text: Okay so the Forest Cafe is another place that has been reviewed a million times but I feel I might still be able to offer some kind of valuable opinionnnFirst off any faults I have with the Forest Cafe are nothing to do with it being vegetarian or vegan cafe Again I feel like so many of the complaints about vegetarian places seem to confuse the fact that a place can be crap like crap service and or crap cleanliness or crap food regardless of it being vegetarian In fact if the Forest Cafe did serve animal then its faults would be worse for reasons we will come to But for what is it is worth I do not agree with the fundamentalist view that has been aired that animals were put on Earth to be eaten by humans and I think most scientists would agree I appreciate it is vegetarianvegan stance if nothing else its one more place vegetarians can go without having to worry about what is in their food And as I have alluded to in other reviews I am sure meat eaters can still appreciate the occasional meat free dish in principal Thus I do not find the fact that the Forest is vegetarianvegan in itself to be a valid criticism and suggesting vegetarianism is synonymous with hippyism is also ridiculousnnANYWAY if you had not guessed from my ramblings already the Forest is a vegetarian cafe as well as a meeting spot and venue It is also volunteer run As others have mentioned there is a sort of hippy New Age aesthetic although both those words are pretty meaninglessnnSo what are my problems with the Forest My first is hygiene Whilst the food can be just fine and it is cheap too the number of times I have been served dishes that have been lying out for too long or the tables have not been wiped in a long while Can you see my point about meat now The toilets have also been less than appealing on certain occasions in the pastnnThese are the sorts of things that bother me I love that the Forest is volunteer run I love that it is very liberal and relaxed about most but those things need not be synonymous with disorganisation and uncleanliness If anything that just furthers a stereotype that pervades some of these other reviews My only other complaint is that whilst the Forest can be as I have mentioned a wonderfully open and easy going place where anyone can voice their opinion it can contradictorily be a bit cliquey I have found that some nights during discussions and meetings there are certain well known individuals who drown out and mock dissenting voices It is the New Age eco dogmatic view in particular which seems to prevail without as much criticism as its deserves Having said this the Forest remains largely unhierarchal And at how many other cafes can you even attend meeting and voice such opinions on how they are run in the first placennThe one thing I love and respect about the Forest is that you can go in and spend as much time as you like in there without buying a thing How many places let you do that I was recently thrown out of a pub after fifteen minutes of not buying anything while I was waiting for someone and I was one of only three people in there I like the Forests stance on just being a place to hang if you so choosennSo whilst the Forest has so many great things going for it there is room for improvement Those anarchists and communitarians that use the Forest as a meeting place should especially mind their own proclamations of unhierarchal social organisation and its compatibility with order and effectiveness The Forest needs to be a little more ordered and effective