Bringing people together from diverse cultures through Food & Spice.
I have updated my study title to:
Bringing people together from diverse cultures through Food & Spice.
I felt I needed to open the question up to allow me to incorporate more current issues linked to culture in the world today. George Floyds death in the US has kicked off global outrage and brought to the forefront ‘Racism’. Anyone of colour has experienced racism. I myself have had it through my life. In the 1960’s to around the mid 1980’s it took a direct form against individuals in every day life and even on TV shows. From the late 1980’s to now, as the world shifted towards its incorrectness and it became socially unacceptable. It has gone underground and is still existent in institutions - creating barriers to success for people of colour.
Our one-to-one connections with each other are the foundation for change and building relationships with people from different cultures. Given that we have all experienced racism and it has caused a turmoil for many for decades. This has now emerged in our news again and sad to see some humans will never change. There are significant goals to achieve and we have need to work on this collectively in bringing such ideas in place and that could be delivered through education or promoting an event through diverse communities.
Why this is important? Trusting relationships are the glue that hold people together as they work on a common problem. Evidently, there will always be challenging problems conveyed by several different racial, language, ethnic or socioeconomic groups.
Culture is a complex concept with many different definitions – Piece of reading on Culture: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/globalpad/openhouse/interculturalskills/global_pad_-_what_is_culture.pdf. I do like one of the quotes defining Culture - “the set of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors shared by a group of people, but different for each individual, communicated from one generation to the next.” Matsumoto 1996: 16.
Listening to people tell their stories is one way of building a relationship with people from other cultures. It is apparent to me that food brings culture together. Being able to make a dish and share that with the people you love is one of the most universal concepts because it’s at the root of our survival. Food is a great vehicle for sharing culture with people from different backgrounds. Food can bridge cultural divides.
Blending of spices in our food creates an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of cultures. Spice has a long-standing social history, it is wonderfully symbolic of traditions, taste and different cultures. By celebrating diversity, cultures and old traditions, it a great approach to bring people together through spice and share their stories, before they are lost.
Eating is essential for most forms of life, and experimenting with different spices, ingredients and recipes is a common way to socialize. Food is tied to tradition; food is tied to memories and many people do not realise the importance of food to bring people together.
Socialising with food and spice invites the following:
Instilling a sense of comfort
Helping us get out of our comfort zone and trying new things
Encouraging a sense of belonging because of common food interests
Allowing us to be present and engage while eating
Providing a bonding experience
Improving emotional wellbeing
How do you learn about people’ cultures?
How do we build relationship with people from other cultures?
These questions are key and even more crucially important during the current time.
My project’s essence is about capturing the beauty that lies within the worlds cultures. I want to bring these cultures together and create an environment for community sharing. I know that food has the ability to break down barriers and nurture a sense of positive wellbeing and cultural validation.
Research Plan
1. Workshop
2. Study of a group of globally diverse food outlets
Possible outcomes
· Set up a community event (and website) showcasing the food cultures thriving in Ealing.
· Presentations in school teaching about spice, simple cooking recipe and writing a memoir.
Government and Local Council
I looked into how the local council and government were working on promoting cultural integration. I saw that the Mayor of London’s office is providing support for community projects as are organisations linked with the local council.
I contacted the Arts and Culture director for Ealing. He is newly appointed and from January has been tasked with a 2 year research project looking at Ealing’s Arts and culture provision. It includes looking at possible ways of bringing cultures together in Ealing. I spoke about my project and he was really interested and would like to see my outcome. He put me in touch with a group who had done a project that may be of interest to me. I felt really positive after this conversation – feeling that my research is current and filling a purposeful gap.
I spoke to:
Jan De Schynkel
Arts and Culture Manager
Ealing Council, Perceval House 1st floor green area, 14-16 Uxbridge Road, London W5 2HL
DeSchynkelJ@ealing.gov.uk
He put me in touch with:
Janpal Singh Basran
janpal1967@hotmail.com
Janpal leads the Southall Community Alliance and there might be opportunities to test some of your ideas Rajinder or Janpal may have info or connections for you.
