From The Straits Times    |

Rocker Jon Bon Jovi has opened the doors to his pay-what-you-can restaurant in his home state where those who have been living on nothing but bread and a prayer can sit down to healthy, organic and vegetarian meals.

The Soul Kitchen, a project of the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, opened their doors last week in Red Bank, New Jersey as a community restaurant where diners pay what they can. There are no prices alongside menu items like gumbo, three-bean chili, pork chops with fig and apple chutney or barbecued grilled salmon.

If they can’t afford to pay, patrons can instead ‘pay it forward’ by volunteering their time.

Inspired by another restaurant in Denver called SAME (So All May Eat) which also served hot meals in exchange for volunteering as payment, The Soul Kitchen was developed to distance itself from images of a soup kitchen, and is designed as a brasserie, or, as Bon Jovi told Grub Street New York, “the hottest-looking restaurant in this town.”

Last December, US President Barack Obama appointed Jon Bon Jovi to the White House Council on Community Solutions for his philanthropic work in poverty and homelessness through his foundation.

Jamie Oliver’s restaurant chain Fifteen, which has locations in London, Amsterdam and Cornwall, is also staffed through an apprentice program that aims to give young people ages 18 to 24 — many of whom are underprivileged — work experience. — AFP RELAXNEWS