Portsmouth community group creates diverse recipe book full of family favourites

Members of the city’s Chat Over Chai group, which brings together people from all walks of life to discuss health and wellbeing, have pooled together some of their most treasured dishes with links to their families and heritage.

The book is the product of more than a year’s work, with much of the organising and writing taking part during lockdown.

Treasurer for the group, Salina Ali, 40, from Southsea said: ‘I am very pleased and quite proud of the whole team at Chat Over Chai.

‘When I first joined the group as a volunteer I brought my mum along and my family so we had three generations attending. Now mum and I have contributed a recipe – both traditional Bangladeshi recipes.’

Usually the group meets once a week at the Havelock Community Centre in Southsea but during the height of the pandemic the sessions moved to video calls.

Salina added: ‘I think our group was actually strengthened during the pandemic because everyone looked forward to chatting online.’

Artist Mandy Webb, from Portsmouth, came up with the initial idea - first of all planning to create a piece of art as a collective.

The 55-year-old said: ‘The strength of this group is its diversity. I remember first coming to this group years ago for a meeting on International Women’s Day and I was introduced to so many different people from different backgrounds.

‘This is a way to share that with each other.

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‘We’ve got a wide variety of recipes in the book, some from Iran, India, Pakistan and some traditional British dishes. All of them are linked to a memory for the writer making them special.’

To get the project off the ground a grant of £500 was awarded to the group by the National Museum of the Royal Navy.

Those who would like a copy of the book are asked to make a donation towards the group.

Chat Over Chai meets on Thursdays at 12.30pm at the Havelock Community Centre. To find out more visit campaign.exchange/groups/chat-over-chai

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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