In a cosy nook under the clock tower in Mt Martha Village, The Green Bowl, a project born of COVID, is flourishing. Friends Sharalyn Marchant and Ange Pnini met as prep school mums with daughters the same age at Mt Martha Primary and continued their friendship, including cold water swimming in the bay. As they swam, they talked about their food philosophies and found their passion for food gelled.
Ange says, “During COVID, we just wanted to make really good food and get nourishing food out to our community, and we needed it to be local. In the end, we found an amazing community kitchen and started a lease. Back then, we were handing the bags to people as they drove through the driveway.
Then, when restrictions eased, we were offered this little space under the clock tower where we could stick to our idea of creating two meal menus a week, making quality food for busy people. We open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, mid-week meals and a weekend meal, so you could always have a healthy go-to meal in your fridge. Sharalyn adds, “It’s an option for a healthy, wholesome, Friday night takeaway. Here in the village, we can chat to our customers and explain why we do, what we do, so it’s perfect.”
We are busy, we are moving quickly, we want to eat well, we have to nourish ourselves, and we need to have a choice of good, healthy, clean food.
“For us, it’s all about flavour,” says Ange. “There are so many different types of food: different cuisines, different nationalities… people follow a flavour trail. We are busy, we are moving quickly, we want to eat well, we have to nourish ourselves, and we need to have a choice of good, healthy, clean food.”
The Green Bowl has four local mums in the kitchen who’ve been together from the start. Ange says, “We have a great time. We have our tunes on, and we love our menu, which is a seasonal, rolling one, including Christmas, one of our busiest times, so people get not only nutritional value but also interesting food. They get to try things that they haven’t tasted before, with lots of different spices and cooked in different ways. We start early, prep all morning, and then come down here and set up. As a small business, we’ve got all the hats on.”
Sharalyn is coeliac and so has had many years of experiencing those challenges. Being inclusive around the table as much as possible is important to her. “In designing our menu, we found that we were plant-based, gluten-free in everything that we offered, with a variety of vegetables, because there are so many people these days who have their challenges as they all meet around a table to spend time together. People can add a protein, and they can add bread so that everyone can eat together.”
The Green Bowl’s regular fare is three different dishes each Tuesday and Friday; some customers only order one, and some order all three. Coming into winter, warming meals like curries are on offer. Ange and Sharalyn also make their own curry pastes, and spice and seed mixes from scratch, and carry products from other Mornington Peninsula artisan food and beverage vendors. They also source their fresh produce from a local Mt Martha food co-op, ‘Jointly’, which provides fresh produce straight from the farm or the market.
The Green Bowl’s tiny, funky shop front used to be a backyard bar in someone’s house. The pair discovered it on Facebook Marketplace. “It’s been a great find,” Ange says. “We got it modified and had the fridge put in. It’s perfect to show off everything we create, and people feel they can approach us.”
What if the demand becomes so great that they need to find a bigger space? “Then we’ll shapeshift,’’ Ange says. “We’ll learn and grow and change and love with whatever is good for our customers and good for us.”
All the food scraps from The Green Bowl are delivered to the Mr Martha Community Garden for the worm farms, and the resulting fertiliser is shared with the community. Their bowls are compostable or can be put in green waste, and the lids are recyclable. Their brown paper bags are brought back and recycled when Sharalyn and Ange shout out on social media. It’s reuse, repurpose, recycle for this dynamic duo. Customers appreciate it so much that they drop off limes and lemons from their own gardens. Ange says, “That’s how we choose to celebrate the area that we’re in.”
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