On Thursday 16th April at St Andrews Church Hall, we put together an evening of wonderful cultural sharing under the title “New faces, new food, new culture”. The food was produced by New Scots from Syria, Kuwait, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Yemen. Dishes such as Injeera, Malawax and chicken and Zaatar pie were on offer. The food was followed by some enthusiastic dancing to music from around the world.

People were able to share not only the food but to sit and talk, to learn about each other’s lives and experiences. This was an important aspect of the evening because there can easily be fears and uncertainties for any groups of people when they are unable to meet and talk properly.

Almost all of the 30 or so guests who came tasted something that they hadn’t tried before. People found the Syrian rice pudding dish “Basbousa” the most surprising taste and Eritrean/Ethiopian “Misir Wot” were rated as the most comforting.

The evening was organised by Tatyana Bondarenko, from Ukraine on behalf of DISFFEST and she managed to bring together a truly wonderful team of cooks to work alongside each other.
“I think those days spent together preparing an event for everyone had many additional dimensions beyond food – friendship, socializing, and being involved in something beneficial. I hope the local community felt the positive energy of people from different parts of the world.”