With Derry’s Halloween celebrations in full swing outside, on the second floor of the Embassy Building a crowd was gathering for a very different reason.
Thursday October 29 saw the official opening to the public of The People’s Café, marking the end of a journey that began ten years earlier.
Under the theme of ‘Our Shared Home’, individuals and families got together to hear about food, talk about food and most importantly, to eat lots of great food!
Among the contributors to a discussion about ‘intangible heritage’ were former Director of The National Lottery Heritage Fund Dr Paul Mullan, hotelier Issam Horshi, Dr Samantha Obom, Dr Katy Radford and Professor Philip McDermott.
They talked about the importance of food and how it is a unifying force in the sense that everyone, regardless of colour, creed or social standing, has to eat.
Following their colourful and varied contributions, it was the turn of the People’s Café team to do their thing.
And they did it in style with dishes from all over the world including Nigeria, Iran, Ireland, Jordan and Sudan served to a hungry audience.
The People’s Café is now officially open and our CEO Lilian Seenoi Barr probably put it best when she said: “Ten years in the making. One shared home. A world of flavours. Endless possibilities.”