Located at Hirst Park Ashington, Full Circle Food Project is hosting a series of community dinners, inviting all cultures to come and celebrate their traditions and values through the universal language of food.
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00:00So we do a bit of everything. So we've got cooking classes, we do garden initiatives, we do a lot about food waste education and basically we're trying to help people lead healthier lifestyles and possibly more sustainable given our climate.
00:15Based in Hayes Park, Ashington is dedicated to building a future where everyone has access to nutritious food, understands its importance and embraces sustainable living.
00:23Yeah, so we used to have a food larder, but we found that there's quite a lot of racial tension within Ashington. Ashington has changed massively over the years, especially the last few years, and it's a really rich, diverse culture.
00:36And we've got some funding from North East Combined Authority through the Mayor's Opportunity Fund to build community cohesion, to integrate society instead of having it very segregated.
00:46So we've got lots of different cultures and what we're trying to do is we're trying to bring them together. And it's not about just learning their traditions, it's about teaching British traditions as well.
00:58So your family values. We did our first one, which was an Easter lunch, and it was really good. We had a Sunday roast, so your typical meat and veg and roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings.
01:10Food is like a language, like a universal language that fits all boundaries. So we talked to people through sharing a meal, which is really important, and we had some amazing feedback.
01:24So both sides felt that there's a little bit of apprehension when you're talking to people of a different culture, because you might feel like you're going to say the wrong thing.
01:34You might not be able to pronounce their name, for instance. And it's about that, just really taking things slowly, but getting to know someone.
01:42And everybody was really welcoming, and I found that a lot of people said, I'd never, ever have this opportunity before.
01:49You know, you go to the supermarket, you might say hi, but that's probably about it.
01:53You're not really going to learn that culture through hello on the street.
01:57But bringing people together is really important to us, especially through a celebration of food, and I found that that's what people really loved.
02:06So next on the 17th of June, we're going to celebrate Refugee Week, and we are hoping to get some lovely Bangladeshi people in, so they can cook some fabulous curries and rice.
02:16But we'll get people from all walks of life to come and just celebrate their traditions and talk about their food that they're passionate about.
02:23And different activities from different areas, like for English people, I'd say that sitting down at a table is really important, and that's their family value.
02:32But other cultures might have a different approach to that.
02:35To sharing food, we've got another two sessions as well, which is international barbecue and an international picnic, which is in July and August.
02:45And they're going to be family days, so bring your kids along to like sharing activities, have a bit of croquet, or, you know, them old traditional British games, as well as new ones that we hope to learn from the different cultures.