The book « The Bahar project: Many recipes, one city » is the result of the cooperation between the Athens Coordination Centre for Migrant and Refugee issues (ACCMR) and ActionAid Hellas.

Migrant, refugee and Greek nationality women who live in various neighbourhoods of Athens (Kolonos, Ampelokipi, Kypseli), were invited to cook with their heart and give the opportunity to locals to get to know to their culture, have fun and taste dishes from Greece and abroad.

The book presents twelve recipes and stories that these women shared with us, along with their passion to work together, share memories and meals and  discover all the things that make us one and the same.

Spyridoula Valaora from Greece, cooked pasta pie and told that “It’s really great when events like Bahar are organised, because we have the chance to get to know other cultures. My daughter plays with all the other kids at school, no matter where they come from, and I encourage her to do that. Soon enough, she’ll go to university with these kids, they’ll spend an entire lifetime together, they need to communicate”.

Hanna from Ukraine cooked varenyky, a traditional everyday dish of Ukraine and shared with us that cooking reminds her of family. “That we were, that we lived as one big, loving and happy family.“

Cooking really brings people together and reminds us of our past, our families and our childhood. Bahar after all, is a symbolic term as in many languages it means spring!

The book was part of The « Bahar project: Many recipes, one city », an initiative of ACCMR, and under this initiative lots of activities were organized. Cooking was the one that brought people from all different places together! This event took place withing the framework “Athens 2018: World Book Capital City”.

You can find the book here.

This book has been authored by the Athens Coordination Centre for Refugee and Migrant issues (ACCMR) with the support of ActionAid Hellas. This publication has been produced within the framework of the « SDGs and Migration – Multipliers and Journalists Addressing Decision Makers and Citizens in the EU » three year project, financed by the European Commission. This programme aims to inform about and raise awareness of sustainable development goals, migration and the ways the two are connected.