By Jane Kaye, Child Friendly Leeds
Young people who have been separated from their families and are now living in Leeds are part of an exciting project exploring food culture from around the world, which was recently featured in the Financial Times Weekend Magazine (17/18 July 2021).
Being able to cook, eat and share food from their countries of origin opens up a window into a young person’s life before they arrived into the UK. The young people are creating a recipe collection which will not only be a useful tool for foster carers when young people are new to Leeds, but will also represent the young people’s presence and value in our city.
Child Friendly Leeds and Leeds Children and Families Social Work Service are working with The British Library to deliver the project, alongside project practitioners, Thahmina Begum and Nicola Parker (photographer). Sessions began online due to the national lockdown and included art based activities and then as the situation eased, the group were able to meet in person to cook, create and photograph food at Herd Farm.
In their recipe collection, Millen, Winta and the other young women from Eritrea and Ethiopia share a complementary set of six of their favourite dishes to be eaten with injera, the iconic East African flatbread.
Recipes from the first cohort of young people are now freely available on The British Library website. Three additional groups will take part in and contribute to the project, ahead of the publication of the full recipe collection in summer 2022.
Photo credit: Nicola Parker
