Cultural Cooking Class
Our Tiaal Mi Goa team – CMY’s youth mental health collaboration with Headspace – held its second event recently. With an aim to promote cultural awareness, story-telling, pride in our cultures and social connection, our Cultural Cooking Day took place in the community kitchen at Barkly Square in Ballarat.
Young people brought along a fellow sweet-tooth family member to share this experience! Our facilitator talked about her experience growing up in Sri Lanka, the foods she loves to cook, and her move to Australia. ‘Kokis’ is often enjoyed during the festive season in Sinhalese culture, and is made into pretty shapes before deep frying. We were guided through the process step by step, sharing conversation and cups of tea as we went along – as well as plenty of taste-testing of the fresh, hot Kokis!
All ingredients and equipment were provided for this free event, and many takeaway containers chock-full of kokis were taken home that evening. Participants agreed that food and cooking is something quite universal, and that sharing the experience with family members can be very special.
For future cooking programs, Tiaal Mi Goa plans to partner with A Pot of Courage social enterprise café. Places will be limited per class, so stay tuned.