and ginger. They were delicious and bite sized, and I’m sure that the food made at the CaféBar in the future will be just as tasty.
Overall, I see the CaféBar and New Art Exchange working together to provide culture and enrichment to visitors through both food and art, and I’m very glad that I was able to not only speak to Maria about the launch, but also thank the chefs for their work, and observe the space that local businesses occupied. Seeing the community enjoy their time here gave me hope for the future of the CaféBar, and I recommend it to anyone who would want an affordable and high-quality lunch after taking in the artworks.
Amelia Brookes
Featured image courtesy of Alex Watkin. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
In-article images courtesy of @new_art_exchange via @instagram.com. No changes were made to these images.
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