Today was a wet, windy and cold day in Melbourne. We decided it would be a good day to provide a lovely warming cup of soup for our English class students. Our dilemma was the wide range of backgrounds of our participants who come from over 20 countries. So we asked ourselves what soups would be enjoyed by everyone? For instance would someone from a Greek background enjoy an Asian soup?
Our Tutors and volunteers got together and very cleverly came up with 4 lovely and very different soups to cater for all tastes:
- Potato and Leek
- Miso
- Green Pea
- Dahl soup.
In addition, to cater for vegetarians we made sure there was at least one guaranteed vegetarian soup (the Miso) soup. For awhile there it was all hands on deck with the happy sounds of vegetables being prepared, the stirring of hot bubbling broths and many hands buttering the bread. This was quite different from our normal day at the Centre. At the appointed time we were almost overwhelmed with demand requiring our Administration Officer to command an extra dishing up station in our very small kitchen.
The noise was almost deafening with happy chatter and laughter ringing out while people enjoyed their meal. Students and Tutors were able to mix with other classes. There was enough for everyone to have seconds if they wished and many went back for more and in some cases a little taste of all four varieties of soup to compare. Compliments flowed and many asked for the recipes. We will have to do this again soon.
