Tired of your usual lunch spot?

A summer project called Lunch Meet is giving Vancouverites a taste of a communal outdoor meal.

Starting Thursday, a 30-foot long lunch table will be set up in the 300 block of Abbott Street. The table, created by students in the CityStudio Vancouver program, will pop up every Thursday throughout the month from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

People can grab a bite to eat from a local business or food carts, which will be offering lunch specials for the event, and enjoy music provided by local artists.

Adam Vasilevich with the Vancouver Public Space Network said the project aims to get people to re-imagine Vancouver and that streets are for everyone.

“We really need to look at public spaces in Vancouver differently,” he said. “The reason we chose the area because there’s not a lot of places to do this in the Gastown area. There’s not a lot of benches or places just to sit down with a group of people.”

“This gets people to think of the street in a different way,” he added.

Vasilevich also said this is a great way to meet new people, citing a recent survey that shows one in three Vancouverites find it difficult to make friends in the city.

“This is another way of getting to know people and getting people together over lunch,” he added.

The idea is the newest project of Viva Vancouver, a city program in its second year that temporarily shuts down streets and lanes to create public spaces and pedestrian hangouts.