melting pot
Families at Towradgi Public School have come together to fundraise in a way that embraces the cultural diversity of the school – a community cookbook.
Words Emily Perkins
Images Spencer Dungey
Organised by the school’s Parents and Citizens group, the recipe book invited mums, dads, grandmas and grandpas, nonnas and opas to share their family favourite dishes. Its aim is to enlighten children and families about Illawarra’s multicultural society, to discover and learn of diverse backgrounds through food, and to encourage open-mindedness.
Fifty contributors have collated 79 recipes that span six of the seven continents, with recipes from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Africa. The book also reflects on the early migration pattern of the area.
Four of the mums involved, Rin Gomura-Elkan, Worood (Rose) Hamadi, Vanessa Vecovski, and Joanne Ubilla, gathered over food to share their stories and contribution to the book.
Joanne, Australian-born and married to a Chilean, will be sharing a mix of the two cultures and teased at a ‘Chilean Bunnings sausage’ recipe.
“The cookbook represents the concept that food brings people together as well as helps to understand others better,” she said.
Worood’s cultural background is Iraqi, and she’s excited to provide dishes that are simple, delicious and full of vegetables. “It’s a really great opportunity to share what we eat at home so others can experience it,” she said. “It allows us to showcase cultures - what we come from.”
With a half-Indonesian and half-Japanese background, Rin is bringing a freeform sushi meal to the cookbook that will give a taste of her culture.
Vanessa has shared a variety of dishes as she is half Spanish and half Argentinian, and her husband is Macedonian. “The cookbook is about capturing those recipes before it’s too late,” she said.
“I think for people who have immigrated from another country, language and food are the two biggest links to home.”
Joanne added that it is a chance to hand down knowledge for generations to come. “We joke that we need to capture it on video because Abuela says a pinch of salt,” Joanne motions excessive pouring, “…when it’s like 10 squirts of a Saxa Salt open on full,” she laughs.
Worood and Rin have been cooking since they can remember. “When I was very young, I would play chef and attempt to cook. When I first started, everything went wrong - I’d burn rice!” Worood joked. Her mum was a major influence in Worood’s love of cooking, but she would explore the less traditional meals on her own.
For Rin, food is a huge part of both her parent’s families and she grew up helping with salads and inventing recipes. “Food is rich in both my cultures,” she said. “The only lesson I specifically received was how to use a knife from my dad – he’s an engineer and pedantic about sharp knives.”
Ever since Joanne has been a parent, she has been more intentionally trying new recipes.
“My mother-in-law taught me to cook,” she said, “and some of the meals you cook all day.”
Once Vanessa moved away from home she started in the kitchen, and it was all about trial and error for her.
So, why is cooking such a passion for them? “I love to eat and I love it when other people cook for me,” Vanessa laughed. “My favourite dish is Spanish paella – that’s my dad’s dish that he makes for the family.”
“We love to eat!” agreed Worood, and she struggled to admit that one of her favourite dishes is a nice roast, “I eat a lot of my cuisine, so I crave something different.”
Rin believes that cooking is one of her love languages, “making a nutritious well-balanced meal for my family is a way for me to show my love,” she said. “Hot pot is my favourite; everyone loves it and it’s an easy way to use up leftovers.”
Whipping up a meal for Joanne means that she can enjoy entertaining family and guests. She loves trying different flavours and learning new recipes as it keeps the boredom of standard meals at bay. “Anything Vietnamese is my go-to food,” Joanne said, “and the kids love making the rice paper rolls.”
Vanessa, Worood, Rin and Joanne
For all four women, the cookbook is about the kids too. All of their children “help” out in the kitchen to some extent. It’s the licking of bowls, dirtying of hands with dough, baking sweets, trying ingredients from scratch, or chopping mushrooms with a butter knife, that contribute to the shared family activity of cooking.
“We try and always share through food with the girls, that they are all of these different cultures rolled into one,” Vanessa said.
“I think for people who have immigrated from another country, language and food are the two biggest links to home.”
Food plays a comfort and recalibration role for Rin’s children and Warood loves that it is a catalyst of a “big happy gathering”.
“In Australian culture, it’s all about the leftovers. You always over-cater,” Joanne said.
For each of their cultural differences, the experience of people coming together and sharing their heritage through food and flavours is a common thread. And it is something to celebrate.