La.Die Revolte is a solidarity restaurant project developed by the Donbat Institute. It is dedicated to experimenting with fairer economic models in the fields of food, hospitality and collective life.

It is being conceived in collaboration with Marc Zory-Casali, the project’s future chef, with the ambition of developing simple, high-quality and accessible cuisine based, wherever possible, on local, organic and seasonal produce.

The project begins with a simple imbalance: in many cities, part of the population lacks regular access to healthy and dignified food. La.Die Revolte seeks to address this gap not through an isolated charitable gesture, but by creating an economic, relational and cultural system capable of producing concrete redistribution.

The restaurant will operate through a system of adaptive pricing. Several price levels may be offered to reflect the different economic circumstances of those who come to eat: a solidarity price for people receiving Bürgergeld, a standard price and a supporting price. The aim is to provide access to quality food without assigning people to a position of dependency, while allowing those who can afford to contribute more to do so.

Those who come to eat are therefore not merely customers. They participate in a situated economy in which every meal, contribution and presence can form part of a system of support. A proportion of the resources generated may be used to provide meals and finance local food initiatives.

The project is not limited to distributing meals. It seeks to create a framework in which food becomes a meeting point between hospitality, solidarity, work, economics and transmission. The restaurant may therefore operate simultaneously as a place for cooking, a redistribution hub, a meeting place, a volunteering platform and a venue for public events.

Within the Donbat method, La.Die Revolte makes it possible to intervene on several levels at once: food insecurity, social isolation, economic vulnerability, limited access to shared spaces, and the separation between those who consume, those who produce and those who are excluded from these circuits.

The project could take different forms: pay-it-forward meals, solidarity menus, free or pay-what-you-can meals, fundraising evenings, cooking workshops, collaborations with local associations, the recovery or use of unsold food, cultural events, public discussions, and forms of transmission relating to the solidarity economy and sustainable food.

In the longer term, the Donbat Institute also intends to develop a social reintegration programme around the restaurant for people leaving prison. This programme could be based in part on a garden connected to the site, whose maintenance, cultivation and use would link working with the land, social rebuilding, collective responsibility and food production. This dimension remains to be developed with suitably qualified partners in order to guarantee a fair, appropriate and respectful framework for those involved.

The challenge is to build a model that does not separate quality from solidarity. La.Die Revolte should not be conceived as a place providing only minimal relief, but as a dignified, welcoming and demanding space where cooking remains an act of care, relationship and attention. Solidarity is not added from the outside; it is integrated into the way the place itself operates.

La.Die Revolte forms part of the Donbat Institute’s research into proportionate, inventive and responsible forms of transformation. It begins with a concrete imbalance—unequal access to dignified food—and responds through a system capable of connecting people, resources, skills and forms of commitment.

The project is currently in the development phase. It may grow through partnerships with restaurants, food-aid associations, neighbourhood collectives, producers, chefs, volunteers, cultural organisations, social institutions, reintegration programmes and people directly affected by food insecurity.

In time, the Solidarity Restaurant could become a pilot site for the Donbat Institute: a space where the economy is not merely a means of financing an activity, but a field for intervention, experimentation and social transformation.

Project Status

Project currently in development, in collaboration with Marc Zory-Casali.

Areas of Work

Solidarity-based food access
Adaptive pricing
Local, organic and seasonal produce
Pay-it-forward meals
Redistributive economy
Hospitality
Food insecurity
Sustainable cooking
Social reintegration
Garden
Volunteering
Cultural events
Transmission
Alternative economic models

Keywords

Donbat Institute
Solidarity restaurant
Food
Solidarity economy
Donbat
Redistribution
Hospitality
Economic insecurity
Bürgergeld
Social reintegration
Commons
Transmission