Onions sizzle in the pan. When Rana adds her mix of whole spices a tantalising aroma fills the hall and a small crowd gathers round the table.
Continue reading “Cooking, eating and sharing food – a virtual feast from a safe distance”Category: World Kitchen in Leith events
World Kitchen in Leith celebrates a Gala Day birthday with food for thought
The heat is on. Menu written. Recipes ready. Shopping done. Cooking starts tomorrow. World Kitchen in Leith is preparing for a tenth anniversary celebration at Saturday’s Gala Day on Leith Links. And memories are flooding back.
Continue reading “World Kitchen in Leith celebrates a Gala Day birthday with food for thought”Feeding community spirit in Leith
Food features in many of the stories on the Wall of Success. But this week we pay tribute to two local enterprises that combine home cooking with great community spirit – and more than a pinch of entrepreneurial spice. Welcome to Punjabi Junction and the World Kitchen in Leith.
Perhaps we should begin with a disclaimer. Leith Open Space is privileged to be among the founder members of the World Kitchen in Leith (WKiL), a voluntary group which launched with a multicultural spread during summer thunderstorms in the Leith Festival of 2009. Punjabi Junction began life a little more formally (or at least undercover) in 2010 as Punjab’n De Rasoi in the community cafe near the foot of Leith Walk.
The opening of the cafe was the fulfillment of years of dedicated work for Trishna Singh and Sikh Sanjog. As she commented when we first visited the cafe seven years years ago, ‘The day that sign went up was when I realised we had finally done it. It is a huge achievement for the women of our community.” [See story HERE]
There are clear differences between these two warmhearted projects. The women of Punjabi Junction run a social enterprise which means meeting the daily challenge of sustaining a viable small business in a harsh economic climate. At the Side by Side Gathering in December 2016, Trishna Singh underlined the need for investment funding to support such innovative projects which enrich local life while developing skills and opportunities.
In contrast, the members of World Kitchen in Leith are part of an informal voluntary venture, catering at local events, which means sharing skills and recipes in their spare time – while also meeting demands of the day job.
working, preparing multicultural brunch in Out of the Blue kitchen –
Rooted in community
Yet both WKiL and Punjabi Junction are founded on a firm belief in the importance of community and that also has deep roots in the cultural diversity of Leith. And both provide opportunities for developing skills and confidence. (Note, below, the shared priorities for collaborative working.)
The idea for World Kitchen in Leith beganwith Gurmit Singh, another active member of the Sikh community in Leith who was then a member of Leith Festival Programming Committee. Keen to promote community integration, Gurmit sent an invitation to every minority ethnic community group he could think of inviting them to take part in a cookery demonstration to celebrate their culture.
First to respond was Mridu Thanki, a keen vegetarian cook in the Hindu tradition, working on her first cookery book (Mridu has moved to live in London but still keeps in touch). Leith Open Space met Gurmit and Mridu in Out of the Blue to write their story for our blog…and somehow ended up joining the WKiL team!
“Food can be a creative art as well as a necessity of life. But it is also a social event. Food not only brings pleasure, it brings people together.’ Mridu Thanki.
Punjabi Junction is open Monday 12 pm to 5.45pm (cookery classes 6pm-8pm), and Tuesday – Saturday 12-10pm [See HERE for new menu]
World Kitchen in Leith produces imaginative multicultural menus, catering for local events and organisations.
For more about Side by Side, The Gathering see Facebook.com/SBSGathering
1. Punjabi Junction is run by Sikh Sanjog for the community. Our vision is to inspire and empower Sikh and other Minority Ethnic women to advance their own life opportunities, through the building of skills, confidence and social inclusion.
2. Since 2010 the social enterprise community care has generated jobs for over 150 women from Sikh and other ethnic and white Scottish backgrounds. We workalongside Learn Direct/Remploy/Intowork/SCVO/ and Edinburgh Community Food
3: Celebrating South Asian-Chinese heritage – hosted MECCOP’s Exhibition in Punjabi Junction Cafe an inspiring intergenerational oral history connecting families and creating links with wider community
Priorities for future:
1. Opportunity for women working together
2. Need for social investment fund
1: Cookery demonstrations for a Sheltered Housing collaborative memory project in North Edinburgh
2: Catering for 200 people at Elrec’s multicultural eco celebration as part of Communities For Conservation project 2017
3: Being Human Festival 2016 – planning and providing a meal for an event exploring issues of food, faith, identity and taboos
Priorities for future
1. Celebrate cultural diversity with fun, through cooking and sharing food
2. Collaborate with other community groups for covered market in Leith
Junction contributed delicious pakoras to the Open Space community discussion
events
A plate full of memories
Alice had never eaten lamb before she came to Scotland. In the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe she had grown up learning that it was a forbidden food, ‘I think it comes down to the ‘lamb of God” she says, ‘But then in Scotland everyone around me was eating lamb… and I ended up eating it too!’
Food is often highly personal. What we eat can say a great deal about who we are, and what we believe in. So when World Kitchen in Leith members took part in Festival of Humanities they found themselves sharing much more than recipes.
Continue reading “A plate full of memories”Faith and food taboos: what can we cook?
How does converting from one religious faith to another (or none) change family relationships? What happens to individual sense of identity and belonging? And how does that affect simple choices in everyday life?
Continue reading “Faith and food taboos: what can we cook?”Lets Eat This: a tasty ‘foodwaste’ challenge
What have you got left over in your fridge? No, we’re not just being nosey, this is a creative question for the Lets Eat This ‘food waste extravaganza’ challenge, a really imaginative and generous event organised by the Himalayan Centre for Arts and Culture with our equally enterprising colleagues at the World Kitchen in Leith.
Continue reading “Lets Eat This: a tasty ‘foodwaste’ challenge”The great potato story: food for thought at the Festival of Politics
Make room in your diary for our Festival of Politics event. History of the Potato on Sunday 16 August is not just a highly topical talk by a cutting-edge scientist, but also a multicultural mash-up of potato dishes from around the world. Come hungry and be prepared for surprises as we conjure up sweet, savoury and spicy foods, all made with potatoes. You’ll have had your chips!
Continue reading “The great potato story: food for thought at the Festival of Politics”Eat your way to a better world
So you don’t need the muscles of an Olympic champion. It turned out to be surprisingly easy to pedal a smoothie on this marvellous reinvented bike that seems to be making a name for itself at foodie festivals around Scotland.
Continue reading “Eat your way to a better world”Big fun at the Big Tent
It’s 11.30 am on Saturday. “Half an hour to go,” says Mark. “Are we going to be ready?” We all look towards the door. Sunlight beams into the kitchen but is that just a hint of panic in the air?
Continue reading “Big fun at the Big Tent”Calling Mr Sunshine to The Big Tent
We’re getting ready for the Big Tent. The menu is prepared, the tents are booked, the wellies are in the bag. Mark has designed and ordered some very smart new aprons for the occasion – and with any luck Ian has booked a sudden spell of sunshine.
Continue reading “Calling Mr Sunshine to The Big Tent”