Ruth – Ireland

With the foundation of the monastery of Tallaght by St Maelruain in 769 AD, this South County Dublin town has been a centre of learning and piety quite literally for thousands of years. Yet, despite these auspicious beginnings, poor town planning in the 1970s and 1980s has brought to Tallaght all the disadvantages of inept suburban mismanagement with none of the so-called benefits.

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Diary from Dublin: Food for thought

By Ruth Powell

Type: Article

With the foundation of the monastery of Tallaght by St Maelruain in 769 AD, this South County Dublin town has been a centre of learning and piety quite literally for thousands of years. Yet, despite these auspicious beginnings, poor town planning in the 1970s and 1980s has brought to Tallaght all the disadvantages of inept suburban mismanagement with none of the so-called benefits.

Nevertheless, an arsenal of community development initiatives have been forthcoming in recent years, and none less-so than the Intercultural Drop-in centre in Tallaght which  provides English language training for individuals and families from new communities coming to live in the area. The centre provides a safe environment for people to meet, find support and make links with local organizations and find new friends under the shadow of St Maelruain. I’ve been hanging out at the Drop-in centre for four weeks.

The first thing I noticed on my first day at the centre, was the smell of toast.  Delightful, comforting and calming toast. Ever since the days of toast from the open fire at my grandmother’s house, the smell of toast has inspired a sense of wellness somewhere deep inside my memory bank. And the toast was the least of it!  There was food from Nigeria, Vietnam, Albania and Ethiopia. I was offered a plate, my bag and coat were removed and I was told to relax and enjoy the food.  So I did.

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That first day I joined a small group of women who were discussing the recipes for the food they had brought to the centre. With very few words they were able to describe where they had bought the ingredients and how they made the dishes and it made me think how food is such an enormous part of social interaction. We use it to show love, affection, happiness and grief. From the wedding breakfast to the food mourners are offered at funerals, food is part of all cultures for all life’s events. I asked one woman for advice for the best Chinese restaurant in Dublin and she looked embarrassed as she assured me there wasn’t a chef in the city who could cook as well as her. She then told me not to order food from menus in the Chinese restaurants in Dublin, but rather ask to speak to the chef in person and tell him or her what you want and how you want it. A woman from Mali told me I was too thin, and she proceeded to pack up a box of leftovers for my dinner, while a Vietnamese woman disagreed and asked me if I was pregnant. All in the space of an eye blink.

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As I was leaving that day, three women – three women who had been strangers only two hours before – hugged me and thanked me for coming. I didn’t know what to say; what could you say? So I left it at “See you tomorrow – and thanks for all the food”.

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