SCoJeC was delighted to invite experienced and passionate chef and teacher Fabienne Viner Luzzato for a special two hour long workshop at Glasgow Maccabi to mark Refugee Week Scotland by exploring cultural diversity in cooking and its significance in different communities.

After the very diverse group got to know one another, Fabienne introduced several of her own recipes, and explained how these were inspired by her background, heritage, and personal history – born in France, the youngest of seven children, with Tunisian and Italian heritage, and now living in London.

The 24 participants in our free workshop, several of whom had never attended a SCoJeC event previously and were as diverse in their ages as their cultural backgrounds, had the pleasure of learning from and watching the talented and magnetic Fabienne in action, before getting in on the action themselves and helping to prepare, make and produce eight different vegetarian Tunisian and Middle Eastern inspired dishes.

The recipes Fabienne introduced included a number of salads – cucumber, lemon, and sumac, courgette and lentil, and sweet paprika and artichoke – as well as a sabich (three aubergine) dish, brick pastry samosa cigars, and SCoJeC’s Community Engagement and Event Manager’s favourite mushroom kibbeh.

After the hard work of making these delicious dishes almost from scratch, participants then had the opportunity to work together to set out the food they had made.  Finally they were able to socialise while enjoying the delectable fruits of their labour, before taking the left-overs – as well as full recipes of all the dishes they had practiced during the afternoon’s session – to share with their families.

The event was supported by the Netherlee and Clarkston Charitable Trust, and was part of Refugee Week Scotland.