The Universal Language of a Home Cooked Meal
by Anna Kelly
“You don’t need a great grasp of any language to be able to cook properly – you can communicate with food as it were”.
Sharing, learning, and connecting with others are values that are at the heart of an amazing café in the southside of Glasgow, Scotland. Whether preparing a delicious meal, chatting over a warm coffee, or learning the art of writing poetry, women from across the globe are connecting in this one, small space. Co-founder of the social enterprise Milk Café, Gabby, explained to me that with experience of both the hospitality industry and third sector jobs, “we kinda thought we liked the idea of opening our own café but with a social purpose and using it as a community space. We thought it would be an interesting fit because it was food based as well. Which is a kind of universal skill”. Friends Gabby and Angela opened the community-led space in 2015 with the mission of supporting and empowering refugee and migrant women in Glasgow.
With food as the focus, migrant women from different backgrounds are able to share their cultures as cooking and eating transform into a type of common language. Giving women the permission to use different forms of expression, Milk Café is a nourishing environment to build confidence, friendships and, ultimately lives, in the city of Glasgow.
The café also offers a wide array of free classes for women; from ESOL and language classes to life skills and poetry. Both participants and volunteers are welcome to suggest classes; recent activities include learning about the music of trees and stone painting. The workshops have evolved both in variety and style. A recent partnership with the Govanhill Baths and Unity Sisters has allowed Milk to employ three women from refugee backgrounds to run the women’s group, continuing the self-sufficient and community spirit of the social enterprise.
The work of Milk aims to address some of the social issues facing migrant women in Glasgow, “I think for us we’ve identified lack of human contact is a real issue for some of these women and then for others they’ve got family, they’ve got kids but they don’t do anything just for themselves” Gabby tells me. For other women, the welcoming space is essential for building relationships and a sense of community in what can sometimes feel like an isolating and unfamiliar place. The café is also crucial for “learning English, providing courses on food hygiene and first aid, and developing creative skills such as pottery, sewing and crochet; so there’s sometimes tangible sort of skills that women can learn and use and work but a lot of the time it is just building a community in their new home” Gabby explains.
Another creative project that took place in café, in partnership with the Scottish Refugee Council, was a series of poetry workshops which culminated in the Letters of Hope free open-air exhibition in Queen’s Park, Glasgow. After lessons with a local poet on a formulaic approach to poetry, each woman wrote a poem in their language of choice which was then translated into English. The walking trail took locals on a journey simultaneously around the park and at the same time into the minds of the migrant women; revealing their hopes and aiming to show the power and strength of community. Anonymous, moving and thought-provoking, the letters were written to people, places and acts of kindness that helped and supported the women in their new communities.
The work of Milk Café has had a great impact on the lives of so many women across Glasgow. Gabby tells me, “One woman in particular really flourished, she actually ended up moving away, but before she left, she had a Mediterranean coffee ceremony in the café, and it was incredible. She hosted it and she was chatting to everyone and making cups of coffee for everyone. She transformed from the first time we met her when she was this incredibly nervous, insular human to being this really open person”. A sense of ownership over not only the ceremony but also the space, is what Gabby believes has been so beneficial to help people find agency following a turbulent past.
“I’m not saying that Milk sorted her life out like it didn’t – there were so many things in her situation that we couldn’t help or support or that were unsalvageable for her really because of what had happened in the past but what it did do certainly was give her a huge boost in confidence and a network of people”.
The community reaction to the work of Milk café has been largely positive, although Gabby mentions the exception of some “keyboard trolls” who spread negativity online. In Govanhill, where Milk Café is based, Gabby explains that there is a large Roma population who often face hostility and aggression from local Scottish people. Although many Glaswegians are open minded and welcoming towards refugees, their views can change when ethnic minorities challenge social customs and follow different cultural practices. Gabby explains that when ethnic groups fail to observe what locals deem to be the rules of the community, by practising a different religion or having an alternative approach to education, tensions can rise in the area. The suspicion of the Roma community towards state input is sometimes not understood by Scottish locals, occasionally leading to hostility towards certain demographics, Gabby describes.
Gabby tells me that despite Glasgow’s welcoming reputation, there is “a lot of work to be done in terms of anti racism work and xenophobia in Glasgow, the same as there is everywhere. But there does seem to be a huge number of grassroots projects that are really working to make those changes which is really positive”.
Gabby is optimistic for the future of Milk as it transitions from trading as a café to beginning its new venture. The café space on Victoria Road in Govanhill will be used for a full timetable of community events, classes, and workshops. Milk will maintain its focus on creating and sharing tasty dishes by working from its commercial kitchen to provide catering for public and private events, as well as hosting brunches and dinners at the café. Connecting through food and cooking will remain at the core of Milk Café’s values, but the community space will be maximised to allow more groups to meet, organise, create, learn, and share ideas for change.
Although important changes are taking place in the structure of the organisation, one element is for certain. The passion and drive of the co-founders is unwavering, and they will continue to support and empower women in Glasgow for many years to come.
