CITIZEN'S KITCHEN
A grassroots wartime kitchen helping Israelis in need, one delicious meal at a time.
Citizen's Kitchen is a grassroots wartime meal operation started by Aliya and Shaendl, two sisters originally from Berkeley, California. Before October 7, they provided cooking lessons to tourists from all over the world from their Tel Aviv-based studio, Citrus & Salt. When war broke out, the sisters put out a call for volunteers and started cooking. Dozens of people showed up, with more and more coming every day after that, until they outgrew their small cooking studio. “We’ve had to harness our resilience to lead over 3,000 volunteers this year,” shared Aliya.
To date, Citizen’s Kitchen has provided over 100,000 meals to soldiers, hostage families, reserve duty families, displaced Israelis from the north and south, and the injured.
In addition, as many of Citizen's Kitchen volunteers are new immigrants, the volunteer effort has turned into a community. Citizen's Kitchen hosts Shabbat dinners and events that help keep the community strong and united, while creating light to combat the darkness.
As war wages on on multiple fronts, Citizen’s Kitchen’s mission is far from complete. We encourage you to create your own light by donating to Citizen’s Kitchen so that they can continue to nourish both the bellies and souls of Israelis from all over the country.