CROSSING CULTURES
Celebrate Refugee Week with a taste of far away
On the islands of the Gocek archipelago, just off Turkey’s glorious turquoise coast, numerous little bays can be found, offering safe harbour. There is no electricity on these islands and if you want to get from one place to the next, it’s either by boat or donkey. Life is simple, wild herbs are gathered for tea, olives are pressed for oil and meals are based around the offerings of the sea and the season.
Over the past decade I have visited these islands many times as the lucky guest of friends on their lovely old Turkish gulet (wooden schooner). I always look forward to visiting the local imam and his clever cooking wife, Dordu, who live high up in the hills on one of these islands. Spending time in Dordu’s tiny kitchen is one of the things I have most looked forward to about these trips, there’s always so much to learn and be amazed by. The last time we were there, I sat cross-legged on their little raised porch, watching as Dordu prepared the traditional tiny filled pasta of this region, known as manti. Dordu told me that growing up in a family of 12 children, she and her sisters would spend several hours each day making mountains of these to feed everyone for dinner.
A couple of months ago I came across a Uk-based organisation called Migrateful, which runs cooking classes led by refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants. Currently these classes can be accessed online via Zoom, which means (as long as you can cope with the time difference between UK and NZ), we can access them here. There are cooks and chefs from more than 20 different countries in the Migrateful family and each teacher brings unique skills, knowledge and recipes.
So often, refugees are very qualified, yet remain unemployed because of language barriers and the fact that their qualifications aren’t recognised. Cooking is a skill shared by so many refugees and the talent and resourcefulness of these cooks is inspiring.
Refugee Week happens every year across the world in the week leading up to World Refugee Day on June 20. We may not be able to leave home but we can enjoy the flavours of the places we love to visit, thanks to a diverse array of fabulous ethnic eateries and catering services brought to us by talented immigrants who can now call New Zealand home.
We are lucky to have them for many reasons, and especially for enriching our culinary landscape.