We gave Sunderland the chance to tuck into pierogi, mushroom soup and more at Polish food event
Sunderland got to sample a taste of Poland with pierogi, mushroom soup and more thanks to a new project.
To encourage more people to try Polish food, a stall was hosted at the recent Sunderland Food & Drink Festival.
The stall was the result of The Cultural Spring teaming up with International Community Organisation of Sunderland (ICOS) through its Community Arts Research Project.
The Cultural Spring commissioned artist and academic Sabina Sallis to work with ICOS, exploring personal stories of Eastern European women’s journeys of migration to Sunderland.
Through this project they looked at their heritage by creating artwork, exploring nature, creating balms and ointments as well as cooking and sharing traditional Polish food together.
And, as a result, the group hosted a stall at the festival to share their joy of cooking and traditional Polish food with the city by giving out free dishes.
Emma Biggins, Community Engagement Co-Ordinator at The Cultural Spring, said: “It was such a perfect fit and ICOS provided pierogies (Polish dumplings), mushroom soup, mushroom cabbage stew, amazing home cooked bread and their own artwork.
“There was a lot of interest in the ICOS stall and food, which was given free for invited guests and then to the wider public.”
How also mushrooms became art
ICOS also linked up with Threads in the Ground, a North East climate hope charity, who had produced ‘living sculptures’ from bio materials in the shape of railway sleepers.
The sculptures were made of 25 pieces, symbolising Sunderland’s 25 electoral wards and paying tribute to the city’s heritage – railway lines played an important part in both shipbuilding and mining.
The mycelium in the sculpture produced Oyster mushrooms which ICOS used in preparing the festival food.
The sculpture project is part of Culture House Sunderland’s pre-opening programme, funded by the UK Government as part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Julia Wysocka, Community Development Officer at ICOS, said: “The production of mushrooms from Threads in the Ground sleepers was a big part of the project and people who came to our stall at the festival could see some of the sleepers which were still growing Oyster mushrooms.
“As well as producing a community feast for the festival, we also delivered talks about Polish food and our culture. Adam Cooper, Director at Threads in the Ground, also delivered sessions on climate change.
“We’ve really enjoyed working with Sabina, who’s also Polish, and we’re now thinking about what to do next. She started work with us last summer and we’ve been meeting either weekly or fortnightly in St Michael’s Community Centre.
“We’d love to do something even bigger to introduce even more people to Polish food –and we’d also be interested in producing a recipe book.”