The First Meeting of the 3 Kitchens Project

Orla was recently in gorgeous Bordeaux for the first meeting of 3 Kitchens, a project to empower migrant women through 3 pathways – volunteering, employment & entrepreneurship rooted in culinary heritage. The plan is to boost their social & economic integration and empowerment. The project will also support adult educators with crosscutting new approaches and resources to better reach and teach migrant women & create connections between migrant women and local food industry.

The meeting was hosted by Marie Curry  and Le LABA, our lead partner, the Municipality of Krokom, Sweden and GO Woman Alliance CIC (Europe), the project team were inspired by the work of Marie Curry, an inclusive and sustainable culinary project in the Bordeaux area, that works to

1) highlight diverse culinary heritage

2) actively integrate refugee and immigrant women in the kitchen, via salaried employment in positions at the catering company, via the Marie Curry restaurant (AMAZING) or via training in creating their enterprise/ own income-generation. The team met women in training and employment in Syria, Libya, Turkey, Vietnam, Brazil and many other parts of the globe. They were inspired by their resilience and creativity.

This quote really captures the project – “My food is a reflection of my heritage, a bridge to my past, and a celebration of my new home. It’s my way of taking you by the hand and saying, ‘This is where I come from, and this is where we can go together.'” – Madhur Jaffrey, Indian-born actress, food and travel writer.