Share my language

Cooking, community and collaboration

Last autumn we were supported by MiFriendly Cities and the Communities & Migration Adults Social Care and Health Directorate at Birmingham City Council to facilitate informal, fun and accessible craft and food sharing workshops across Handsworth.

We created a simple online community family cookbook and asked members to contribute culinary stories, recipes, photos and talk to each other about them.  Community life is built upon its food. Our history and culture—those of our local communities and of individuals—are passed from generation to generation through shared cooking and recipes. Everybody has a story to share about what they eat and why. 

People from all communities will be invited to share their traditional homemade recipes at a series of fun family workshops involving creative activities in 6 schools and community spaces. They will sit, talk, create and eat as they learn about the heritage of different cultures.

The recipe book included traditional foods from around the world as well as stories from local schoolchildren.  The professionally led workshops helped participants to talk together about food common to them, to re-imagine family favourites and share these with others from their own unique perspective. It was a colourful, playful project which helped participants to develop spoken skills and creativity. Conversations were shared about what we love to eat, what we ate as children, and our favourite recipes in today's in multicultural Britain.