Latest news with #CulturalHeritage
BBC News
a day ago
- General
- BBC News
Princess Anne presents King's Award to Wellingborough Hindu group
The Princess Royal has presented a Hindu community charity with the King's Award for Voluntary recognises the contribution made by the Wellingborough District Hindu Association (WDHA) since it began more than 50 years Anne visited the organisation on 17 July but details have only just been released.A spokesperson from the WDHA said: "Volunteers are an integral part of our success, and this award is in recognition of their valuable contribution." WDHA began in the early 1970s, when local volunteers came together to form a community hub. After years of fundraising, they purchased a building that became the Sanatan Hindu Mandir, where members now meet. Princess Anne and Northamptonshire's lord-lieutenant James Saunders Watson were greeted with traditional Hindu customs, including a garland ceremony, before meeting with volunteers and local watched a folk dance performance showcasing India's cultural heritage and unveiled a commemorative plaque to mark the day ended with the formal presentation of the King's of WDHA Vinod Patel said the visit helped to highlight "generations of volunteers whose dedication made this possible". Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
SBS Australia
a day ago
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
Ep.379: Meet the Indigenous chef stirring change in Australia's native food industry
DOWNLOAD the script in Italian and English side by side. English Standing at a small outdoor grill in Brisbane, Koori chef Chris Jordan is showing a group of trainees how to smoke sea mullet. It's all part of his broader purpose. "Really important to pass down this knowledge to a younger generation, especially working in the food industry as there isn't much of a representation of First Nations chefs using First Nations food.' Watching on, 19-year-old apprentice Kaylee Rose Tsoumbris Davies 'It makes me feel connected. It is just a really nice feeling to get to know something that I didn't know my whole life growing up, that was a big struggle for me.' For Chris, passing on knowledge is very personal. Growing up in Northern NSW, he learned little about his Aboriginal heritage or his connections to Kamilaroi country. 'Speaking to my grandmother, they were told if anyone asks 'tell someone that you're Italian'. And there was a lot of shame in the family. It is amazing in my lifetime to see that shift and my family, my extended family, um be proud of who they are.' Family means a lot to Chris, who named his catering business in memory of his father Joseph, a refugee from former-Yugoslavia, who died when he was a baby. 'I don't have any memories of him at all. And that's part of the reason why I named my business Three Little Birds was his favourite song by Bob Marley as a message of positivity in our family.' After a stint in London, Chris returned to Australia in 2017, determined to learn about his heritage. And he found an Aboriginal mentor who changed his life forever. 'The biggest part for me getting sober was meeting Auntie Dale. She has been in the bush food industry for 35 years now. She's an amazing chef, an amazing educator.' Born at Dirranbandi in south-west Queensland Aunty Dale Chapman is well known for cooking with native foods. She is pleased to have supported Chris's progress. 'I'm extremely proud! He's taken Australian native ingredients to another level, and being able to share it with the young people is so important because they are ultimately our future.' For Chris, securing the future also means sourcing sustainable bush foods and supporting Indigenous growers. Australia's bush food industry is valued at more than 80 million dollars annually, according to Sydney University research. Yet few of the profits go back to Indigenous growers. 'Less than 3% of the Bush food industry is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander owned, and I think that really needs to shift. Making sure that the money goes back to community and we've collaborated with a lot of different restaurants and cafes.' One supplier is the Food Connect Shed in Brisbane -a community-owned hub focusing on sustainable food systems. Its CEO is Robert Pekin. 'It's owned by 540 odd people. Most of them are locals. One of our big long-term objectives is we need to get First Nations food into our diets in a mainstream way.' Teaching respect for native ingredients and their traditional uses is also a growing focus at universities across the country. Dr Frances Wyld teaches Aboriginal Studies at the University of South Australia. 'They are the foods that have sustained Aboriginal people for 60,000 years. They also require less care, such as more water, more pesticides, because they belong here, they grow here.' It's information that Chris shares in school classrooms and at cooking workshops in juvenile detention. He also supports young people who've had contact with the justice system. 'A huge percentage of our First Nations youth are incarcerated. It's really important to have that connection to culture and have the opportunity for employment. For me personally, leaving home at a young age and going down a path where I ended up having to get sober and really clean my life up, introducing native ingredients really helped me. Yeah it's really, really powerful.' Whether showcasing bush foods to the public or teaching young trainees, for Chris it's about inspiring change beyond the plate. 'So, passing it down through food and sharing my experience and how it saved my life, I think it's a really strong message.' Italian Davanti a una piccola griglia all'aperto a Brisbane, lo chef Koori Chris Jordan mostra a un gruppo di tirocinanti come affumicare le triglie. Tutto ciò fa parte di un progetto più ampio. "[It's] really important to pass down this knowledge to a younger generation, especially working in the food industry as there isn't much of a representation of First Nations chefs using First Nations food.' A osservare c'è la diciannovenne apprendista Kaylee Rose Tsoumbris Davies: "It makes me feel connected. It is just a really nice feeling to get to know something that I didn't know my whole life growing up; that was a big struggle for me.' Per Chris, trasmettere la sua conoscenza è molto importante. Crescendo nel Nord del New South Wales, ha appreso poco della sua eredità aborigena o dei suoi legami con il suo country Kamilaroi. 'Speaking to my grandmother, [she said] they were told: 'If anyone asks tell them that you're Italian'. And there was a lot of shame in the family. It is amazing in my lifetime to see that shift and my family, my extended family, be proud of who they are.' La famiglia è molto importante per Chris, che ha chiamato la sua attività di catering in memoria del padre Joseph, un rifugiato dalla ex-Jugoslavia, morto quando lui era un bambino. 'I don't have any memories of him at all. And that's part of the reason why I named my business [how I did]. Three Little Birds was his favourite song by Bob Marley as a message of positivity in our family.' Dopo un periodo a Londra, Chris è tornato in Australia nel 2017, e ha deciso a scoprire le sue origini. E ha trovato un mentore aborigeno che ha cambiato la sua vita per sempre. 'The biggest part for me getting sober was meeting Auntie Dale. She has been in the bush food industry for 35 years now. She's an amazing chef, an amazing educator.' Nata a Dirranbandi nel Queensland sud-occidentale, Aunty Dale Chapman è nota per la sua cucina a base di cibi nativi. È lieta di aver sostenuto i progressi di Chris. 'I'm extremely proud! He's taken Australian native ingredients to another level, and being able to share it with the young people is so important because they are ultimately our future.' Per Chris, garantire il futuro significa avere accesso a bush tucker sostenibili e sostenere i coltivatori indigeni. Secondo una ricerca dell'Università di Sydney, l'industria australiana del bush food ha un valore di oltre 80 milioni di dollari all'anno. Tuttavia, pochi dei profitti tornano ai coltivatori indigeni. 'Less than 3% of the Bush food industry is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander owned, and I think that really needs to shift. Making sure that the money goes back to community and we've collaborated with a lot of different restaurants and cafes.' Un fornitore di bush tucker è il Food Connect Shed di Brisbane, un centro di proprietà della comunità, che si occupa di sistemi alimentari sostenibili. Il suo amministratore delegato è Robert Pekin. 'It's owned by 540 odd people. Most of them are locals. One of our big long-term objectives is that we need to get First Nations food into our diets in a mainstream way.' Anche l'insegnamento del rispetto per gli ingredienti autoctoni e i loro usi tradizionali è sempre più un obiettivo nelle università di tutto il Paese. La dottoressa Frances Wyld insegna Studi aborigeni all'Università del South Australia. 'They are the foods that have sustained Aboriginal people for 60,000 years. They also require less care, such as more water, more pesticides, because they belong here, they grow here.' Sono informazioni che Chris condivide nelle aule scolastiche e nei laboratori di cucina nelle carceri minorili. Il giovane chef offre supporto anche ai giovani che hanno avuto problemi con la giustizia. 'A huge percentage of our First Nations youth are incarcerated. It's really important to have that connection to culture and have the opportunity for employment. For me personally, leaving home at a young age and going down a path where I ended up having to get sober and really clean my life up, introducing native ingredients really helped me. Yeah it's really, really powerful.' Che si tratti di mostrare al pubblico i bush tuckers o di insegnare ai giovani apprendisti, per Chris l'obiettivo finale è portare cambiamento al di là del piatto. 'So, passing it down through food and sharing my experience and how it saved my life, I think it's a really strong message.' Report by SBS News Listen to SBS Italian every day from 8 am to 10 am. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
The 35th Grassland Naadam Fair of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Kicks Off
XILINGOL LEAGUE, China, July 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On July 19, the 35th Grassland Naadam Fair of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region kicked off in Xilinhot, Xilingol League, welcoming over 100,000 visitors from across China alongside local residents to share in this celebration. At dawn, the opening ceremony commenced as tens of thousands of attendees representing diverse ethnic groups converged from all directions, adorned in their finest traditional attire. Under the theme 'Musical Tours in Inner Mongolia, Daily Naadam', the event unfolded through three carefully choreographed chapters, namely 'Meeting', 'Gathering' and 'Promise of Reunion', vividly showcasing the profound heritage of grassland culture. This Naadam Fair has elaborately planned 18 characteristic zones, featuring both traditional Mongolian cultural displays such as the 'Three Manly Skills' competitions and intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, as well as innovative modern experiences like grassland photography in folk costumes and family camping. Visitors can not only watch captivating performances but also join activities such as horseback riding and stamp collection, experiencing the unique charm of grassland culture through interaction. As the host of Inner Mongolia's Summer Naadam for four consecutive years, Xilingol League is advancing decisively toward becoming a nationally celebrated grassland eco-cultural tourism destination by leveraging its exceptional natural and cultural assets. This summer, Xilingol has launched multiple hospitality-driven measures: distributing digital vouchers worth 1 million yuan on short-video platforms, preparing 20,000 complimentary gift sets containing heatstroke prevention gear and guidebooks for visitors, and offering 50% admission discounts at all scenic spots at Level A and above in Xilingol League from July 18 to 21. Source: Organizing Committee of the 35th Grassland Naadam Fair of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Contact person: Mr. Hao, Tel: 86-10-63074558.
The National
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
At Kashtat Amina, Mariam Almansoori serves up Emirati home cooking inspired by childhood memories
It begins with a kettle. Not the tall, sleek kind that whistles in designer kitchens, but the round, sturdy bronze squat vessel with a thickened base found in many Emirati homes 'It's the same one we used in our house in Abu Dhabi,' says chef Mariam Almansoori. 'Every day we used to boil the water and pour it into this big kettle with black tea with cardamom, cloves, sugar. The smell would fill the whole house.' The kettle is now just inside the entrance of Kashtat Amina, Almansoori's newly opened restaurant in Sharjah's Aljada district, with its suburban walkways and lush greenery. There's no sign beside it. No curated description. Just the quiet suggestion that memory lives in objects as much as it does in taste. For Almansoori, the decision to launch her first Emirati standalone restaurant – its name translates to 'Amina's picnic' after her mother – is more than a professional step. It's a homecoming. 'I had a lot of chances to open a restaurant before,' she says. 'But I always waited. I wanted it to be at the right time, in the right place, with the right meaning.' That meaning comes through strongest in the food, which draws directly from Almansoori's childhood meals. Dishes such as keema hamsa (minced meat sauteed with tomatoes and onions), grilled jeder (lamb shank with tamarind sauce, basmati rice and nuts) and thareed (bread soaked in meat broth with vegetables) appear on the menu not as nostalgic flourishes, but as cultural inheritances. 'It's not only about the food,' she says. 'Lots of people come and say: 'Chef, can we take this home with us?' It's just a flower on the table, or a cushion, nothing big. But to me, it's full of love. It's my mother's hand in it. I still feel her, even when I'm serving strangers.' Raised in Ras Al Khaimah, Almansoori grew up in a home with two kitchens – one run by her mother, the other often commandeered by her father – each guided by a distinct culinary philosophy that she learnt to absorb early on. 'If I ask mama how long to cook something, she never says minutes,' Almansoori says. 'She says: 'When the smell starts to change' or: 'When the rice starts to dance.' That's the kind of knowledge that stays with you.' Her father, also a skilled cook, brought a flair for presentation. 'He was all about hospitality,' she adds. 'He loved to garnish, while my mother didn't. They were always arguing about that.' Kashtat Amina carries both impulses – the quiet intimacy of home cooking and the polish of a well-run kitchen – in its expert take on rustic Emirati staples. The restaurant, bright and lined with woven baskets, with furniture and staff in indigo, is both modern and homely – and is full of local markers, from the kettle and old transistor radio to shelves of clay jars. A painting of Almansoori's mother Amina hangs proudly in the centre of the kitchen, her eyes warm in invitation. One dish that carries particular weight is the chicken maragooga, a stewed chicken with vegetables and thin bread layers. 'This was always loved by the family and guests,' she says. 'The pot would come straight from the stove to the table and we would eat it immediately.' That inherent sense of hospitality, so central to Emirati cuisine, is something she learnt from her mother. 'My mother used to make it when people came after the dhuhr prayer. It wasn't just food. It was the way she opened the house, welcomed people, showed care.' Almansoori's other ventures – including the popular Montauk in Abu Dhabi's Yas Island, where Sri Lankan rice might be topped with slow-roasted ribs and cinnamon coconut cream served alongside Emirati majboos and an apple Danish – have long embraced reinterpretation. But this time, she wanted to move in the opposite direction. 'I wanted to stop mixing. No fusion,' she says. 'I wanted to go back. Bring things to their original taste. To say: this is what we had in our houses. This is how it was done.' That backward glance, however, isn't about retreat. She speaks frequently about Emirati food as something underrepresented, not just internationally, but at home. 'If you go outside the UAE, you see restaurants from everywhere. You see Turkish, Lebanese, Japanese, but not Emirati. Even here in Sharjah or Dubai, how many restaurants are really doing Emirati cuisine? I don't mean owned by Emiratis. I mean the food.' And she's intent on giving those local flavours a global platform, with Almansoori hoping Kashtat Amina will be recognised if the Michelin Guide extends its UAE presence to Sharjah. 'We want to be ready, because there is a guideline that Michelin follows – from using organic produce to changing the menu regularly,' she says. 'We try to update parts of the menu every three months, not just to change, but to keep enhancing and evolving. There's a lot we still need to do, but I think we're more than capable – because we're doing it for the right reasons.' That desire to teach without diluting also informs her next venture: a culinary training academy for Emiratis as well as residents. 'I want to create a space where we train them from zero,' she says. 'Not just how to cook, but how to work in a kitchen, how to run a restaurant. 'I already have six or seven with me now. Some of them were not confident at first, but now they are leading the service. They are managing the guests. I'm so proud.' When asked what makes a dish truly Emirati, she doesn't hesitate. 'It's not the ingredients or technique. It's when you know what each one means and why we why we use turmeric, when we add ghee, how much to stir the rice. It's not rules. It's memory.' By the end of the visit, our own kettle of tea has gone cold. A young staff member moves to take it away, but she stops him. 'Leave it,' she says quietly. 'I just want to savour this moment a little more.'
The Guardian
18-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on the cultural life of trees: we must protect our natural heritage
If the mindless felling of the Sycamore Gap tree has taught us anything, it is that there is no such thing as 'just a tree', as one of the perpetrators, Adam Carruthers, told the jury. 'It was almost as if someone had been murdered,' he said of the ensuing public outcry. For many it was. Animism runs deeply through our relationship with arboreal life. From Macbeth's prophetic Birnam Wood to the towering Ents in The Lord of the Rings, trees have long been personified in literature. And, from Constable's bucolic Suffolk to David Hockney's Yorkshire wold, they have helped shape Britain's artistic landscape. This cultural heritage is being celebrated by the Woodland Trust UK Tree of the Year 2025. The Sycamore Gap tree won in 2016. The shortlist, announced this week, brings together William Wordsworth and the Beatles, Virginia Woolf and Radiohead, all united by the trees they have helped put on the UK's cultural map. The Tree of Peace and Unity in County Antrim, where the Good Friday agreement was signed in 1998, also makes the list of 10 culturally remarkable trees. British history is written in its trees: the ancient Ankerwycke Yew at Runnymede, where Henry VIII is rumoured to have courted Anne Boleyn; the Royal Oak in Shropshire, which hid the future Charles II; and the Tolpuddle Martyrs Tree in Dorset. Like the rings in their trunks, over centuries trees become the keeper of stories. They also, of course, provide paper on which to read them. This is ingeniously encapsulated in The Future Library by the Scottish conceptual artist Katie Paterson. Starting with Margaret Atwood in 2014, each year a manuscript by a different novelist is buried in Oslo's Nordmarka forest. In 2114, 100 books will be published out of the 1,000 specially planted pine trees. In fairytales and crime fiction, forests signal danger, but they are also places of sanctuary and renewal, hence the ancient Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku or forest bathing. Peter Rabbit finds safety in a burrow at the bottom of a tree. They also promise adventure and character-building, as in Robin Hood and the ethos behind Scandinavian forest schools. We learn to anthropomorphise arboreal beings from an early age: Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree and JK Rowling's Whomping Willow are characters in their own right. Trees have very human qualities: they can learn from past traumas, such as droughts, and they make good 'parents', allowing their seedlings just the right amount of sugar through their roots. But they cannot protect them from global heating and disease. New research has revealed that saplings in British woodlands have been dying at an alarming rate since 2000. As much as 70% of ancient woods in the UK have been lost or damaged in the last 100 years. After the destruction of the Sycamore Gap tree, and the 500-year old oak in Enfield near a Toby Carvery restaurant this year, the government has set out much-needed plans to give legal protection to older and culturally important trees in England. Our ancient woodlands are irreplaceable. We must protect them as they protect us. As Woodland Trust patron Judi Dench put it, our oldest trees 'are as much part of our heritage as any literature'. They should be cherished and celebrated. In the words of WH Auden: 'A culture is no better than its woods.'
