Taste Food Tours Bankstown

Food has brought people together for generations, and it’s now bringing the people of Bankstown together to strengthen the local community and to help them overcome disadvantage.

“Food is a big part of my Spanish culture, my mum’s a really good cook. I also love travelling and trying the different food in Europe and South America.” says local Bankstown guide Eva Alonso. “As a Taste Tour Guide, I’m learning more about Vietnamese, Chinese, it’s opening my eyes to different kinds of foods and vegetables like Asian fruits – cha chas, dragonfruit, longans …”

Another local guide Sahar Elsemary adds “When we have a celebration we always cook together and it’s always fun. We cook Egyptian food – Koshari – brown lentils with rice, macaroni, lots of onions and hot chilli.”

28 year old Tina of Revesby first heard about Taste Tours at the Bankstown Bites Festival in 2010. “My life passion is food. I love connecting with others through food and I love the experience Bankstown has to offer for budding foodies.”

An initial eleven guides have been trained for the new walking Taste Food Tours that commenced this month.

Over 60 different languages are spoken in the Bankstown area – the most common are English, Arabic and Vietnamese. This also means there is amazing cultural diversity. There are literally hundreds of food and drink stores, cafes and restaurants in Bankstown – from Asian to African and everything inbetween. Food is the perfect way to speak any language, to learn about other cultures. We all love our food.

The Benevolent Society as part of the Growing Communities Together project has developed a range of Taste Food Tours which will eventually be run as a community enterprise. Each of the walking tours is a journey of discovery as local guides show guests the best places to eat, shop for ingredients and learn about different food cultures and traditions. Everyone on the tours will have the opportunity to taste a range of specialties in store, take part in a master class, and get lots of samples to take home. There’s a large range of walking tours on offer, progressive dinners and cookery classes.

http://www.tastetours.org.au/