Cooking Circles

"The Cooking Circles vision, right, sees empowered women building communities around themselves through food, cooking, storytelling with other women. The process of cooking together strengthens women's self-confidence and self-worth. When women host they are fostering leadership qualities. And when women cook and dine together, storytelling inevitably follows. The project was inspired by Timor Leste. Its' food, communities, and women planted the seed for developing an initiative that highlighted the good in communities; and celebrated the women that often drove so much of this good, but were often missing from public acknowledgment. An interest in the food of Timor came from a mutual love of cooking between Berta, a 32- year old Timorese woman, and Heidi, a 30-year old Australian. Cooking was a leveller between the two women as they lived together and endeavored to understand each other. Cooking Circles now operates in Canberra, Australia; and Dili, Timor Leste."--Vision.