With or without bacon? There were two different soups on the menu at Gustav Adolfs Torg the other day when Soppkök (soup kitchen) Göteborg invited people to come and eat. Soppkök Göteborg is an organization of private persons reacting against the growing homelessness in Sweden’s second city.

“We know that a lunch of soup won’t solve the problem of homelessness,” says one of the initiators, Frida Simonsson, “but it is a way for us to put the spotlight on a problem we feel is rather neglected.” There are 3300 homeless people in Göteborg today. Sara Lindqvist had traveled all the way from Småland to help serve the soup. “I borrowed the kitchen from High Chaparral (a theme park in Värnamo, Småland),” she explains. “And I made the soups this morning there. We tried to make them as rich as possible.” And Hans Johansson was happy to try one of the soups: “It’s great!” Soppkök Göteborg also offered home baked cookies, coffee and sandwiches, as well as fruit. In addition, they handed out clothes and toothbrushes.