Spoonful of Spice Book Launch Success

Around forty people gathered at Rangi Ruru Girls' School in Christchurch today to celebrate the launch of a cookbook that five Rangi students have spent over a year producing (four core team members - Lucy Johnson, Tulsi Lathia, Sarah Lawrence and Victoria Park - all Year 13; plus their photographer Mette Van Pallandt).

Spoonful of Spice gathers immigrant women together to tell their stories and share the recipes from their home countries.

Christchurch City Councillor, Anne Galloway, has been a key part of the project, working closely with the Young Enterprise teacher from Rangi Ruru, Jacqui Griffith.

"We have known eachother a long time," said Cr Galloway, "and one day when we were talking about how wonderful it was bringing different cultures and food together, the idea was born." Galloway is very involved with immigrant communities and organisation.

Ms Griffith said there's a strong sense of achievement amongst the girls and the wider team after more than a year of challenges and hard work.

"That's part of the learning," she said. "There are always challenges in life and if you want to achieve something, you have to keep going and overcome those challenges. That's exactly what the girls have done and we are incredibly proud of them."

Principal Dr Sandra Hastie talked of the March tragedy in Christchurch that made the project event more poignant.

"We are a diverse city and Spoonful of Spice celebrates that, with beautiful recipes and personal stories from immigrant women who have chosen to make Christchurch their home. Thank you for creating this with our students," she said to the contributors who attended the launch.

The book is on sale now with all proceeds going to Immigrant Resettlement Services in Christchurch. You can buy it here for $25 plus post and packaging (or you can collect from Rangi Ruru or buy from Ballantynes.

An earlier release with more detail can be read here.