By Juliette Bretan
From a decadent galette, bursting with inky-purple blueberries, to a bowl of fluffy Swahili Mahamri doughnuts and a thick wedge of Jerusalem kugel cake, caramelised golden-brown, the pages of newly published recipe book Poznajmy się od kuchni (Let’s Meet at the Kitchen Table) offer a tantalising glimpse of global cuisines and culinary traditions.
But these traditions are now also part of life in the western Polish city of Wrocław.
The book, which was produced by the Go’n’Act Foundation in cooperation with the Wrocław Centre for Social Development, a municipal agency, features 16 recipes contributed by migrants from across the world who now call Wrocław their home.
“We believe that we are creating a space for getting to know each other together, building openness and mutual understanding,” Aleksandra Stachura, vice-president of the foundation and creator of the project, tells Notes from Poland.
Established in 2015, Go’n’Act aims to promote the rights and safety of children and young people in Wrocław, as well as encourage community values, through a variety of educational and ecological activities, including running workshops on children’s rights and opening the first online charity shop in the city last year.
But another of its objectives is to support integration, encouraging deeper ties between Wrocław locals and minorities living in the city. Classes, exhibitions and publications have been organised to teach children and adults about multiculturalism and cooperation, in an effort to tackle discrimination and xenophobia.
In 2019, they launched the Poznajmy się od kuchni project, a social and culinary scheme encouraging individuals and families – from Polish and foreign backgrounds – to invite each other for dinner or to cook together.
“Important conversations take place at the table and create new friendships,” says Stachura, “and a shared meal is a great invitation to integration.”
The plan was to repeat the project last year – but after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the foundation had to rethink the scheme.
Instead, they decided to release a cookbook, which was published online and is available to download for free. It features recipes contributed by migrants to Wrocław from places including India, Ukraine, Syria, Kenya, Israel, Turkey and Indonesia. The dishes are all vegetarian, which Stachura says reflects the environmental aims of the foundation.
“We wanted to find a way to meet in a different form that would allow us to build a dialogue and break down barriers between us,” Stachura explains. “This is how the idea of a culinary book written by migrants was born.”
Many of the migrants who wrote recipes for the book also see food as a valuable tool for intercultural understanding.
Danielle Chaimovitz Basok, who was born and raised in Jerusalem – and whose recipe for kugel cake is featured in the cookbook – tells Notes from Poland that “food was the first bridge” she had to communicate with people when she moved to Poland.
Chaimovitz Basok served in the Israeli army, before working as an emissary for the Jewish Agency in various countries. In Wrocław, she taught Hebrew, cooking and Judaism to Jewish and non-Jewish groups as part of her role in the Jewish community, though she has now moved on to Estonia.
“In Judaism, food is a love language,” she adds. “Many of our dishes are meant to remind us of our past, so when we eat something sometimes it is there to remind us of something that happened thousands of years ago, it connects between generations and traditions.”
“I felt that being in a religious leadership position, many people are intimidated and scared of what I had to say, but no one is afraid of food, so I used it as my language when I couldn’t speak Polish,” she explains.
Varun Patwardhan, a migrant from India who works in a bank in Wrocław, agrees. “Food is the passage to one’s heart and it breaks barriers between people and brings them closer,” he says.
“Trying new cuisines and talking to people is the best way to know about the culture and traditions of foreign lands,” adds Patwardhan, whose recipe for Rajma Chawal (beans in sauce with rice) features in the book.
Poland has in recent years experienced levels of immigration unprecedented in the country’s history and among the highest in the European Union. The majority of arrivals are from neighbouring Ukraine – and a recipe for Ukrainian borscht appears in the cookbook – but many have come from further afield.
Wrocław has made various efforts to welcome and integrate its newcomers. In December, it became the first city in Poland to join the European Coalition of Cities Against Racism. This year, it published an information map in various languages to help new migrants settle.
But Stachura thinks more still needs to be done. She hopes that the recipe book offers a valuable starting point “for important conversations about diversity and the multicultural world”, especially in the context of contemporary migration to Poland.
“By cooking and sharing recipes, [the migrants] give you a piece of the world they come from,” she says. “We can go on a culinary journey around the world without leaving our own kitchen.”
All images copyright of Piotr Spigiel
Juliette Bretan is a freelance journalist covering Polish and Eastern European current affairs and culture. Her work has featured on the BBC World Service, and in CityMetric, The Independent, Ozy, New Eastern Europe and Culture.pl.
