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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Learning English, making dumplings | Learning English, making dumplings |
| (7 months later) | |
| At Manchester’s Heart and Parcel supper club, migrant women present food prepared in their cookery/language lessons | |
| Helen Clifton | |
| Sun 11 Jun 2017 06.00 BST | |
| Last modified on Mon 19 Jun 2017 12.24 BST | |
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| Dode bursts into the busy restaurant kitchen, beaming. “They like my food,” she proclaims. “I’m so happy.” This is the Heart and Parcel supper club in Manchester, where migrant women, who have attended courses that teach English through cookery, present their food to the public. | Dode bursts into the busy restaurant kitchen, beaming. “They like my food,” she proclaims. “I’m so happy.” This is the Heart and Parcel supper club in Manchester, where migrant women, who have attended courses that teach English through cookery, present their food to the public. |
| You can learn so much English through cooking: how does the food smell and taste? | You can learn so much English through cooking: how does the food smell and taste? |
| Dode, an Egyptian engineer, has served a seven-course menu of her home cooking to dozens of customers. Judging by the loud applause that greets her mid-dinner speech, the goulash baked pastry, bamya okra stew, and halabesa chickpea and tomato soup have been a great success. “When I joined Heart and Parcel I learned new skills, made new friends and my English improved,” she tells the packed restaurant. “Now my teachers are like family.” | Dode, an Egyptian engineer, has served a seven-course menu of her home cooking to dozens of customers. Judging by the loud applause that greets her mid-dinner speech, the goulash baked pastry, bamya okra stew, and halabesa chickpea and tomato soup have been a great success. “When I joined Heart and Parcel I learned new skills, made new friends and my English improved,” she tells the packed restaurant. “Now my teachers are like family.” |
| At the heart of the project is the humble dumpling. With parcelled foods universal to every culture, project co-founders and teachers Karolina Koscien and Clare Courtney realised they would be the perfect item to make during classes. Dumplings, they explain, are also a metaphor for the women they teach, who “all have something special hidden inside”. Clare, an English language lecturer, thinks migrant women’s skills are being wasted. “We are not realising their full potential,” she says. “You hear all these stories and start to think: why on earth is this happening?” | At the heart of the project is the humble dumpling. With parcelled foods universal to every culture, project co-founders and teachers Karolina Koscien and Clare Courtney realised they would be the perfect item to make during classes. Dumplings, they explain, are also a metaphor for the women they teach, who “all have something special hidden inside”. Clare, an English language lecturer, thinks migrant women’s skills are being wasted. “We are not realising their full potential,” she says. “You hear all these stories and start to think: why on earth is this happening?” |
| Set up in 2015 in response to cuts to English language teaching, Heart and Parcel “took matters into their own hands,” says Clare, by creating free classes. “The targets for funding English classes have become a lot stricter. But we are arguing that they should be for everybody. With us, you are just a woman who likes cooking and who wants to practise English.” | Set up in 2015 in response to cuts to English language teaching, Heart and Parcel “took matters into their own hands,” says Clare, by creating free classes. “The targets for funding English classes have become a lot stricter. But we are arguing that they should be for everybody. With us, you are just a woman who likes cooking and who wants to practise English.” |
| She is surprised how effective their method is. “There’s so much English to learn through cooking; quantities, adjectives, how does the food smell, is the food good. Learners relax and then the English just flows.” | She is surprised how effective their method is. “There’s so much English to learn through cooking; quantities, adjectives, how does the food smell, is the food good. Learners relax and then the English just flows.” |
| Heart and Parcel was set up with a £500 grant. They started small, with the initial course attracting women from Clare’s English class in Salford. The supper clubs were Dode’s idea, with the first Polish and Chinese-themed events held in Clare’s home. Dumplings are the star turn, with Karolina running workshops teaching guests how to make pierogi (Polish dumplings). Other dishes have included Syrian mincemeat and onion kibbeh and Bangladeshi deep-fried coconut puli petha. | Heart and Parcel was set up with a £500 grant. They started small, with the initial course attracting women from Clare’s English class in Salford. The supper clubs were Dode’s idea, with the first Polish and Chinese-themed events held in Clare’s home. Dumplings are the star turn, with Karolina running workshops teaching guests how to make pierogi (Polish dumplings). Other dishes have included Syrian mincemeat and onion kibbeh and Bangladeshi deep-fried coconut puli petha. |
| Heart and Parcel has attracted £4,000 in funding to become a social enterprise and now runs market stalls selling its produce. Karolina and Clare are “working out whether to give up their day jobs,” with 20 women ready to run their own supper clubs. | Heart and Parcel has attracted £4,000 in funding to become a social enterprise and now runs market stalls selling its produce. Karolina and Clare are “working out whether to give up their day jobs,” with 20 women ready to run their own supper clubs. |
| Mentoring Dode is Laila Cheikhmousa, a Syrian refugee whose own supper club sold out. Laila and her four children fled the conflict in Syria in 2014, and joined her teacher husband in England. Life in Salford has not been easy. Their daughter Siwan is deaf and attends a specialist school in Bolton. Laila’s husband remains out of work while he studies English. But joining Heart and Parcel has seen Laila set up a business selling her stuffed vine leaves, kibbeh and tabbouleh to Salford’s Syrian and Jewish families. | Mentoring Dode is Laila Cheikhmousa, a Syrian refugee whose own supper club sold out. Laila and her four children fled the conflict in Syria in 2014, and joined her teacher husband in England. Life in Salford has not been easy. Their daughter Siwan is deaf and attends a specialist school in Bolton. Laila’s husband remains out of work while he studies English. But joining Heart and Parcel has seen Laila set up a business selling her stuffed vine leaves, kibbeh and tabbouleh to Salford’s Syrian and Jewish families. |
| It reminds me of when I go home to Poland, with seven women making dumplings, chatting around a table | It reminds me of when I go home to Poland, with seven women making dumplings, chatting around a table |
| For mother of three Dode, the project is bringing her closer to her dream of working in the UK. Clare is helping her take the English language qualification needed to study for a master’s degree. “I have met doctors who stay at home and don’t do anything,” she explains. “If we don’t learn English, how can we communicate? If we learn, we can become skilled, work, and pay taxes.” | For mother of three Dode, the project is bringing her closer to her dream of working in the UK. Clare is helping her take the English language qualification needed to study for a master’s degree. “I have met doctors who stay at home and don’t do anything,” she explains. “If we don’t learn English, how can we communicate? If we learn, we can become skilled, work, and pay taxes.” |
| After attending a Heart and Parcel supper club a year ago, Goska and Jamie Langrish offered their restaurant, Palate, for free, with tonight’s event the third they have hosted. “I’m from Poland,” Goska explains. “It reminds me of when I go home, with seven women making dumplings, chatting around a table. I wanted to be a part of it.” | After attending a Heart and Parcel supper club a year ago, Goska and Jamie Langrish offered their restaurant, Palate, for free, with tonight’s event the third they have hosted. “I’m from Poland,” Goska explains. “It reminds me of when I go home, with seven women making dumplings, chatting around a table. I wanted to be a part of it.” |
| Zeynep Turunc, a Heart and Parcel supper club regular, is sitting with a large table of friends. Turunc says she comes for the food. She’s not alone – recent Chinese, Bangladeshi, and Syrian themed-nights all sold out – but the charitable aspect is important. “It’s great to do something that brings so many people from the community together. Seeing someone enjoy serving you the food they’ve cooked is uplifting.” | Zeynep Turunc, a Heart and Parcel supper club regular, is sitting with a large table of friends. Turunc says she comes for the food. She’s not alone – recent Chinese, Bangladeshi, and Syrian themed-nights all sold out – but the charitable aspect is important. “It’s great to do something that brings so many people from the community together. Seeing someone enjoy serving you the food they’ve cooked is uplifting.” |
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