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1. Cook a dish from another country

Has it ever occurred to you that there might be some “refugees” in your fridge?

Cook a dish from another country

Garlic, for example, originally came from Central Asia and was frowned upon by the Americans until as recently as the 1940s. Our old friend the tomato is in fact a native of South America, and was greeted with suspicion by the British because they thought it was poisonous. Even the lowly potato has roots in the mountains of South America, and was for a long time snubbed by Europeans because they considered it to be the food of the underclass.

When you think about it, almost any dish you care to imagine includes ingredients that come from somewhere else. Just imagine how much less tasty our lives would be if these foods had stayed at home?

So, why not welcome new ingredients and dishes into your kitchen? Instead of frowning upon lesser known vegetables and sticking to a meat-and-two-veg routine, go adventurous and explore the world - one dish at a time. You might even discover a future tomato or potato.


Here are some yummy recipes recommended by refugees

mmmm! Tasty...Tasty Engera from Ethiopia
- recommended by Tesehay Kifle

Yum yum...Scrumptious baked trout from Bosnia
- recommended by Vesna Maric

mm mmmm!Delightful peanut and spinach thing from Uganda
- recommended by Jade Amoli-Jackson

mm mmmm!Gorgeous chilli beef and tatties from Uganda
- recommended by Jade Amoli-Jackson

Yum yum...

Super Spinach dish from Palestine
- recommended by Dia Batal


Guilt free...As for desert, here is a nice tip from a Mr Ulmer:
"Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first."Add you action to the Action Counter

Recommend a recipe


Download loads of recipes

Home Cooking - produced by the Children's Society

Here's bunch of free tasty recipes to test your palette for Simple Act no.1.

The Children’s Society and the refugee families who attend their Outreach Project made a great little cookbook together. Each recipe comes with a description of the cultural context of sharing a meal.

Download Home Cooking



Or check out :

Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations

It might not be 'Cuisines of Refugee Producing Countries', but with recipes from the states making up the Former US President George Bush's 'Axis of Evil' - as well as other global 'hotpots' - this unique cook-book-cum-encyclopaedia will have you exploring your perceptions through your pallette.

Chris Fayre's humerous take on international relations via the medium of the stomach will serve up some tasty ideas for Simple Act no.1!

Completed Actions

I made a yummy Lamb Tagine

Harriet Jackson
Liverpool
16 August 2010 08:20 PM

I cooked spaghetti and meatball
for dinner

Hannah kirk
London
05 July 2010 09:16 AM

It was a really great stir fry

Ben
Birmingham, UK
25 June 2010 01:44 PM

At Norwich International Youth Project (an organisation working with unaccompanied asylum seekers and young refugees), we all enjoyed Halal Lamb Burgers made by a Kurdish Iraqi refugee. It was a great adventure trying out food from another culture and has inspired some of our young people from other countries to offer to make a national dish at future youth club sessions!

Jo Foster
United Kingdom
21 June 2010 02:11 PM

i can cook differt food it is esay and can cook lost of food that i now

lubna shirwa 3A
salusbury primary school
19 June 2010 10:09 AM

I cooked q ish from another country and the country was Africa,India and spain.

Angelina Wilson 3A
Salusbury Primary School London
19 June 2010 07:46 AM

I made vegetable and beef samosas for my Dad's birthday. They were very tasty - everyone said so. :-)

Ben
Kirkbymoorside
18 June 2010 09:20 PM

after school on tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday i ate a snack from other countries

natalie
london
18 June 2010 03:07 PM

I cooked a dish traditionally from the Caribbean for lunch with clients with Refugee Action Leicester.

Jade Walters
Leicester
18 June 2010 02:54 PM

I cooked some mediterranean dishes to share with asylum seekers in leicester

natasha Stevenson
leicester
18 June 2010 02:52 PM

I cooked Paella for everyone in my house.

Emma Davis
London
18 June 2010 07:40 AM

My mum cooked food from afria and france and it was tasty and i was not hungry after.

Angelina Wilson 3A
Salusbury Primary School London
17 June 2010 07:24 PM

I cooked fajitas - whilst not refugees, the Mexicans in Arizona face discrimination on a daily basis.

Claire
London
17 June 2010 11:04 AM

http://ohnoiverunoutof.blogspot.com/2010/06/refugee-week-food.html

Scarlett de Courcier
UK
17 June 2010 10:52 AM

made a greek honey cake for a refutea

tom green
london
17 June 2010 08:51 AM

It was nice

Jafar Alsalemi
Salusbury Primary School
16 June 2010 01:50 PM

I have cook a Indian dish and it was lovely.

Alis
salusbury primary school 5R
16 June 2010 01:46 PM

I made spagheti bolegnese

Brad
London
16 June 2010 11:29 AM

As part of RefuJuice fundraising event on Monday 14th June I made a home made Bangladeshi dessert for everyone to share in the office and helped to raise money for the Destitution fund. ( the dish was made of vermicelli, milk, almonds, cinammon, cardommon, dessicated coconut and sugar.

Alyena Rahman
Birmingham
16 June 2010 10:20 AM

It was very tasty.

Mahmoud
St Georges school
16 June 2010 08:05 AM

Our reception class made hummus and enjoyed eating it!!

Ruth McGowan
London
15 June 2010 01:38 PM

Me and my mum cooked some lizanya from a american resipy.

Lisa boerner 3A
london
15 June 2010 07:11 AM

A genuine curry, lamb rogan josh from scratch it was good!

Linda Miloudi
East KIlbride
14 June 2010 09:33 PM

Cooked Mahamri, Congolese doughnuts, for my French class! Delicious!

Karen
Chicago, US - Freetown, Sierra Leone
14 June 2010 09:16 PM

THE DISHED TASTED REALLY GOOD

REBECCA HODGE
london
14 June 2010 08:38 PM

It went well

David Hodge
London
14 June 2010 08:33 PM

Me and my mum made a dish from another country.

Noor 3A
Salusbury school
14 June 2010 07:24 PM

4 children from Yr 4 cooked a Palestinian side dish, then all of Yr 4 ate it with bread

Mrs Leaney
Weddington Primary School
14 June 2010 06:02 PM

Made a meal of Armenian dishes to celebrate my husband's background. His family left Armenia as refugees after the genocide!

katy
london
14 June 2010 05:11 PM

made spaniish omelette

Eliza F 3A
london
14 June 2010 03:35 PM

It went very well! The children loved to taste the different food and enjoyed the different smells esp the mint!!!

michelle
UK
14 June 2010 02:12 PM

i made a delightful meal, and i gave this to the refugees at a local socity. thank you.

deadrie
america
14 June 2010 11:37 AM

i would cook a nice meal for the refugees and i hope if i cook it they would like it :'D

Kayleigh
St.Helens
14 June 2010 09:26 AM

I cooked peas and rice, nigerian stylee ; )

Yasmin Selena
Hayes, Middlesex
11 June 2010 11:56 AM

i cooked a meal for 18. i made couscous with salmon and to drink.it comes from Congo, Africa

Cindy liz
France
10 June 2010 09:24 AM

I cooked a Morroccan meal with my mum. It was juicy.

Sonny
Here
10 June 2010 09:23 AM

Made a yummy vegetarian Moussaka.

Kirstie
New Zealand
10 June 2010 01:07 AM

I love Mexican food and have on several occasions made chicken enchiladas, black beans & rice (which actually Cuban)

Anna
Butler, PA
10 June 2010 12:36 AM

Cooked a ceviche from Peru and was delish!!

James
Brighton
08 June 2010 10:59 PM

Thai red curry....

Kate
London
06 June 2010 06:26 PM

I cooked Mashawa soup, an Afghan recipe consisting of chickpeas, kidney beans, mung beans, rice, onions, chopped tomato, and the magical ingredient - garlic yoghurt .
I made a huge pot which lasted for days - and my flatmates loved it! It's the perfect winter warmer, which went down very well during the snow storm.

Ayian
London
19 May 2010 05:15 PM

i took the action really well it was a nice dish but i cant pronunce the name

daniel
Liverpool
19 May 2010 05:06 PM

Cooked quorn fajitas - not sure if that counts. Nevertheless it was nice and a reminder that Mexican food was all but unknown in the UK 20-odd years ago when I came back from a couple of years studying/working in Southern California.

Chris Eley
Leeds
19 May 2010 05:03 PM

it went really well we cooked a dish from morocco

Amal
London
19 May 2010 04:31 PM

A curry - delicious!

Dvae
Leeds
19 May 2010 04:15 PM
Welsh Refugee Council ran an Arabian style café to highlight the plight of Iraqi refugees living in Wales. To be honest with you at the beginning I was rather sceptical of this particular simple act. I (and some others) thought it was a little patronising towards refugees to put them on 'display' so to speak for people to come and drink tea with, but it has worked really well! Over the course of the week 271 people completed the 'have a cup of tea with a refugee' simple act with some comments from visitors including:

"What a lovely place, you should do more of this kind of thing because unfortunately some people need to know the truth."

"I wasn't expecting to come into this café and learn so much, thank you for the opportunity to meet people from a different culture."

"Shame its only here for a week, you should make it really mobile and convert a bus into a café and take it on the road spreading the word about what people go through."
Hawar Ameen
Bala, Mid Wales
02 February 2006 10:40 AM