Καλωσόρισμα, Marhaben, salam, bienvennu, bemvindo, to the Gekko podcast. Created in collaboration with Hend, Hannah, Pedro, Alhamma, Nara, Maria and Amir during a series of podcasting workshops at Gekko School, Better Days, Athens, this piece visits Saffron Kitchen Project.
pic by: Hadley Jackson
‘So the purpose of the project is not only to provide food but to use food as a tool for people to feel welcomed and to feel that they can have a safe place through having this food. To feel that the tastes might bring them back nice memories because the way that the food is cooked, and the different recipes come from all over the world, actually, especially for this purpose.
And to support people in also finding jobs in the industry, because it’s not only about preparing the meals, but we’re also offering training for free to refugees who are based in Athens and we want to create a big community where everyone feels that they deserve to live with dignity.’ – Stella Elmatzoglou
They worked over two months to learn the skills and apply them in real time interviews. They supported each other, and helped each other out with translation, and encouraged each other at each step. And they showed such enthusiasm, creativity and initiative throughout this process. It was a joy to work with them – enjoy their creation!
Καλωσόρισμα, Marhaben, salam, bienvennu, bemvindo, to the Gekko podcast.
MUSIC
Hend: Γεια σας και καλως ηρθατε στο ποδκαστ του Gekko. Το ονομα μου ειναι Ηενδ, και σημερα κατευθυνομαστε στο Saffron Kitchen Project στιν οδο Ιτηακα, Αθηνα.
Hi, and welcome to the Gekko Podcast. My name is Hend, and today we’re heading to Saffron Kitchen on Ithaca Street, Athens.
MUSIC
Pedro: Hey, guys we are out here, going for first time practice of our podcast, on our way in Athens, Greece. And I’m excited about how we’re going to do, how the practice is going to go, what we’re going to learn.
Hope you guys enjoy. We’re on our way and we’ll be there soon.
MUSIC
Alhama: Hi, how are you?
Adel: I’m good, thank you. How are you?
Alhama: Fine, thank you. What’s your name?
Adel: My name Adel.
Alhama: Okay, my name is Alhama.
Adel: Nice to meet you.
Alhama: Can I ask you some questions?
Adel: Yes, for sure.
Alhama: What’s your job?
Adel: I work here as a chef.
Alhama: What’s it like? Is it difficult to cook a lot of food one day?
Adel: Usually because we cook here for 500 meals every day.
Almost like 500. Between 550, 600, 300, like this. So yeah, some of them difficult.
Alhama: Oh, it’s a lot.
Adel: Yeah.
Alhama: Okay, what kind of food you like to cook?
Adel: Oh, I like everything what I cook here, I like it. Yes.
Alhama: You cook just Greek food or nationality food?
Adel: Yeah, we cook everything nationality from everywhere.
Alhama: Okay. Do you know how to cook kabuli?
Adel: We cook it here. Next week we have this in menu.
Alhama: Okay. How long you have been here in Greece?
Adel: In Greece? Since 2015. Okay.
Alhama: Okay.
Adel: So you are from Afghanistan? Yeah, because you asked about Kabuli, no? Okay, great.
Alhama: Why is it important for you to work here and help people?
Adel: It’s important for me here, because we give free food here. For everybody needs food.
Yes. I like this. Important for me, to give free food for people, if they don’t have money or something, yes.
Alhama: Okay, it’s very good. You send food for organization too, I think,
Adel: Yes.
Alhama: How many organizations?
Adel: We have a lot. I can’t say how many exactly because a lot not all of them talk in same day – different number we have every day.
Alhama: Okay. Thank you so much. Nice to meet you.
Adel: Thank you so much. Nice to meet you too.
Pedro: Hello again. My name is Pierre. Nice to meet you.
Adel: Nice to meet you.
Pedro: Just wanted to ask you a little bit about the seasoning that you guys have because I saw there is a lot of them. Yeah. I just wanted to know the importance and the use of each of them if you can tell us?
Adel: We have here many spices. Yeah. We use all of them for food here, for different taste different meals. Yeah.
Pedro: Most of them is only just for food? Is it, do you guys have specific one for meat?
Adel: Yeah. Yes, for sure. What we use for meat, we don’t use for chicken, for example. What we use for vegetables is different. Like, all of them, we use it for different meals.
Pedro: And there is like an expression behind all this isn’t it? Like maybe there is one specific from this country?
Adel: Yes, for sure. Yeah. All of the some of them from. Some of them from Turkish.
Some of them we have from everywhere actually spices we have. Yeah, we use a lot of spices here.
Pedro: Yeah,that’s good. Thank you.
Adel: Thank you so much.
MUSIC
Hend: Hello.
Volunteer: Hello. Nice to meet you.
Hend: Nice to meet you too. How work here? How do you chop without crying?
Volunteer: The spring onions are fine. You get used to it. The dry onions are really, like you cry. No matter what you do, you cry. You can just get used to it.
Hend: Yeah. I’m here two minutes and now I cry for this!
Volunteer: You get used to it. That’s it. You cry no matter what, but you get used to it.
Hend: What how time you work in the day?
Volunteer: So it’s been one month that I’m here. And I normally, I’m about to finish in five minutes. So I’ve been here since ten.
Hend: Oh, okay. Why do you work here?
Volunteer: So I’m not actually working, I’m just volunteering and I like to do it. And I like being part of the kitchen. It’s also a way of showing love.
MUSIC
Hend: Hello!
Volunteer 2: Hello.
Hend: Hi. You like the work that you do?
Volunteer 2: Yes, I like it very much.
Hend: Why did you work in the food?
Volunteer 2: Because I’ve been six years in this industry, in the culinary industry. In the hospitality and kitchen. So I like it. I like it a lot.
Hend: Okay. Thank you so much.
Volunteer 2: Bye. Thank you so much.
MUSIC
Pedro: Hello. My name is Pierre Jean Malo. I was born in Congo. I’m Congolese. And we are here to interview you and try to find out the motivation, the purpose of the organization. If you could please tell us give us a little bit more information about yourself and what’s the position you are holding in this place?
Stella: Thank you very much for being here and for doing this interview.
My name is Stella and I am the project manager of Saffron Kitchen Project. I have been part of the team for the last five months. And I’m very happy because it’s a very dynamic work and we make delicious food and it’s really tasty and nutritious and I’m really glad to see that it’s very much appreciated and people like it and keep on coming back.
Pedro: Yeah, just to start, I just wanted to ask you what is the purpose behind all this? Because it looks like you guys do it for free, like people come anytime they want and they get paid. at least they are provided with food. So what is the motivation and the purpose behind all this? If you could tell us.
Stella: Yes, for sure. Thank you for this question. So the purpose of the project is not only to provide food but to use food as a tool for people to feel welcomed and to feel that they can have a safe place through having this food to feel that the tastes might bring them back to nice memories because the way that the food is cooked and the different recipes come from all over the world, actually, especially for this purpose.
And to support people in also finding jobs in the industry, because it’s not only about. Preparing the meals, but we’re also offering training for free to refugees who are based in Athens and we want to create a big community where everyone feels that they deserve to live with dignity.
Food is not only a means to keep people just alive because there is this perception, I think, in Greece, but food is way more than that.
And this is why also the food that we cook and we provide to people, it’s exactly the same food that we eat ourselves.
Pedro: That’s some really good explanation. And also I wanted to know what is the most motivation behind what is your drive or force to keep coming here, to keep doing what you are doing and knowing that it’s not easy to be here, especially being a manager in this place. And yeah, this, that’s basically is my question.
Stella: Yeah. Thank you for that. I think I wish that we didn’t really need, there wouldn’t be the need for us to exist. I like with my whole heart wish that, but like both as Stella and me my person but also as a representative of the organization, I think the motivation is basically people and exactly the sense of community that we are trying to create.
And I think also on a more personal level, this sector because I’ve been working in this sector for quite a lot of years and especially this project is very important to me because it keeps on reminding me that it’s very easy to be part of the other side of the story. No one is assuring that we will always be the lucky and privileged ones, and it makes me feel that by taking care as much as I can with my privileges of the situation, it’s like taking care of also me, myself, my community as well. And I try to really challenge these privileges and to find the quality as much as it can be there between the different communities.
Pedro: Okay. And one thing I didn’t ask you, where are you from?
Stella: I’m Greek.
Pedro: Okay. Nice to know. And also about business wide question, I would say, and how do you guys found a way to found this organization? And also, how do you guys keep it? Because sometimes it’s pretty much easier to build something than it is to keep it for a long time.
Stella: That’s that’s very true.
And it’s very difficult. But it’s, as you said before, it’s the motivation that I think keeps this team really working very well together. Actually Evelina, who is at the moment in London for fundraising purposes. She’s the founder of the organization and it’s Saffron Kitchen Project is a UK based registered organization.
We are in the process of becoming a Greek organization, which is very exciting so that we can have more opportunities, more funding opportunities as well. But at the moment it’s mostly private donors who are supporting the project. It’s networking, it’s other partners who are donating. So yeah, it’s, we are trying to bring more opportunities, more funding opportunities. And not only to keep it alive, but to keep it expanding.
I think the biggest challenge is trying to run such a project in this country. It’s really sad actually to see how on a governmental level, there is no food and housing provision.
So even if it really makes me and us feel that we do something really important here, and I think really do, it’s at the same time very frustrating to see that this is not already a given. I think this is a daily challenge because it’s really hard to believe that this is the reality.
Pedro: And one of the last question will be, how do people can contact you guys in case they want to come to volunteer or be part of your community?
Stella: You can always contact us through social media. We’re very active in Instagram and on our webpage you can find the different email addresses where you can email us directly. And then there is always. place for you. We are very happy to be having volunteers. As you also saw yourselves during this podcast, they are very much needed.
There are really a lot of vegetables to cut and to chop. So we will be happy to have people around.
Pedro: Thank you for the answers. It was amazing. And thank you for having us here to do this practice, which is going to contribute a lot to our knowledge. And yeah, that’s it. Thank you.
MUSIC
Hannah: Hello. In this place where you make a food, correct?
Isabella: Yes, in this building, Saffron Kitchen Project is cooking the meals. And we are offering some free classes for people who want to learn Greek, or who want to learn tailoring, sewing with the machines.
Hannah: Nice. How long have you worked here? Me personally?
Isabella: Me personally, I started in May 2023, but ANKA as an organization, they started in 2017.
Hannah: Do you like to work here?
Isabella: I like it a lot. A year and a half I’ve been here. It feels sometimes that I’ve been here forever because the partnerships are very good, especially with Saffron Kitchen Project, but also with the team, we work very closely. So it feels like family. So yes, I like it.
Hannah: Okay. You are, where are you from?
Isabella: I am I am half Greek and half Swiss, so my mother is from Switzerland and my father was Greek.
Hannah: Okay, so that means you know Greek, correct?
Isabella: Yes, I do speak Greek. Do you know any Greek?
Hannah: Yes, I’m here for nine years.
Isabella:Ah, nice! Do you want Greek?
Oh, yes, of course!
Isabella:
Hannah:
Hannah: Thank you for meeting me. Nice to meet you.
Isabella: It was lovely to meet you. Thank you.
MUSIC
Stella: Okay this is bulgur with zucchini and cheese.
Pedro: Bulgur. Bulgur with cheese?
Bairbre: Feta?
Stella: No, this is not feta because feta is very expensive unfortunately. It’s like feta, but it’s like white cheese.
Pedro: And do you guys have a menu? Do you cook different food for each day?
Stella: Yes, we have about 45 recipes and then they circulate. And three times a year mostly Evelina and Adel, but also us, we can bring new recipes to try and see what works and what doesn’t.
Pedro: Yes. That’s good.
MUSIC
Hend: I’m so happy for I’m here today. Yay! With all of you.
Bairbre: That was so tasty.
Hend: Bye.
Volunteer: Bye.
Stella: Thank you so much! Bye, take care!
MUSIC
Hend: Ευχαριστο πολυ τιν Saffron Kitchen Project που μας καλωσοριστε και για το νοστιμο φαγητο.
Thanks to Saffron Kitchen for welcoming us and for the delicious food
You have been listening to the Gekko Podcast with Hend,
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