Community Kitchen Has All the Right Ingredients

The City hosted its first Community Kitchen event in Mirrabooka this week as a way of bringing the community together, welcoming newcomers and reducing the amount of fresh food going to landfill.

Similar to programs run overseas, the event encourages locals to help prepare a range of delicious dishes from donated produce and then sit down together to enjoy their kitchen handiwork.

About 100 people prepped and cooked dishes including soups, baked veggies and curries at Stirling Leisure Centres - Herb Graham - Mirrabooka on Wednesday 17 July from 9.00am to 12.00noon. A scrumptious lunch followed soon after.

The event proved a real joint effort between City staff, local volunteers, Edith Cowan University practicum student Nic Todd and community volunteer Theresa Young who all chipped in to make it a success. Whether it was securing food donations from local businesses, collecting the produce from various stores or setting up the event, there was plenty of groundwork involved.

Mayor Mark Irwin said the Community Kitchen was a great success in bringing together newcomers from different nationalities who could network with others, share their cooking skills and feel more connected to their new community.

“When it comes to bringing people together, enjoying freshly prepared food is always a surefire winner,” Mayor Irwin said. “The beauty of the Community Kitchen program is that everything cooked is vegan, so absolutely everyone can enjoy it.”

After the success of this first event, the City hopes to host a regular Community Kitchen each month.

Everyone who helps prepare meals can tuck into the array of dishes free and those who would just like to enjoy a meal with others are more than welcome to do so for a gold coin donation. Money collected will go towards community projects.

Mirrabooka Fresh Produce, Northlands Fresh Market, Woolworths Mirrabooka, Woolworths Stirling and Spudshed Innaloo all kindly donated produce to this initial Community Kitchen event.