The third annual Taste of Bradford at the Bradford Arts Centre was enjoyed by many members of the community on Saturday evening.
The multicultural event encourages residents to bring in traditional dishes from their culture to share and enjoy together in a potluck style dinner.
Cultures represented at Saturday’s event included culinary dishes from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Portugal, Jamaica and Canada.
The event was free with a donation to help support the Bradford Arts Centre.
“The reason for doing it is because we want to bring together the different ethnic groups within Bradford,” said the Bradford Arts Centre leader, Bill Jermyn.
“It gives people a chance to taste the different food and for people to mingle and talk.”
The Bradford Arts Centre rents space inside the Bradford United Church.
Jermyn says the church has “the best acoustics in town” for musical performances.
“We use it as a facility for a different purpose, for the community to use,” he explained.
They try to host events at least once a month to help engage with the community and raise money to go towards arts and cultural programming in town.
Normally they like to incorporate an artistic piece to their culintary events, but this one was solely focused on the cuisine arts, because, as Jermyn explained, there was not enough time or manpower to help organize an art performance for the evening.
He says the centre is in need of more volunteers to help organize such events.
The centre has been around since 2017 and the group is looking for more board members, as a few have had to resign due to health issues. They currently have three members on the board and three members assisting. They meet the fourth Monday of every month.
“We are looking for people who are interested in bringing music and art to the community,” he said.
They are also looking for anyone who is interested in marketing and advertising to help them get the word out about their events and programs.
“Through art and through music, people can enjoy life, and the cultural events that people go to in the city, why not have them here,” he explained.
There were about 60 guests who attended the evening meal, including one family who moved to Bradford from Iraq just the other week.
Fadhil and his wife Damar and their son, Aram came and brought a traditional rice dish representing their culture.
“We brought with us our traditional food, but we skipped it,” he laughed. Instead, the family enjoyed experiencing the cuisine of all other cultures.
“It’s a very nice event, I am very pleased,” said Bradford Arts Centre member and volunteer, Nancy Malone.
“Say thank you to these people because without them we couldn’t have done it,” said Bradford Arts Centre member, Dennis Bradley.
Bradford Arts Centre member and volunteer, Relly Weisinger said the event took a lot of work to plan and organize, and that seeing the community come out to eat together was “absolutely priceless.”
She hopes that next year more local restaurants will want to participate in the event as well.
In February, she says she is planning to host a “Lover’s Cafe” with a musical performance and meal just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Anyone who is interested in getting involved with the Bradford Arts Centre is encouraged to connect with them by email at [email protected] or call 905-775-5855.