Vegetarian Foods Archive

I do feel my calling is to work in a big community kitchen with people from diverse, cultural and ethnic backgrounds.  I even dream one day if I win the lottery big time to start a community canteen where people from all backgrounds can come together, share and eat food and mostly talk with each other to break down preconceived ideas and challenge misinformation disseminated often by cheap paper tabloids.  I would not want it to be one of those places, where people come along, a bit like so-called 'Diversity days' 'eat the food from different countries, dance to the music, have their hands painted in henna', then go back to their homes continuing to still carry those prejudices.  I've seen that way to many times and always avoid it as tokenism.  Anyway, today (and the rest of this week) is not about me.  This week I give my blog space freely over to Refugee Week  in the hope that it will raise some awareness of refugees and asylum seekers across the world f...

Refugee Week is a continuation of  World Refugee Day and marks a collective acknowledgement across the world to raise awareness  of the plight of refugees and asylum seekers across the world.     The theme for Refugee Week for 2016 is  Welcome.    As my blog is a vegetarian food blog  my Simple Act  is to  Cook A Dish from Another Country  and try and raise some awareness that way among some colleagues and some of my readers. Today I will share a vegetarian Somalian dish, that also happens to be vegan.  It is Shahan Faul, Ful Sahan.   This is a bean dish that is also very common in Eritrea, Ethiopian and Sudan.   But before I share the recipe, you may be interested to know that Somali's have been in the U.K for over a century, arriving here as merchant seamen and settling in port cities like Bristol, Liverpool and Cardiff.  However, it was in the 1990s following famine and further conflict in the region in 2...

One of the aims of  Refugee Week  is to promote positive encounters between asylum seekers and refugees and members of the receiving communities, as well as raising awareness.    The theme for Refugee Week for 2016 is  Welcome.    As my blog is a vegetarian food blog  my Simple Act  is to  Cook A Dish from Another Country  and try and raise some awareness that way among some of my readers. Today I will share a vegetarian Zimbabwean Butternut Squash recipe.   But before I share the recipe, I would like to shine a little light on Zimbabwe.  Since 2000, the scale of state violence, the political instability and economic deprivation  in Zimbabwe has seen the UK receive refugees from there.  A refugee is someone whose asylum application has been successful and who is allowed to stay in another country having proved they would face persecution in their homeland. Zimbabwe's human rights record under Robert Mugab...

Refugee Week  is often celebrated between 2- 26 June. It is a unique event as it brings people from all backgrounds together to highlight and celebrate the contributions that asylum seekers and refugees make to the U.K .     The theme for Refugee Week for 2016 is  Welcome.    Throughout this week, my Simple Act  through my blog has been to  Cook A Dish from Another Country  and try and raise some awareness of that particular country through its cuisine. Today I will share some vegetarian and vegan Eritrea plates, but before I share the recipes, I'd like to begin by admitting that I had never heard of Eritrea until the refugee crisis.  Eritrea's neighbour Ethiopia had been imprinted on the memories of many thanks to Bob Geldof's  'Feed the world' campaign; but Eritrea  a small country in the Horn of Africa  was to come to our attention in the mid 1990s when  many vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees from Bosnia, ...

The theme for  Refugee Week    for 2016 is  Welcome.    Refugee Week is  a collective acknowledgement across the world to raise awareness  of the plight of refugees and asylum seekers across the world.    As my blog is a vegetarian food blog  my Simple Act  was to  Cook A Dish from Another Country  and try and raise some awareness that way among some of my readers. Kibbeh is a popular dish from the Middle East, especially in Aleppo in Syria.  It is made from bulgar wheat, meat, onions, spices and then deep fried.   It often comes in torpedo shape croquettes which I have yet to master and many variations.  In Aleppo, Syria there are many varieties including those made with vegetables.  Some of you may remember me mentioning a Middle Eastern cookbook I foun d at my local library a little while back called  Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East and North Africa (2000) by Habee...

All week,  except for Friday much to do with the EU Referendum I have been trying to raise some awareness of Refugee Week  through  Cooking A Dish from Another Country   .  Refugee Week  in the United Kingdom is an event that promotes positive encounters between asylum seekers and refugees and members of the receiving communities, as well as raising awareness. The theme for Refugee Week  2016 was  Welcome.     Today I will share another Middle Eastern dish called Maqluba .  . Over the years, I've seen various versions of Maqlub.   Maqluba is a Palestinian dish popular throughout the Middle East.   Once the dish is cooked, the cooking pot is turned   upside down and removed to reveal  the edible crown beneath.   I have no doubt that Maqluba takes centre stage on the table at Middle Eastern family feasts, especially now when many Muslims across the world are taking part in the holy time in the ...