A sample menu of the dishes that will be taught include:

• Timtimo (Brown Lentils)
• Shiro (Chickpea Flour Stew)
• Adas (Chickpea Flour and Berbere Stew)
• Hamli (Curried Greens)
• Eritrean Salad 

This menu is Vegan. Allergens include: celery. Injera brought to the class may contain traces of gluten.

A message from our Chef Helen:

“Hello, my name is Helen Goitom. I am from Eritrea. I was brought up in a city called Asmara – the capital city of Eritrea. My mother taught me to cook when I was 12 years old. I have 6 brothers and 2 sisters. My brothers never cooked, only me and my sisters. I have been in the UK for 1 year and 5 months. I got my refugee status last year, age 28.

In 2014 I was forced to join the army in Eritrea. Everyone in my country had to join. Only my father couldn’t join because he was ill. After 3 years of being in the army I wanted to leave the army because it was very dangerous and scary, I didn’t like it. Often there was not enough food and water for the soldiers, there was never any rest, every day working and no rest. My father was very sick so I asked to go visit him in hospital. They wouldn’t let me. I escaped to see my father. The authorities went to the hospital and put me in prison. I spent 6 months in prison. Then my aunt’s son paid someone to help me escape.

I went to Sudan, then Turkey, the Greece, then Italy, Belgium. In Belgium 12 of us snuck into the back of a lorry, the driver was asleep, he didn’t notice us. And the lorry got to the UK.

I am happy here in London. People help me. There are so many amazing services. When I’m ill I can get medicine. In Eritrea there was no medicine. There were no good schools. I feel very grateful to be here. My friends who I met in the lorry I am very good friends with still, they are like family to me.”

Migrateful is an award-winning charity & social enterprise supporting asylum seekers, refugees & migrants in their journey to integration & independence through preparing them to lead cookery classes in their native cuisine. As well as Bristol, Brighton & Kent, Migrateful runs classes in London hosted at the flagship Cookery School in Clerkenwell, Holdspace (Angel), St Ethelburga’s Community Centre (Bishopsgate) and All Saint’s Parish Church (Peckham). Cuisines include Sri Lankan, Jamaican, Iranian and Nicaraguan.