Context
Cooking as a means of exchange and meetings is the concept of Cuisine Sans Frontières, a Grenoble association based at the community center Maison des Habitants Chorier Berriat.
Broché, April 2012
From a collective of the Education Without Borders Network (RESF), the association has already published a book: Cooking Without Papers. Two women invite people in exile to teach them a cooking recipe. Softly raised African stews, Armenian dolmas full of surprises, Albanian böreks with all sauces, an Algerian tagine, the world invites itself to your table. To make these recipes. it took: two or three dozen meetings in kitchens of all sizes, two kilos of flour. lots of kids running around. a dance competition. many misunderstandings, followed by laughter, diverse and not always common languages, and the desire to be together. 15 sweet and savory recipes, tips to make them successful, addresses where to find the ingredients. and photos, traces of these shared moments.
Project
Today, Cuisine Sans Frontières offers cooking workshops for people with difficult journeys of migration behind them. The goal is to cook dishes on Mondays and Tuesdays, to discover new flavors and above all to meet to discuss recipes and also the broader topics of insertion.
One of Cuisine Sans Frontières' missions is access to "good food" for all and social integration, cooking as a lever for integration.
The action of Cuisine Sans Frontières is based on the principles of mixing and meeting. At the whim of the cooks, the dishes travel from one country to another to the delight of our taste buds.
Cuisine Sans Frontière has several activities. On Monday and Tuesday, the chefs take turns preparing dishes from their home country. The challenge for those cooking is to prepare an entire menu while managing the group at the same time. Through this activity everyone can integrate, learn some French and meet other people. Cooking becomes a factor of integration and a means to appreciate those cooking, by their knowledge and the flavors of their dishes.
Occasional events are also organized to meet and discuss recipes and social issues.
Cuisine sans frontières promotes the right to eat well for everyone and the urgency to stop food waste and encourage recovery methods: gleaning, unsold goods, recipes using leftovers.
Project leaders
The team is made up of cooks from all over the world: Fatima from Macedonia, Bibiana from Angola, Elisabeth from Congo DRC, Sandrine from France, Maria from Georgia, Hala from Syria, Marie-Claude from France, Alpha from Guinea, Lussine from Armenia, Sinda from France and Tunisia, Diana from Georgia…
The Little Extra
For Grenoble residents who wish to taste tasty dishes with a thousand and one origins, you can order your dishes directly on the website for meals on Monday and Tuesday. You can also order buffets at Cuisine Sans Frontières.
Written by Eris Papagiannopoulos, LFC volunteer - September 2019.
Last modification : 07 May 2020.
Cooking without Borders
Cooking without Borders is a association in Grenoble that advocated for the meeting of cultures around the stoves. Around the stoves, migrants and ordinary citizens meet without cultural or social domination, they enrich each other and forge links often conducive to close support (sponsorship) and the socio-economic integration of people in difficulty.