As I said in my last post about Melbourne, it
is an incredibly multicultural city. Its diversity and vibrancy is thanks to a
long history of immigration (despite what those angry racists from reclaim
Australia might tell you). I mean if you think about it, the nation of
Australia was brought about by a bunch of British immigrants trying to stake
out lands against the French and Dutch. If you want to be all ‘those who
actually come from Australia should be allowed to determine the laws and future
of the country’ then the only people who should have a say are the indigenous
Australians, and let’s face it, indigenous voices have been pretty much
silenced in Australian politics since the arrival of foreign settlers with
their so called civilising mission (can you tell I am bitter about Australian
politics at the moment?). But I am getting really off topic now.
What I am trying to say is that Melbourne
is a place where many different nationalities, religions, cultures, languages
and worldviews come together. This is manifested in the local museums, film
festivals, sporting groups, and food.
In this series I am going to try to bring all these things together, giving you some ideas for themed outings to do with friends, family, with complete strangers or just on your own.
Museums, festivals and cultural centres provide occasions for engaging with others, other people, other cultures and other experiences than what you would normally encounter on a day to day basis. These encounters help broaden horizons and create a better understanding of the world around us. The more we know about the world and are confronted with things that are 'different' in a positive environment, the more tolerant we become.
Food has a similar effect. The spices, aromas, colours, textures, there is just so much
to take in! And every region’s food is different, I mean yes there are
similarities but also very specific things that are distinct to a specific
group of people. Even families have their own special recipes passed down from
generation to generation. In these cases foods are a part of certain stories or
histories.
I also think food is a great social tool,
it brings people together. All the best holidays revolve around food (and
presents of course), most first dates are over dinner or lunch or some other
meal from the hobbit list (second breakfast is my personal favourite), food is
brought along to cheer people up like ice cream after a break up, it just forms
the centre to so much of our daily social lives. It would actually be great to
run multi-cultural cooking classes for communities that have issues with racism
and inter-cultural violence. But again I digress.
Anyway after living in Melbourne for two
years, I have seen quite a lot of the city and experienced many of its multicultural events. This is my way of sharing these experiences and the knowledge I gained through them with the world.
The themes will range from Melbourne as a port town, to beer production in the city, to heritage listings. If anyone has any suggestions for themes they are interested in, put it in a comment!
- Annelies
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