ArtPlay

Welcome to MaaMaa and Nonna's Kitchen!

Yeah we've got two grandmothers an Italian grandmother Nonna and a Chinese grandmother MaaMaa and we're both making this food from the one recipe, and that's focaccia which is flat bread and mantao which is steamed buns.

So we've been friends like over ten years and we've also worked creatively together quite a bit over the years. We always have really great conversations about food and we're sharing food together.

We actually called up my Aunty and we said ‘How do you make a focaccia?” And she gave us the focaccia recipe over the phone And then we kind of worked on it, worked on it and then we discovered that - Oh my god, you can use the focaccia recipe and make the mantao the steamed bun recipe and we were really - yeah that was really exciting um discovery that we found through this development.  Yes every time we like come together and chat we always like, talk over food.  So, there's always this exchange of knowledge cultural knowledge, through food so, that's where we developed this project. 

I have like, a young child - a two year old and I find that, um, my grandparents and my parents find it really hard to connect with the next generation and need to bring an activity for them to do and food is like, the best way for them to like, share knowledge and connect um, because the older generation feel like there's something to give and offer and food is an art form. The way you shape things present it on a plate - you have your own input.

When I was little I loved cooking with my Nonna in the kitchen because it was a way that she could share her culture with me and a way to share stories.

Having a two year old, like, teaching my son how to like, cook in the kitchen, being involved actually helps him have more agency; to chop and like, cut and, like, you know, you know mix so it's like a very sensory thing. It's a really lovely way to just learn those skills that we need to learn in a fun way with your carer.

There’s a lot of like, cultural stories in, through cooking, and it's a great way for kids to participate with our older generation.  So, I just wanted to make that link between like, the grandmothers and grandparents and our younger generation and like, share that knowledge through food.

Time to feast!