This is a story that began in Lyon in 2013 with Diane and Etienne.

In 2013, Diane's husband died in a road accident and one of her children was in a coma. He pulls through. She is well surrounded, returning to her job as a journalist, yet she feels she is withdrawing into herself. Her neighbors are there to support her in their own way: every Tuesday, one of them cooks a meal for her family and leaves it on the doorstep.

At the same time, while working at Seb, Etienne has the desire and the idea of meals cooked and shared between neighborhood neighbors. They quickly united their desires and federated other residents: a participatory dynamic was launched. On September 1, 2016, the first Petite Cantine opened its doors in Lyon's Vaise district.

By 2020, 4 Petites Cantines existed in France (Lyon, Strasbourg and Lille), serving around 8,000 meals. Today, 13 Petites Cantines exist in France and nearly 55 k meals were served in 2023.

In the spring of 2023, a survey was conducted in the 9 Petites Cantines that had been open for more than 6 months. We collected nearly 1400 responses and conducted 80 more in-depth interviews with diners.

And it taught us 3 things:

- The shared meal plays a key role in self-confidence: Eating a healthy, tasty meal, meeting other diners, actively contributing to the preparation of the meal, all boost self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment.

- Confidence in others is facilitated by a sense of belonging: The framework proposed by Les Petites Cantines (reciprocal help, use of first names, collaboration in action...) helps foster a feeling of positive interdependence between guests. A framework that allows us to give our trust, to grant it to others, to take that risk.

- And finally, when we feel empowered to act, it increases our confidence in the future tenfold : With this participatory experience proposed by Les Petites Cantines our guests can become aware of their power to act alone or as a collective.

With this study, we've become aware that we're doing more than just fighting against. We're building, we're working for... We're working to build a society based on trust.

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