Thalia Wright //
On the 20th of March, Smålands opened its doors and invited everyone for a breakfast, free of charge. If you missed it, don’t worry, there will be community breakfasts every Friday at 7:00, courtesy of the newly formed group “Breakfast for All.” As the name suggests, everyone is welcome to have a meal, grab a quick coffee, or maybe just a conversation. Dackekuriren has investigated how this new club came about, what it stands for, and whether the French toast is as good as they say. To get a first hand impression, DackeKuriren attended the first ever breakfast.
It’s only 8:30, and you can tell. A certain lull hangs over the conversations in the Smålands pub—people are yawning and stretching, quietly sipping their coffee. It’s unusual to see the sun shining into the typically dingy room, but today spring pours in through the windows. It’s the premiere of the breakfast club, and 30 people, give or take, are sitting around the tables in the pub. Plates and bowls, coffee mugs, and juice glasses decorate the tables, a contrast to tomorrow night’s beer bottles and cocktail glasses.
“Did you try the French toast?” somebody asks me, a girl I’ve never seen before. She sits down at my table.
I had tried it; it was perfectly sweet with cinnamon on top, not dry at all. We begin to talk, about the usual school stuff, drifting to our parents and Lord of the Rings. A guy I’ve seen around but never talked to joins our table.
“Did you try the French toast?” I ask him. He has. “Sublime!” he says.
Usually, sitting with too many strangers feels exhausting. But I think we all subconsciously agreed that it’s too early to have any high expectations for conversation. We’re just happy to pass the time together.
Around us, one girl sits alone with her tomato sandwich and her computer in front of her. She sips a cup of coffee as she reads whatever is on her screen. Another group of people is sitting in some sort of meeting, intensively going back and forth between different dates.
One of the volunteers puts on the Swedish radio. It’s too quiet to hear what they say, and I’m not listening anyway. My mind is filled with other thoughts: how in tarnation did they make that French toast?
To get some answers, DackeKuriren tracked down Marnie, one of the people who has followed the project since it was only an idea. Marnie is not their real name, but a pseudonym to protect their identity.
We meet in an undisclosed location (Expen). It’s dark outside, and there’s not a soul in sight. To get to the bottom of the French toast, I have to play it cool. I start with a harmless question.
“How did you come up with the idea for the breakfast club?” I ask, keeping it casual. I want to keep a low profile.
“It’s pretty funny, actually. Me and some friends were at a birthday party. We were talking about Elina Pahnke’s book Alla ska äta. We had all been part of the book club at India Däck. The book really opens the discussion of the political potential of food. We were bouncing ideas around, and then one of us mentioned a breakfast club. Everyone got really excited.” They respond with what seems like genuine enthusiasm, but I know not to get distracted.
I ask my next question: “There’s a similar project in Malmö, ‘Hela Malmö.’ Were you inspired by them?”
“Yes, definitely. We went on a field trip there, and it was amazing! Very quiet and calm, but welcoming. There were people of all ages. Some people came just for the hot chocolate. And there were only two people working there. Before Corona, there used to be 200 people at the breakfasts, and even then there were only two people. I highly recommend any Malmö people visit them.”
“What happened then? How did it go from an idea to actual breakfast?”
“After the visit to Hela Malmö, we felt very sure that we wanted to do this. So we started a working group—of course—and held an open meeting. We decided on the name, goals, and then began contacting other groups that we thought could help us out.” She explains. “We sent hundreds of emails to schools and every organisation thats remotely related. We wanted to reach outside the usual Smålands crowd.”
Marnie goes on to explain that the Breakfast Club is based on something known as Mutual Aid. It is a concept born from the idea that when the state fails us, we take care of each other. A key aspect of mutual aid is building community and relationships while organising.
“Do you think you can succeed in building a broader community here?” I ask.
“I mean, it’s just the first time. But yeah, I think so. So far it was mostly Smålands people. But I think we need to poster some more. It’s hard to reach outside the Smålands bubble with social media.”
“The moral of the story is always to poster more, right?” I smile. Marnie nods and says:
“Yeah, poster more. And don’t underestimate the ideas you have at a party late at night.”
I sense that the interview is nearing its end. I hesitate, but I have to ask the pressing question I know is on everyone’s lips. I take a deep breath and ask:
“How did you make the French toast?” I force myself to keep eye contact. It’s quiet for a moment as the shock washes over Marnie’s face. But before long, her eyes narrow and her nostrils flare. In a split second she turns around, throws herself through the window, glass flying everywhere, and runs off into the night.
What is Mutual Aid?Mutual aid is a bottom-up approach to care, often filling a need or gap that the state leaves open or creates purposefully. Mutual aid consists of collectively organized and volunteer-based initiatives that fulfill social and economic needs in the community. It comes in many forms, like medicine, education, disaster relief, legal help, clothing, and so on.In theory, Mutual Aid runs on the principle that people give what they can, without an expectation of getting something in return. Mutual aid is not designed for ‘the most deserving’; it is not something you send in a CV hoping to qualify to participate. The care is mutual, not conditional. This is what sets mutual aid apart from institutionalized care programs, which often require someone to be the ‘perfect victim’ in order to receive help, creating hierarchy and dependency.Mutual aid also emphasizes relationships and community. It aims to organize without hierarchy, with decision-making being an open and collaborative process, rather than a small, closed organizing group.
Published 2026-04-22 in Vol 1/26 Dacke Äter |