Harmony Day- Our diversity is our strength!

Harmony Day is on Monday 21st March and it's a time to celebrate Australia's diversity. We celebrate that people, who are from many different cultures, live in Australia. We are all different and that is great! This diversity makes us strong. Our diversity is our strength!
DL Virtual Restaurant
We are going to celebrate our diversity by sharing our favourite meal. On the Events tab are activities for you to do with your teacher. You can write a recipe, then send your recipe to your teacher. Your recipes will be shared on the blog in the DL. Virtual Restaurant. You will be able to sample the menu by reading DL students' recipes and try cooking a meal from another culture.

Food is memory
Cooking and sharing meals and recipes helps us to connect to our culture. Each dish has a special meaning. So with your recipe you can also write how it's important to you. One of our students, Paweena wrote: "Every dish brings me back to my childhood. Every bite takes me to my home. Food is memory! Sometimes it makes me cry from happiness, but it heals me from homesickness too."
Everyone Belongs
Sharing food helps us to connect to others and feel like we belong. Last year on Harmony Day, DL students wrote their thoughts on belonging. Here are some of their thoughts.

Belonging is:

......"Knowing Australia is a multicultural country, they accept people from everywhere in the world, so it is not strange for me anymore." I think that is what  belonging means.”-Shirley

........"when I am not isolated and lonely- I am part of the community. I feel there is a very large community outside of my home so I belong to it as an individual to build it up." -Maryam

........."feeling I belong to my community because I know my neighborhood. ..I am willing to contribute to the community by attending multicultural activities and sharing my culture."- Lifang

.........."cooking Aussie food (barbeque), learning Aussie slang (G’ day Mate) and making Aussie friends (my neighbour)."- Kataai

Go up to the Events tab to start the DL Virtual Restaurant Activities

Your DL Virtual Restaurant Cookbook is here!

Feeling Hungry? Get ready to tempt your taste buds and try a new dish from the Distance Learning Virtual Restaurant Cookbook.
Over 34 students and staff from 18 countries have contributed their favourite recipes. Yum, well done!
To go to the cookbook just click on this link: DL Virtual Restaurant Cookbook These meals remind us of home, cooking in the kitchen with family and many recipes are handed down from parents and grandparents.

Take your time to browse through the delicious meals and read the recipes and reflections on why the meal is special. Here are a few students' thoughts on 'Why is this dish important to me and my culture?'

"It is the Vietnamese Mini Savoury Pancake (Banh Khot). It is important because the round shape looks like the moon and it's romantic, it also brings peace." Trinh from Vietnam.

"This dish (Asian BBQ prawns) is important to me because my mother usually cooks this dish during important Chinese festivals like Chinese New Year and the Moon Festival. I can recall many good memories when every time I eat this dish." Karen from Hong Kong, China.

 Fish Amok "is a dish my mum taught me how to cook when I was just a skinny kid-8 years old. I love to go to the markets in the early morning and buy the fresh fish and vegetables before it gets too late in the day. I like to cook this dish with my sisters and my mum when I visit my home. Lottie from Cambodia.

"I will never forget the smell of my Grandmother's house cooking beans. This is why beans are my favourite and I will eat them for the rest of my life!" Sandra from Colombia.

"Tabbouleh is important to me because it reminds me of my mother who loved it. Tabbouleh is served at all occasions in the Middle East and a meal is never complete without it." Maha D.L. teacher.

Would you like to review a recipe? How about writing a review just like on My Kitchen Rules?
Click on this link to open a worksheet with vocabulary and tips for writing a food review.

How to write a recipe review

Please write your review in the comments section below. Our home cooks would love to know what you think of their recipe.