Roots & Routes is our own heritage story and recipe book for the Parish of Girlington, Heaton and Manningham. Over almost two years we collected peoples favourite or most memorable recipes and the stories that go with them. We encouraged people to share their stories in our community spaces and we tried to make and share many of the recipes. We have tried many new foods over the two years, from vegetarian haggis, to Congolese fish stew! We have learned about new food and other cultures, how food is cooked, prepared and eaten together. We have shared stories about heritage and where we are from. The book is a small glimpse of some of this work, we have tried to reflect a range of recipes that represent the people in our community and their story. We worked with Karol Wyszynski, Aicha Bahij and Out of Place to produce a beautifully illustrated book with sound clips of people sharing their story. The project was a brilliant opportunity to bring together people of different faiths and cultures to work on the project together. The project we funded by LEAP who supported the project. In April 2024 we launched the book with a big celebration event. Lots of people brought their favourite food to share along with cooking demonstrations and some new and unusual foods to try. The event was even filmed by Rajah Spices who used the event for one of their ‘Bradford More Flavoured’ adverts.
