In a cosy private kitchen in Chai Wan, 40 guests gathered earlier this month to enjoy a seven-course vegetarian meal to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Refugee Week.
One of the chefs behind this elaborate feast wasn’t trained at a famous culinary school or at one of Hong Kong’s high-end restaurants: she learned from her grandmother.
Marie*, an asylum seeker from Sri Lanka, started cooking with her family at the age of nine. She prepared her signature dish for the event: pumpkin curry with pineapple salad, a Sri Lankan staple made using her own home-made curry paste.
“I am the one making [the] curry powder and everything … I do not buy from outside shops, so that is why there is a very different taste to my curry,” she said, adding that she hopes to one day use her culinary talents to open a restaurant in Hong Kong.
The event, “Tastes from (My) Home: Roots and Recipes”, organised by local non-profits Grassroots Future and Justice Centre Hong Kong, was a tribute to the resilience and diversity of Hong Kong’s refugees and asylum seekers.
The meal was curated by food experience designer Alison Tan, Hong Kong-based Ukrainian business Ivan The Kozak, and three talented chefs from the refugee community, each presenting a culturally unique and authentic dish from their country of origin: Egypt, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Ukraine.
The event was held as part of Refugee Week, the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. According to Grassroots Future, an estimated 13,000 - 14,000 asylum seekers are seeking protection in Hong Kong due to dangerous conditions in their home countries, where they may face persecution, torture or worse. Most of them come from countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, as well as Southeast Asia.
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The great equaliser
Tegan Smyth, founder of Grassroots Future, called food an “equaliser” that could bridge cultural divides.
“We wanted to show that there’s more than just the label ‘refugee’,” she said, “There’s dignity in being someone seeking safety ... that was the purpose of our event and our objective for refugee week.”
This theme was explored through a sharing activity using “role cards”, labelled with words such as mediator, caregiver, and adviser. Guests were asked to choose a card that resonated with them and the role they assumed in their community, later sharing how they felt about other people’s cards in relation to their own.
The purpose of the activity was to explore the many roles we all play in society and why you can’t give a person a label.
“No one wants to be reduced to one role – everyone could resonate with at least two or three cards,” Smyth said.
This also applies to refugees, Smyth added: “Often refugees are reduced just to their legal status – they could have been entrepreneurs or professionals back home. Unfortunately, not being able to work and living in limbo means there’s that double jeopardy of being unable to go beyond the label of refugee [and] having limited scope to prove oneself.”
This is why Grassroots Future funds education and community building opportunities for youth and adults to become self-sufficient and feel engaged in wider society.
“There’s a lot of nuance within the community because everyone has their own story,” Smyth said.
Creating inclusive spaces
Attendees said the dinner allowed them to learn more about the city’s asylum seekers.
“The event was a great experience – there were people from all walks of life connecting not only through a meal, but also through shared identities and experiences. It was an honour to try such diverse food made by these special women,” said guest Joanne Pong.
Ally*, another guest, echoed Pong’s sentiment: “The food and stories shared around the table show us just how connected we all are as people, no matter which part of the world we come from.”
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Lynette Nam, Executive Director of Justice Centre, emphasised the organisation’s goal of making Hong Kong “a truly welcoming, inclusive space”.
The NGO helps asylum seekers and refugees access legal assistance, counselling and social welfare - crucial services for this marginalised group of people that receive little support elsewhere.
“To make real change in Hong Kong ... you gotta start from the ground up, and you gotta start with building community,” she said. “That is why we partnered with Grassroots Future to create this event, where people can come together to embrace different cultures and really open their eyes about the diversity in our city.”
*Name withheld at interviewee’s request
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