Victoria has seen the harshest pandemic lockdowns in Australia and a duo of Melburnian suburbs experienced some of the darkest moments. And they’ve created a collective cookbook as a symbol of hope.
In July last year, nine public housing apartments in the suburbs of North Melbourne and Flemington were forced into lockdown.
Created by health concierge residents of those North Melbourne and Flemington apartment complexes, the book is titled Cooking, Recovery and Connections.
A true celebration of our beautiful city’s multiculturalism, the book features 18 recipes in total, complemented with stories and artwork from Ethiopian, Eritrean, Somalian, Indian, South Sudanese and Egyptian cultures.
As per Broadsheet, 1400 copies of the book were created for the residents, supported by not-for-profit community health organisation Cohealth and printed by Indigenous-owned marketing agency, Little Rocket.
Cohealth community mobilisation lead Gabrielle Creed said that the book is a real symbol of resilience in such a dark time.
“The public really warmed to it. I think because of the one-year anniversary of that hard lockdown where human rights were impeded, this celebrated resilience,” Creed told Broadsheet.
“It highlighted the advocacy of residents for themselves in those spaces. The public sent though some lovely quotes thanking the authors of the book because they were going through experiences of isolation themselves.”
“It was really moving – and relationship-building – at a time when there was a lot of fear in the community. It was a big win for the team.”
Creed added, “The connection is really beautiful, but also to have something tangible in a time when everything is really confusing has been a huge reward.”
Nagat Abdallah, a key member of the team of health concierges played a huge role in the book coming together. And she said that sharing food is such a real part of daily life.
Abdallah said, “We were desperately needing that connection, because it was a really hard time for everyone. Recipes and food were a topic we realised you can share. For our community, it’s part of our daily life to share food.”
The book is available to download for free, however donations are welcomed at Sisterworks.
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