Jock Tamson’s brunch

I translated at the Nuremberg Trials. I looked Hess in the eyes….I still didn’t know what had happened to my family. David Goldberg

The World Kitchen multicultural brunch at Out of the Blue on Sunday 1 April was inspired by the unforgettable stories in Jock Tamson’s Bairns Exhibition.  If you saw the words and pictures on display during Previously, Scotland’s History Festival you will know why.

David Goldberg’s story traces  a long journey to Edinburgh from Nazi Germany. It  is one of nine deeply moving personal accounts in an exhibition celebrating the great contribution migrant people make to Scotland’s culture.  Stories told in their own words explain how and why they came to make a new life in Scotland.

It fits so well with  ideas behind both World Kitchen in Leith and Leith Open Space.  One thing led to another when we met Clara Massie, Curator of Jock Tamson’s Bairns, in the Axolotl Gallery during the history festival in November 2011.  Before long we found ourselves discussing food.

Clara, to right with long black hair, at Jock Tamson’s  opening in November

Now World Kitchen in Leith are proud to be helping to organize a week of events at Out of the Blue on Sunday 1 April. The aim is to raise funds so that the exhibition can be developed and taken across Scotland as an educational resource for schools and community groups. After all, this extraordinary archive was created by volunteers giving time and talents completely free of charge. But it will take time, talent and money to develop the collection further.

We’re launching Jock Tamson’s Bairns in Out of the Blue with Put the World on Your Plate a multicultural family brunch and a performance by Zawadi Alba women’s choir, another inspiring group aiming to increase intercultural understanding through music. (No coincidence that choir founder Agnes Holmes is also chair of World Kitchen, another team of volunteers.)

And there’s more. An unusual Private View on Wednesday 4th March is being organized by Clara along with Ian Harrower, Director of the History Festival, who first came up with the idea for Jock Tamson’s Bairns.

This time World Kitchen will be cooking up some Italian picnic food to support the screening of an original film of Scottish Italian Picnics which were great social events in Edinburgh and Glasgow between the 1930s and 1950s. Old cine film footage (with footie matches) gives a unique glimpse of the social highlight of the year involving families with names like D’Agostino, Crolla, Demarco, D’Rollo, Brattesani, Risi, Gasparini, Zaccardelli …does that ring any bells?

Contact Clara to book a place at the Private View: email claramassie@yahoo.co.uk

Meanwhile, here’s your invitation to brunch.

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