Mulgrave Park community potluck highlights diversity of Halifax neighbourhood

More than 100 people gathered at Mulgrave Park Caring and Learning Centre in north-end Halifax last week for a home-cooked meal — well, several actually.

A Little Taste of MGP (Mulgrave Park) was held in honour of African Heritage Month.

"For African Heritage Month, we always tried to incorporate community in different venues and different people that make food but this year, we didn't just want to order from a restaurant and have people come in — we wanted to include the community and the community in Mulgrave Park is very diverse," Sabrina Hum, community outreach co-ordinator for the centre.

Hum said members of African descent from other countries were especially encouraged to prepare food from their home country and share its significance to connect with community members and expand their knowledge.

The event, held in collaboration with Phoenix House, aimed to showcase the diversity of the Mulgrave Park community.

Around a dozen offerings were laid out on tables set up in the centre, all cooked by local community members.

From Nigerian jollof rice to potato salad to Newfoundland toutons (a traditional form of fried dough), dishes of all kinds were presented free of charge for people to taste and enjoy.

Rosie Riley, an area resident for nearly 20 years, said she showed up because she likes to socialize and connect with her neighbours.

"This is my community, number one, and I always come on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the coffee hour and every event I attend, so I wanted to come out and support my community."

Armon Jefferies, 18, said he came to see his friends and show support for his community.

Even though he hasn't lived in Mulgrave Park since he was seven, he said it's important for him to stay connected to the neighbourhood — especially after the pandemic made it difficult for the community to get together.

"After COVID, it kind of dropped off a bit, so it's super important that we start getting back together, start getting the older and the younger and everyone else to get back together and show people what the community is really about," said Jefferies.

Senait Shewarega and her friend Almaz Gesesse, both newcomers to Canada and to the neighbourhood, cooked and brought traditional Ethiopian meals.

Shewarega brought injera, a spongy pancake-like flatbread, and Gesesse brought sega wat, a spicy Ethiopian beef stew.

Shewarega said she's had a good experience in the community, so she wanted to share her culture with her neighbours.

"This community, especially Mulgrave Park, is so nice for us, for immigrants, because there are a lot of people ... Sudanese, Arabic and Ethiopians. We all are together [here], so we want to share our culture."

Cook and community member Aisha Hum brought a chicken soup with dumplings and said she likes to volunteer at community events.

"[It] helps bring the community together for everyone to engage in a positive way, and everybody gets to showcase some of their cultural background by presenting food … everybody's palates are a little different, so by doing this event here, everyone gets to try somebody else's variety of food."

She said not only is it important to come together but sharing food and having kitchen parties is part of being Nova Scotian.

"Atlantic Nova Scotians, Maritimers, we always have kitchen parties and so when we have parties food is always involved. It's a part of our culture as a part of our heritage, and it's important that we do these things," said Hum.

Organizer Sabrina Hum says this won't be the last event and they hope to continue having frequent community meals for everyone, not just the immediate community, to enjoy.

"I love cooking and joining. I've been with the centre for a year now, so we have a lot of different community kitchens, we have a lot of different events that we open to the community, and we always bring people in with food. It's nice to have people come and celebrate each other and not just during African Heritage month, but all year-round."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here

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