Between 850 and 950 meals are distributed daily through the program of the National Kitchen in Niš, while the number of beneficiaries has remained approximately the same for years, around 1.000. Beneficiaries of cash social assistance who are unable to work, as well as their family members with the same status, have the right to one free meal in Niš.
One free meal per day provides up to 1.300 calories, i.e. 500 grams of cooked food and the same amount of bread. However, it is often not enough for people for whom social assistance cannot provide basic nutritional needs, Marija Stankov writes for Nova Ekonomi.
After the users of the public kitchen in Niš complained about the quantity and quality of the food they receive, the secretary of the Red Cross in Niš, Sanja Stojanović, announced that they will be happy with fresh fruit already on Friday.
"When he pours that rare ladle, rare spoon, you can't even put it on your teeth," said one user to N1 last week, while the others complained that they "don't remember" the salad or fruit on the food trucks.
"I already have some indications that donors and socially responsible companies have contacted us and that they will receive fruit and nectarines already on Friday. I hope that the user complaints will succeed in enabling us to find donors and provide funds so that the users can receive fruit and salad at least twice a month," Stojanović told Nova Ekonomija.
Only one meal a day
She explains that the Center for Social Work determines who is entitled to a meal from the soup kitchen. It is additionally prescribed that one meal contains 500 grams of cooked food and half a kilogram of bread, that it has a nutritional value of 1.100 to 1.300 calories, but that this is not enough for many, because it is still only one meal a day.
"Users complain that it's a small amount because they expect to have that meal for the whole day, but it's only one meal," she explains.
The soup kitchen comes as a supplement to social assistance because it cannot ensure even the minimum nutritional conditions, and it would have to provide at least that much, Uroš Ranđelović from the Initiative for Economic and Social Rights A11 tells New Economy.
"If the minimum consumer basket is three times higher than the monetary social assistance amounting to 12.000 dinars per month, it is clear that you cannot even provide yourself with food from that amount. That is why the National Kitchen and the right to a free meal appear as a necessity," says Ranđelović.
In other words, a free meal is no longer just an aid in an emergency situation, but becomes a necessary part of supporting people for whom the basic social allowance is not enough to provide food.
Each local self-government determines who is entitled to a free meal and how much money from the budget will be set aside for it. This year, the City of Niš allocated 48 million dinars for the co-financing of the "National Kitchen - Fourteenth Phase" project, the total value of which for one year is 68,57 million dinars.
Help depends on location.
The rest of the funds come from the Red Cross in Niš, which provides food.
"The price of one meal is 210 dinars," says Stojanović.
Another problem is that assistance to the socially disadvantaged depends on the location, explains Ranđelović.
As he states, each local self-government, with its decision on social protection, determines the conditions under which citizens can exercise the right to a free meal.
"A person living in poverty in Belgrade is the same as a person living in poverty in Trgovište. They have the same needs," says Randjelovic.
He emphasizes that smaller local governments have smaller budgets, so they can allocate less for social protection.
In addition to the funds for the regular functioning of the National Kitchen, in 2026 the City of Niš allocated an additional eight million dinars for the purchase of canned meals that are distributed during the weekend.
"Somewhere aid depends on how much money the local self-government allocates, and that should not be the case. That right should be universal and prescribed by a general act at the state level," says Randjelovic.
No system support
He also believes that the state relies too much on humanitarian and charitable organizations in providing food for the socially vulnerable.
"It is too much transferred to the Red Cross, the Serbian Orthodox Church, charitable associations and other organizations, and there should be systemic support. Social protection is one's right and therefore the state should implement it," says Randjelovic.
One such organization that provides cooked meals for the vulnerable through donations from individuals is Solidarity Kitchen.
Unlike the soup kitchen system, the Solidarity kitchen operates on a much smaller scale. On a monthly basis, around 2.000 meals are prepared and distributed in Belgrade.
"Without exception, whether it's snowing, it's a holiday, celebration or anything else, we're here during those three days. The food of Solidarity Kitchen is something people can count on," says interviewer Sanja Milosavljević from Solidarity Kitchen.
Preparing one meal costs them approximately 200 dinars, when groceries, fuel, gas and packaging are included.
Solidarity and Community Kitchen
If they are financially able, says Milosavljević, they share something extra with the meal, dessert or juice.
"Whoever comes to us for a meal will get it," says Milosavljević.
It is not necessary to bring proof of income or other documentation for a meal at the Solidarity Kitchen.
Part of the people who come to the Solidarity kitchen also receive a meal from the community kitchen. Milosavljević says that there are different tastes: some people prefer the food prepared by the Solidarity Kitchen, while others prefer meals from the National Kitchen.
In the Solidarity kitchen, meals are therefore not only seen as helping people who don't have enough to eat, but as a way of building solidarity and pointing out the causes of poverty.
"We are making sure that what we are preparing is not charity, but solidarity. Poverty and homelessness are not individual problems, but a consequence of the system we live in," says Milosavljević.
In addition to the budget, each local self-government determines the norms of the food served.
Failure to adapt to health needs
For example, the city of Smederevo has precisely prescribed standards for the preparation of free meals.
According to that regulation, the cooked meals on offer must contain at least 12 basic ingredients: flour or bread, oil, beans, rice, macaroni, salt, sugar, spices, canned meat and fish, canned vegetables and yeast.
Norms for one meal are also prescribed. One meal includes 400 grams of flour, 30 grams of oil, 100 grams of beans, rice or macaroni, 250 grams of canned vegetables, 20 grams of meat and 13,5 grams of canned fish, as well as certain amounts of salt, sugar, spices and yeast.
However, the meal that users receive is often not adapted to their health needs, director of the ADRA organization Igor Mitrović points out for New Economy.
"Users are often people with cardiovascular problems, pressure, diabetes, but also impaired mental health," says Mitrović, adding that, in addition to the amount of food, the question arises as to whether its composition is adequate for the people for whom it is intended.
According to him, one meal a day is often not enough, but the problem is that the public kitchen is not available to those who need it the most.
"Homeless people cannot access the social protection system, nor a free meal," says Mitrović.
Problem with lack of documents
The problem starts already with the lack of documents. As Mitrović explains, some people first need help to register their place of residence at the address of the competent center for social work, so that they can get an identity card, and only then try to exercise their right to social assistance and other types of support.
"Based on that, they can get an identity card, they can apply for social assistance, they can get a job, they can get a health card and get treatment," explains Mitrović.
ADRA in Belgrade provides support for around 800 people a month, while, according to Mitrović's estimate, only about fifty manage to register their residence at the address of the competent center for social work and thus take the first step towards realizing their rights from the social protection system.
How do people manage on one meal a day?
"Some of them have the support of their immediate environment. If they live in an abandoned house or some other space, the neighbors sometimes know about them and bring them food," says Mitrović.
"Unfortunately, we cannot change their status," says Stojanović from the Red Cross in Niš.
She emphasizes again that the National Kitchen is an additional form of social protection, the scope of which depends on the funds allocated for the program, while the Red Cross, with the help of donors, tries to provide users with what is not provided for by the project, for example fruit, salads or additional meals during non-working days.
"They have social assistance, and this is an additional type of social protection, a guaranteed cooked meal. But the users won't protest if they get something more either," she concludes.
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