crew food

[Mystic Kal]

although i found the crew food very tasty, i was a bit dismayed by the very very elitist and religious attitudes of those running the cafe. I dont have a problem with Buddhism, having travelled round many buddhist countries myself.

i can however, only describe the attitude of the Buddhafields Cafe as self-centered and very western in design, never have i felt out of place in a buddhist society or temple, but that cafe made me feel as if i was stepping into a Catholic Church, i almost found myself looking round for a leering man on a cross!

My issue is this, in no alternative society should anyone be made to give energy to a religious society, be it Christian, Musilm or otherwise, we should not be Forced into entering a religious establishment simply because we are working and our crew tickets are only valid there.

In future it would be nice to have a crew cafe that accepted all people, all religions and did not conform to one specific group. I felt dread every time i had to go into that cafe and deal with the altogether quite rude attitudes of the elitists 'Buddhists' that were inside (although really they are the only 'buddhists' i have met in my years of traveling, who presume they are better than and can look down on another human being)

Is there anyway, in the future at Sunrise, that we could have a more friendly and less religious bunch serving us food?

Thanks

Kal

[Gh0sty]

If they have that sort of attitude lets face it they aint Buddhists then are they!!!

[Mystic Kal]

No your quite right, a certainly non-buddhist attitude, but they meditate and stuff so they MUST be Buddhists

Personally i found them, in particular the cafe manager Trevor i think his name is, very rude, obnoxious and as i said before they had a very Westernised energy and system going on. The food was a very high price when one of the fundimentals of Buddhism is to take little and give lots, they were openly rude to people who i can only assume they felt were on drugs or not of the same kind as them.

I would hate to think what the festival is like! or one of their cult like retreats. Anyway, it would be nice for Dan or someone involved with Sunrise to reply to this thread and explain why we as crew HAD to walk into a religious establishment (of any variety) and if there is any way this can be changed in the future.

Kal

[silly hippy]

i just read your post and was wondering when you say rude ,what were they doing that was rude?? were they blunt with you or just not very friendly ,spit in your food ??? sounds grim any how and its a shame you felt like that theres nothing nicer then sitting somewhere and relaxing during a meal .Especially when you have been working .If you wondering why im asking it because i was camping near a steward point and over heard someone saying the same .

granted i am nosy but just wondered .

[Mystic Kal]

Hmmm, its hard to put an energy to 'paper' just generally stand-offish and false, they seemed somewhat put out by the crew coming in for food i would say, more interested in making money than all that.

One of the things i found particularly odd was the leaflets around on the tables that suggested you donate as much as £2,000 so that they could buy a plot of land for retreats, a great idea but surely in the eyes of Buddhism, you would WORK for that sort of thing rather than beg for it? It all seemed very Christian to me, and i had the overwhelming feeling of being looked down upon and judge when i was in there. I even tried to make polite conversation with one or two of the staff (one mentioned in my previous post) when they were off duty and not busy or anything, got nothing but the cold shoulder and a dirty look! Not what was expected at all!

I was planning to steward at The BuddhaFields festival but now i am too weirded out by the whole ethos and what i felt from the cafe to go. My opinions of Buddhism were so so different to this and certainly Buddhist countries dont as a whole share this energy - it was very westernised and very judgemental.

I would just much rather not have to go back into that cafe! Plus i wanted to see if other had felt the same from their experience there, i am interested to hear about the steward who mentioned it, i wonder who that was! Glad i am not alone (in some ways) but at the same time it would be much nicer to not have to think about this sort of thing.

[silly hippy]

yes it seems like a raw deal but im wondering why they were like that it just seems odd.May be they didnt expect the type of people there or something and when i say that i mean the healthy mix of individuals that make sunrise so super spech.

Most busniess like to make money but id of thought if you want that then a friendly atmosphere would be the best bet .

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm they may have just had a shit time of it ,who knows ??? ANYONE

[vansmiff]

Mmm, well wasn't crew and only ate in there once but....yes hard to put finger on it but there was certainly something a bit dismissive/disdainful about the attitude of those that I dealt with....kind of felt like I had done something wrong and they were doing me a great favour by selling me food....lets just say I didn't go back...

And yes been to many Buddhist countries and can't say the Buddhafield Cafe resembled in any way the experiences or attitudes I have experienced elsewhere....

[martianflips]

I wasn't at sunrise
I am not a Buddhist, but then again neither was Gautama Siddharta
I am aware that you can bump into people whose behaviour does not match their 'publicity' everywhere and anywhere
I think it is fair to say that that sort of situation can generally be transcended
I also think that it is cool to maitain ones own personal integrity
Namaste

[Mystic Kal]

VanSmith, thank you i am glad i am not going mad.

Martin, i didnt not intend to slag off the Buddhist religion as a whole, or anyone that chooses to be buddhist, simply point out that in a professional and alternative environment its unfair to force people to give energy to any religious organisation particularly one that is judgemental and dismissive of them.

Any other points made about the Buddhist religion were done so merely to point out how 'unbuddhist' this particular group of people are

hope thats cleared things up - Kal

[silly hippy]

was the food nice .

[pesh]

the few Buddhists i know are fairly non judgemental and would only tell you they were Buddhist if you asked them.
it really sounds like you were in the production office of a corporate gig...

[Mystic Kal]

the food was really nice, very expensive (to those without crew slips) like £4.50 for a veggie burger and handful of salad.

i was surpised by the cost of the food, but i was very weirded out by the atmosphere! Combine the two and its no wonder the only people i saw eating in there were crew!

Lol at the corporate gig gag

[spacecactus]

I enjoyed the crew food at buhudist cafe, but was shocked when they said I couldnt have an english breakfast on my crew meal ticket and had to pay a contribution.

At dinner I asked for a little tofu and was told that they could give any tofu on a crew ticket!!!!! Let the poor vegan who had little picked hard all day just suffer without protine!!!!