Introducing Marjan and Huda, two of our newest participants! They’ve been busily training with us behind the scenes, and will soon be ready to welcome you all into their beautiful cooking experiences, but for now we’re so grateful and proud to be able to share their beautiful words. May they move you, may they fill you, may they give you a taste of what’s to come!

1. How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

Huda: Deeply accepting, thoughtfully confident and loyal
Marjan: Kind, helpful and a good listener

2. What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever had to do?

Huda: Moving to Australia, leaving my family, leaving the home and comfort of Doha, Qatar. Before moving to Australia, it felt far away from everywhere I had ever known, a place where there is freedom of being you with a promise of a better future. I felt a deep sense of conviction to provide opportunities for my children. For myself it seemed like an opportunity to be me and who I wanted, rather than a place of inherited culture and assumed trajectory. There is an opportunity to move from a place of assumptions of who you will be, to build from scratch. Here everything is from choice, a deep sense of freedom of what to wear, eat, cook and work; every decision is filled with happiness and deep satisfaction. Each choice has a cost and living in Australia has many, but it is my choice.

Marjan: Helping my daughter to be a good person. Helping her to succeed in her schooling and her life, to be good, kind and have strong character. Kind people must be brave, you must be brave to care and do the right thing. It is not easy to stop and choose to care, it requires you to be strong, it makes you brave. I have big conversations with her about what and who she will be and her values.

“Kind people must be brave, you must be brave to care and do the right thing. ”

— Marjan

3. What does sharing food mean to you?

Huda: It means communication with others, travelling around the world while sitting at the table. It talks about people, stories and an international language. Sharing the language of love, passion and being, the language of culture, of fun times during my childhood. These are the languages I know, of feeling cozy and humble, and that is my invitation.

Marjan: Sharing enjoyment together, people come together and be close together, getting in touch with my culture. Being together and all the noises at the table are precious. I enjoy my food more when other people enjoy it with me. When I smell saffron I’m reminded of my country, and cooking and sharing with them shows them that I love them.

“It means communication with others, travelling around the world while sitting at the table. It talks about people, stories and an international language.”

— Huda

4. What’s the kindest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

Huda: Upon arrival, we didn’t have any friends around, my husband was working in the city, there was a furniture shipment that arrived, and i didn’t have the money for them and they wouldn’t take transfer and wouldn’t leave without the cash. I was newly arrived, I didn’t know anyone to call so I took my 3 year old little boy on a cold rainy day to walk to the local shopping center. I tried to withdraw the money from the ATM but there was a problem with my card and I wanted to start crying. I felt alone and had no idea what to do. Another mother from the children’s school that had seen me once before asked if I wanted help. With no questions asked she withdrew the money from her account, scooped us up and drove us home safe. I am now close friends with that lady, she is an angel. I was so nervous then, but I am strong now and I would do that same thing for another.

Marjan: When I first arrived in Australia with my family, we had no money and the government wouldn’t give us any money until we had gotten a house. But no one would give us a house till we had the money. It was very scary. We got in touch with a very very distant relative that we had never talked to before. He lent us the money so we could get a house and be safe. We paid him back as soon as we could and now we are very close.

*Huda + our trainer Sonia deep in recipe development!*

5. What’s your favourite dish to make and why?

Huda: Msakhan; it reminds me of my family and Teta, reminds me of her freshly baked bread, cooking it all with olive oil glazed onion over the bread. It is a deep reminder of family, of eating together around the table.

Marjan: Persian BBQ! We have chicken marinated in saffron and sumac and Kubbedeh - mincemeat and onion with spices, grilled over charcoal. When I do the BBQ all the family come together and I love to have all the family around after making the fire and cooking together. If Iranians go outside, they must make a fire!

6. What’s your hero ingredient?

Huda: Sumac, it shows how Palestinian people were so so clever. They changed a plant to a herb! It is such an ancient process of drying the plant in the sun, grinding it, adding salt to preserve, and being able to store it for the whole year to add flavour. We use it to add flavour to fried eggs or msakhan.

Marjan: Saffron, Persian saffron, the smell and colour makes all dishes beautiful. The smell helps you enjoy the dish, it is strong and smells like a flower, the flowers from the mountains of Iran, the best in the world.

“If Iranians go outside, they must make a fire!”