A taste of refuge

Fleeing war and persecution, Australia's new arrivals push our food culture forward. DANI VALENT explores the contributions of the country's refugee communities.

- DANI VALENT

IF YOU'VE EATEN PHO OR FALAFEL OR JOLLOF rice in Australia, chances are you've engaged with a recipe that has travelled here with a refugee. Stories of displacement are intertwined with the Australian story, beginning (and continuing) with the violence of colonisation, and persisting through waves of migration. In the past 200 years, almost a million people have arrived in Australia as refugees, compelled to leave their homelands under pressure, often in extreme danger and usually with scant possessions. We would be eating very differently without their contributions.

Evette Quoibia came to Australia as a refugee in 2007. She's Liberian but travelled through the Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana on her difficult journey to Melbourne. She now owns Jollof Vibe (opened in August in Melbourne), which focuses on the West African food she grew up with. "Refugees bring different tastes and varieties to the food culture here," she says. "Australian food would be pretty boring without us." It's not just new flavours and dishes, it's also modes of eating and an approach to ingredients. "I've taught Australians that they can eat sweet potato leaves," says Quoibia, who serves the greens with rice. "Some things that were wasted have now become food."