When Teo is not busy preparing orders for her catering business, you can find her volunteering at the Wat Phrayortkeo Dhammayanaram Lao Buddhist Temple in Bonnyrigg, Sydney. Every Wednesday, Teo arrives early in the morning to cook lunch for the monks, who eat their second and final meal of the day at 11am. It is […]

“I did a test to receive my Food Health and Safety certificate. I made okra soup with lamb, as well as fish and rice. The officers told me I made too much. I told them when they eat they will not tell me it’s too much. They ended up finishing everything”. A woman of diverse […]

“I learned to cook half from my mother and half from my mother law. While my mother in law is very methodical when she cooks, my mother is more spontaneous and haphazard in her approach”. In the space between each ingredient addition, knife and spoon alternation and wipe of the bench, Sherene narrates her cooking […]

“We learned on the way. After we left Iraq, we lived in Syria for seven and a half years and then Turkey for two and a half years. We learnt to keep starting over. To work in, and adapt to new places”. Aiman  A reflection of their geographic journey, the Al Janabi’s catering business is […]

So, here you are, too foreign for home, too foreign for here. Never enough for both. “I read this thing called Diaspora Blues* and I thought that is so me. It is really how I would describe my life here. I think my mentality and my upbringing is very Australian. But sometimes when I am here I […]