In March this year, Batia Galon was at a party in Melbourne celebrating the Jewish Festival of Purim where she met Suni Stolic. “Suni is a friend of my daughter’s and she tasted the cookies [Hamantashen, a traditional biscuit served during Purim] I had brought with me and told me about a group she was setting up about grandmothers and cooking,” says Batia over the phone. “I was very interested as I love meeting new people and I love cooking.”
The group, called Grandmas of Melbourne Talk Food, is in its early stages of development but its premise is about celebrating connection and cultural diversity despite living in a busy world distracted by technology. Suni and her friend Zoe Papadopoulos decided to set up the group to collect and share food stories that may otherwise get lost over time from Melbourne-based grandmothers.
“We want to capture the cooking stories of the grandmas and the stories behind the recipes,” says Zoe as she tells of the story of her grandmother who arrived from Greece in the 1950s and produced such a delicious Turkish delight that she set up her own small business from her Melbourne home. “My mum and uncle used to help my grandmother, and my grandfather would take the Turkish delight to cafes and markets. Mum remembers being there and there are so many stories out there like this, we want to document as many as we can.”
Cultural diversity is pivotal to the group’s narrative. Batia Galon is Russian-Israeli. “I was born in Russia and lived there 25 years, then moved to Israel. Our children were born there and we stayed for 17 years, then we moved to Australia and have been here for 27 years.”
Zoe's grandmother, Anna, started a Turkish delight business. Source: Granmas of Melbourne Talk Food
Her joy in being a grandmother to her three young grandchildren is palpable. “When you have grandchildren you understand true happiness. It is the dream of your life,” she says. She agrees that this connection is important to nurture with other grandmothers in a busy world. “Yes, absolutely! I want to meet other grandmothers so we can all share our stories about our grandchildren and enjoy good food.”
Papadopoulos has been surprised that some people are reticent about sharing their stories. “I think people feel their stories aren’t interesting or no one would want to know them but we can assure them that there are lots of people out there who want to listen and learn.”
Batia Galon with family Source: Batia Galon
She says that she and Stolic are inspired by the collaborative web documentary Grandmas Project and the restaurant Enoteca Maria based in Staten Island, New York city, where grandmothers from different Italian regions, along with grandmothers from other cultures, cook for the menu. Papadopoulos’s own grandmother is still alive and doing well at 91, “but she is starting to forget some stories, which is another reason why we wanted to set this up”.
Grandmas of Melbourne Talk Food are interested in recipes, stories or both. “The stories are really key as they let you in to why a recipe is a particular way,” Papadopoulos says, and she encourages anyone out there with photos, stories and recipes from their grandmothers to contact her or Suni on their Facebook page.
Suni Stolic, left and Zoe Papadopoulos, standing right, at a Melbourne Grandmas event. Source: Melbourne Grandmas Talk Food
It’s often the simplest of recipes that garner the most love and excitement. Ask Batia Galon, what do her grandchildren enjoy the most from her kitchen? “ They love my chicken dumplings, called pelmeni,” she laughs, “and my chicken soup, can you believe it?”
Yes, when it’s a grandmother’s chicken soup, we can.
Grandmas of Melbourne talk Food are holding a morning tea this Sunday June 4 as part of the Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival.
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