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11/27/2019 07:22 AMWith the approach of the holidays, one thing that nearly everyone will be looking forward to is the food. Sanctuary Kitchen, which works with immigrant and refugee chefs from around the world, recognizes the degree to which food can forge personal bonds and even bridge language or cultural barriers and help raise people up from extremely difficult circumstances. The Scranton library will bring Sanctuary Kitchen chefs and panelists to Madison, inviting residents to take part in breaking bread with a neighbor.
The event, free and open to all adults, will take place Monday, Dec. 9 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church in Madison, 26 Meeting House Lane.
Founded in 2017, Sanctuary Kitchen is a program that leverages the culinary skills and knowledge of people who have come to Connecticut from all over the world, who are now able to share their food, as well as their stories, with their new neighbors. In Madison, attendees will have the opportunity to partake in both of these things, as chefs present a selection of Syrian dishes, and a panel of international refugees and advocates talk about the lives, struggles, and experiences of refugees in Connecticut and around the globe.
Also joining the panel will be representatives of IRIS, a refugee advocacy organization based in New Haven.
Sanctuary Kitchen Program Manager Sumiya Khan said that focusing on food is one of the most important ways for anyone to connect, but particularly for immigrants and refugees.
“We feel that food is a powerful tool for change and community. Food brings people to the table literally and figuratively,” she said. “When you’re sharing a meal with somebody, you’re removing barriers of language, coming from different backgrounds, cultures. It’s an inviting space...and it’s also an opportunity to put a human face to the headlines.”
With crises around the globe, being able to make these types of connections is incredibly important, both for people born in Connecticut as well as for the refugees. Khan said that her program, which offers many other services, including catering and cooking classes, has been able to break down these kinds of barriers.
“These are people who have left their homes because they had no choice...They want opportunities for their livelihood and education for their children. When you share a meal with someone, you learn all of that. You are able to have that cultural exchange,” said Khan.
E.C. Scranton Adult Services Librarian Rachel Taylor said she sought out Sanctuary Kitchen as part of the library’s commitment to expansive, diverse programming. December is International Human Rights month, and Taylor said that the event is “a really great way to get that issue center stage.”
“The food experience, that’s a really great way to interact with another culture,” she said.
Sanctuary Kitchen works with chefs from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the program’s websites. Madison’s event will include a selection of Syrian foods cooked by Chef Saffa, who fled Syria in 2013 with her husband and child and brought with her a plethora of family recipes, Khan said.
The food, though a part of the experience in its own right, also serves as a conduit for people to connect with the experience of refugees, Taylor said.
“We have to understand that a lot of them have lots of very horrible experiences, and there’s a lot of trauma involved with that,” Khan said. “And so some of the refugees will be comfortable sharing so much about their experience, and some of them will not share much.”
But there is a tremendous amount that the panelists can share apart from these sad and horrifying experiences, Khan said, ranging from cooking tips to family stories to cultural traditions.
Taylor also said she hopes to focus on ways people can contribute to programs that help refugees, and what other people and organizations are doing in the area.
“New Haven is so close to us, and sort of so far away at the same time,” Taylor said. “I want people to know about these organizations.”
For more information about the event in Madison, call the Scranton Library at 203-245-7365. To learn more about Sanctuary Kitchen and its work, visit www.sanctuarykitchen.org.