Training program dishes up confidence and culture

A CULTURAL feast will bring people together over a winter-warming, seasonal meal prepared by women from migrant and refugee backgrounds next week, as part of a local job readiness initiative.

The community meal will be hosted by the Common Ground Project, a regenerative farm and social enterprise in Freshwater Creek, on Thursday, July 17 from 6pm, and showcase the culture and cuisine of the participants in its Staying Grounded program.

Established in 2020, the eight-week program provides training and employment opportunities in farming and hospitality for newly arrived migrant and refugee women living in the Geelong and Surf Coast region.

 

This includes hands-on kitchen training, based around helping participants transfer their existing culinary skills to the Australian workforce and commercial kitchen environments, as well as job interview skills and resume writing.

Cooking a mix of cultural dishes and local favourites, such as vegetable lasagne, cakes and scones, each week the participants prepare meals using a mix of farm produce and ingredients rescued from landfill, that are then distributed via Foodshare Geelong to families in need.

This, program coordinator Beth Wasylewski said, provides “context for the women to be preparing food”, ensuring the work is meaningful, while they build confidence, learn to take ownership of the kitchen and become more familiar with talking to people outside their own communities and cultures.

 

Next week’s feast will have a strong focus on Afghan cuisine, with lamb kofta meatballs, Kabuli rice and the ever-popular Bolani – fried flatbread filled with ingredients such a potatoes, leeks and red lentils – to feature on the menu.

Wasylewski encouraged the community to come along.

“The food is unbelievable and it’s so heart-warming to see the community support and the connections being made, and the confidence that is shown in these women as they share their culture and their food,” she said.

The event forms part of the month-long Tastes of Greater Geelong festival, held until July 20.

For more information, or to secure tickets, head to events.humanitix.com/staying-grounded