Food is the God of the people (民以食為天) – this well-known Chinese proverb perfectly illustrates the important role food plays in Chinese society. Traditionally, family members are used to eating together, when it is time for them to exchange thoughts and be connected to each other. It makes children feel loved, safe and secure.

However, due to many undesirable and cramped living environments in Hong Kong, some deprived families may be unable to afford to cook a proper meal, or even enjoy a meal together. Therefore, our Children and Family Services Centre in Sham Mong Districts came up with the idea to establish a community kitchen where families can cook and eat together. With the generous support from Deutsche Bank, we were able to renovate and refurbish a defunct kitchen at the Centre and bring the project to fruition in April 2018.

The family-friendly Community Kitchen is here for family members to build a closer bond, where they can join different parent-child cooking workshops and activities from time to time. It is also a place to create a mutual help network – by sharing meals together, not only can the families reduce the costs of cooking, but they also form the spirit of supporting each other. Moreover, newly arrivals can expand their social circles by sharing traditional and festive food with other families.

The Community Kitchen is one of the projects demonstrating how HKSPC flexibly makes use of limited resources to meet the needs of the children and families. Let us now take a closer look at how the Community Kitchen is giving our users a good time.

Link to: The Community Kitchen – a “cook out” option for grass-roots families

Tao Chan, Service Director