Community mess as a development need of Nepal

Mess is a concept related to providing healthy, food or meal at relatively low cost. Observation of mess run by Prof. Kshitiz Upadhyay-Dhungel, Think Tank Foundation (TTF) initiated this opinionated study. A series of interview, focused group discussions, available literatures were used as a tool to draw any opinion related to mess. The concept of mess in the beginning was found to be an out of the box idea, but it was gradually acknowledged Community mass was shown to facilitate life of job holders, senior citizens. It helped in women empowerment. Mess also provided answer to manage degradable waste. It created job opportunities at local level. It helped to increase awareness about food safety and behavior. Mess, helped people enjoy and recall the almost forgotten family meal time. It also helped to create bond in communal level which provided platform to share stress and anxieties. Mess can be a solution to uplift living quality of people of broad spectrum of age. Mess can contribute to sustainable development and it should be incorporated in national development plan too.