Sharing kitchen cultures

By John Lewis

Dec 17, 2021

Sharing food knowledge: Eight women are taking part in the Shepparton Kitchen Culture project. Top row L-R: Ree Peric, Shakilla Naveed, Yusniza Yusoff and Agoness Kuol. Bottom row L-R: Ane Fotu, Ivete Muhimpundu, Eman Alabassi and Leaisa Pele.

At the heart of every culture, every tribe and every family sits the kitchen. A new initiative two years in the making aims to highlight and celebrate the global diversity of Shepparton cultures through the power of sharing food and stories. John Lewis reports.

The seeds of Shepparton Culture Kitchen were planted two years ago.

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In a collaboration between Multicultural Arts Victoria, Greater Shepparton City Council and Mooroopna’s POD Studio, eight Shepparton district women from different cultures and generations were chosen to cook together and share recipes and stories to build a network of local knowledge around sustainable food sourcing and healthy eating.

Project organisers based their approach on Federal Government research that found culturally diverse communities were abandoning traditional diets, which, combined with a lack of culturally sensitive healthy eating advice, was leading to a failure to take up nutritious alternatives.

The eight women chosen to take part in Shepparton Culture Kitchen reflect the city’s global footprint, with links to Fiji-Croatia, Tonga, Samoa, Malaysia, Burundi, Afghanistan, Iraq and South Sudan.

In 2020 they began collaborating with Singaporean-Eurasian artist Jamie Lewis to create a program of food knowledge-building and public events.

However, before they could even start cooking together, COVID-19 struck and the project was put on hold.

Now, as Victoria opens up, Shepparton Culture Kitchen is heating up again.

Ms Lewis said she had already been welcomed into the women’s kitchens to share stories.

“Despite successive lockdowns and disruptions to our collective creative process, everyone has persisted ever so generously,” Ms Lewis said.

“Here we are now as Victoria opens up, ready to reconvene in person to share food together, and move into the next phase of realising the creative ideas we have generated so far.”

The women have also been working with Hong Kong-born Shepparton visual artist Mimi Leung to bring their stories to life through a series of digital stories and a cookbook.

“I hope the digital stories and cookbook we create together will capture our ideas and raise challenging questions for our community to become more mindful of their own attitudes about different foods and, by extension, cultures,” Ms Leung said.

The Shepparton Culture Kitchen project is one of five initiatives supported through VicHealth’s Art of Good Health program.

The program has also received funding from Australia Council for the Arts to continue in 2023.

More information on the Shepparton Kitchen Culture project is at: https://www.mav.org.au/shepparton-culture-kitchen/

By John Lewis

Columnist