A page of people whose thinking resonates strongly with my own and whose ideas on the connections between good food and friendship might be of interest…

At The Immigrant’s Table is a food and travel blog documenting one family’s immigrant journey through travel guides and stories, family recipes, and other recipes collected and developed over the years with a focus on dishes from Russia and the Middle East.

Migrateful is a cookery and language initiative where asylum seekers, refugees and migrants struggling to access employment in the UK due to legal and linguistic barriers, teach their traditional cuisines to the public.

The Global Kitchen hosts and trains volunteer chefs from the refugee and asylum seeker community to share home country recipes and cooking skills with their local community through participatory meals

The Culinary Diplomacy Project aims to promote mutual understanding among people of different cultures through the power of global culinary exchange. Bridging the cultural divide one bite at a time.

Yasmin Khan is one of my absolute favourite authors, who is passionate about sharing people’s stories through food. Her work sits on the intersection of food, travel and politics and her critically-acclaimed books, The Saffron Tales and Zaitoun, use everyday stories to human connection to challenge stereotypes of the Middle East. Her latest book Ripe Figs is a beautiful collection of recipes and stories from Greece, Cyprus and Turkey that celebrate an ever-diversifying region and imagine a world without borders.

The Global Alliance for the Future of Food is a strategic alliance of philanthropic foundations working together and with others to transform global food systems now and for future generations. The organisation’s vision is healthy, equitable, renewable, resilient, and culturally diverse food and agriculture systems shaped by people, communities, and their institutions.

Travelling Spoon connects travellers with local, vetted hosts to share the joy of a homemade meal in their home and learn about their cultural and culinary traditions passed down through generations. I really enjoyed my cooking lesson in The Philippines when I made Sinigang na hipon (shrimp in sour soup) and my online cooking lessons during the lockdown with hosts in Italy and the Lebanon.