Soup for You! Café celebrates 10th anniversary

Soup for You! Café celebrates its 10th anniversary on Friday, Jan. 31st from 11:30-1:30 p.m. All are welcome enjoy a free bowl of soup and accompaniments in the basement of Trinity Lutheran Church at 2730 E. 31st St. Enter through the parking lot doors, where a greeter is waiting to direct guests to the café downstairs. Founder and Chef Judah Natif said, “It’s a big deal for us that we survived this long through thick and thin and lots of challenges.”
Over 120,000 meals have been served over the last decade. The work is made possible in part through monetary gifts and grants, and regular ongoing food donations provided by Common Harvest Farm, Twin Cities Food Justice, Sisters Camelot, Turtle Bread, Asa’s Bakery, Seward Co-op and United Noodles.
The vegetarian soup cafe was formerly located at Bethany Lutheran Church. When it closed, the soup cafe moved to Trinity Lutheran Church in June 2024.
Founder Chef Judah was born in the ghetto of Tunis, an Arab/Jewish child of a Holocaust survivor. Chef Judah was orphaned at an early age and became a child beggar, one among many. “I was hungry the first 8 years of my life,” said Chef Judah. Years later he landed in Minnesota (40 years ago), where he experienced homelessness and hunger once again. “I was a troll and lived underneath the Franklin Ave Bridge, a quarter mile from the Seward Coop, for an entire year,” he said. After surviving the streets, Chef Judah found himself at St. Martin’s Table, a non-profit Cafe and bookstore. He opened Soup For You! on Feb. 2, 2015.
If you haven’t visited before, you can expect to be treated with dignity and respect at the cafe, to enjoy a mix of guests from all walks of life, and to be nourished both by the healthy, homemade food and by the warm community environment. Lunch is offered daily Monday - Friday, noon to 1 p.m.
For more information, go to https://soupforyou.info.