Leeds asylum seekers create new cooking book with recipes from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran and Afghanistan

Leeds City Council’s children’s social services team, Child Friendly Leeds and the British Library have teamed up to create a book filled with food and heart-warming stories of those making a new life in Leeds.

The 110-page Cooked with Love: World Recipes Without Borders cookbook brings together cuisine from Eritrea and Ethiopia, Chad, Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan, created by young, unaccompanied asylum seekers currently living in Leeds.

Readers will be able to create a variety of cultural meals with easy-to-follow recipes – including kufta, an Iranian chicken kebab, gabil pilau, an Afghan dish with lamb and rice, dinch wot, an Eritrean and Ethiopian potato stew and much more. The recipe book also has many stories from the young people.

Speaking in the book, Abdul-Muneim, Adam, Ali, Ismiel, Mahmood and Mansoor, from Sudan, said: “These dishes are really special to us as they remind us of childhood, our country, our culture, our cooking, and most importantly eating together with our family and community. When we recreated our dishes in this project, it took us back home: the smells, the spices, and fragrances.”

The book’s creation has been a long-term wish of the council’s children’s social services team. Staff from the council's children and families social care team and the British Library facilitated five cohorts of young people to cook together and learn about each other’s lives before they arrived in the UK. These sessions are also collated into the book.

Councillor Fiona Venner, executive member for adult and children’s social care and health partnerships, said: “I’m delighted to see the recipe book come to completion after two years in the making.

“The creation of this book has enabled people from different backgrounds to come together, share their expertise and knowledge – even when English was not their common language. It celebrates the best of the diversity that our city has to offer. I can’t wait to try my hand at cooking some of the incredible looking food shared in it.”

Visit www.bl.uk/projects/food-means-home to download a free copy of the recipe book.