Migrateful Cookery School: cooking up connection

At the new Migrateful Cookery School in Bedminster, refugees and asylum seekers share their traditional cuisines, building confidence, community, and connection through food. Book a class this November and celebrate Bristol’s newest space for empathy, flavour and cultural exchange. Sarah Rowlands reports.

Migrateful is a social enterprise where refugees and asylum seekers from around the world are trained to teach their traditional cuisines in cookery classes. Since its conception in 2017, Migrateful has run over 5000 classes for 62,000 participants and has supported migrants and refugees from 48 different countries. 

Migrateful aims to aid the integration process, supporting talented cooks to gain skills, qualifications and connections in the UK. I spoke to founder Jess Thompson as she and the team prepare to launch The Migrateful Cookery School, opening at Windmill Hill City Farm in Bedminster at the beginning of November. 

Migrateful’s mission 

Jess began by outlining Migrateful’s two-part mission. ‘The first part is supporting people who come to the UK and are struggling to integrate. We are helping them to get their first job in the UK, build their confidence with English and meet lots of British people.’ 

‘The other part is offering an opportunity for British people to meet refugees and understand their story and help to reduce prejudice towards refugees.’ 

‘There’s so much in the news about refugees being a problem for this country and the idea is that when you actually meet someone, connect with them over food, you no longer see them as a problem. In fact, you’re excited that they’re in your country, you’re excited about their food, it builds empathy.’ 

Migrateful’s model is based on psychologist Gordon Allport’s well-validated ‘contact theory’ which sets out the conditions under which contact between refugees and host communities can successfully reduce prejudice towards refugees. Migrateful’s cookery classes are designed to meet these conditions, including having participants of equal status working collaboratively on a common goal – in this case the creation of a delicious meal. 

Jess talked me through the different ways Migrateful helps provide access to skills, qualifications and community by offering a lifeline to those struggling with their immigration status. 

‘For refugees with the right to work, it’s often their first job in the UK. They’re not actually professional chefs; they’re just passionate home cooks. We have a training programme that trains them to become cookery class teachers. They get their food hygiene qualification and there’s a lot of skills involved that are needed for the world of work, like timekeeping and working with the public.’ 

For those with a pending asylum claim who are unable to work, Migrateful can offer a weekly solidarity payment. Jess tells me how this works. ‘It’s financial support, but it’s also building their employment skills. Particularly for that group, they say it’s life-changing because of the sense of worth they get from teaching the classes when otherwise they’re stuck not being able to work, not being able to do anything.’ 

Migrateful’s support goes beyond the kitchen as Jess tells me, ‘We do a lot of signposting to other services, helping them to get entrepreneurship support, well-being support or housing support. We are connected to lots of other refugee charities.’ 

The very first Migrateful cooking class took place in Jess’ hometown of Bristol at Bakesmiths on Whiteladies Road. Jess went on to build Migrateful in London but continued running pop-up events in venues across Bristol. 

With ticket sales for the classes funding the chef’s training and support, Migrateful went from strength to strength. ‘In the last year, it’s got to the point where it’s become hard for us to just run classes in pop-up venues, so the next step is to have our own cookery school.’ 

The Migrateful Cookery School at Windmill Hill City Farm 

Migrateful cooking classes are a joyous space of education, acceptance and celebration, opposing hostility and building community. A sample of the wonderful range of diverse cuisines on offer includes: Iranian, Palestinian, Sudanese, Sri Lankan and Trinidadian – all veggie friendly! 

Bristol classes throughout November and December are available to book now. Jess tells me what you can expect: 

‘The Migrateful chef will introduce themselves, some like to use the platform to raise awareness about the situation in their country. Then they will teach five to six dishes from their country.’ 

‘We call it family style; you divide up the tasks, and you’ll have a couple of people on each dish, and then people rotate and everyone sits down to eat together!’ 

‘Throughout the class, the chef will tell stories about the food, the ingredients and what the dish means to them and their family.’ 

The Migrateful Cookery School’s grand opening event will take place on Wednesday 12 November. Jess tells me how much this next step means for the Migrateful community. 

‘It’s a place that they can feel is their home, to welcome people in. We’ll be able to run a lot more classes there, train more chefs and offer more cuisines.’ 

‘It feels like a very important time to be opening a Migrateful Cookery School. I think there’s a lot of Bristolians that really want to support refugees and also love international food. So, it’s a win for everyone.’ 

Show your support for Migrateful and their amazing cookery school teachers by booking a class at the Migrateful Cookery School. 

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