Skip to content

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

When “kitchen” becomes a luxury

Being a family-oriented society, Chinese people cherish the dining time with their family members. However, not all families are lucky enough to have the minimal space for cooking and eating at the same table, due to their small and cramped living environment.

Mrs Ma, who used to live in a subdivided flat on Portland Street in Mong Kok with her family, had the same problem. “Our kitchen was right outside the bathroom, which was very unhygienic to food preparation. What’s worse, every time my young kids had to pass by the hot cooking stove and working kitchen utensils, I was so afraid that they might cause accidents.”

Mrs Ma, a service user of the Community Kitchen.

Moreover, Mrs Ma was concerned that the cooking environment would affect the health of her family. “As it was an open kitchen and the flat did not have a good ventilation system, the whole family was exposed to the cooking fumes every time I prepared the food. My husband and I were so worried about the healthy development of the children in the long term.”

Even so, Mrs Ma said that her family was already more fortunate than many in the same district. “Some families I know are not even allowed to cook at home as their subdivided flats do not meet the Fire Services Ordinances. They have no choice but to eat out, which greatly increases their household expenses and makes their financial situation even worse.”

Many low-income families are unable to cook a proper meal and enjoy it together at home due to the small and cramped living environment.

Comprehensive cooking area brings positive changes to families and community

Being aware of the needs of low-income families in the community, our Children and Family Service Centre (Sham Mong Districts) came up with the idea to set up a community kitchen. With the generous funding from Deutsche Bank, we were able to renovate and refurbish a defunct kitchen in the Centre and purchase a range of new equipment. In April 2018, we officially launched the “Community Kitchen” programme to provide a comfortable and well-equipped cooking environment for families in need, with an aim to promote community and family harmony through cookery.

The Community Kitchen provides a solution for families in need by offering a comfortable and well-equipped cooking environment.

Besides for parents to reserve and use the Community Kitchen, our Centre also organises a series of parent-child cooking activities for them to enjoy quality family time. These cooking activities help to enhance the children’s self-confidence and sense of achievement, as well as educating them about the nutritional value of food and the importance of reducing food waste.

Mrs Ma was happy to find that the cooking activities of the Community Kitchen have helped her get closer to her children. “I have always wished to cook healthy and tasty meals for my family, but it was just hard to do so with my small kitchen and lack of cooking equipment. All I could make were some quick and simple dishes. The children soon got bored and unwilling to eat them, and even developed picky eating habits. Sometimes, I had to use a harsher tone to force them to eat and our relationship became tense.”

“However, at the parent-child cooking classes of the Community Kitchen, the instructors taught me to use simple ingredients to make dishes that are nutritious, tasty and look attractive. During the activities, I had better communication and understanding with my kids. Furthermore, they had developed self-confidence and sense of achievement through cooking, and learnt how to co-operate with each other. Now, they even take the initiative to help with the housework, such as washing dishes and preparing food ingredients!”

Mrs Ma finds the Community Kitchen programme has fostered her relationship with her children and let her meet many new mom friends.

The programme also aims to bring the low-income families together to create a mutual help network. Apart from gathering at the Community Kitchen regularly and connecting through cooking, they are able to help each other in their daily lives, demonstrating the spirit of mutual support and assistance.

“I’ve made friends with other parents at the cooking activities and classes. We gather at the Community Kitchen regularly to exchange cooking and parenting skills, and reserve the Kitchen together to cook and explore new dishes. Trying new recipes may not be easy, but we help and encourage each other. We have even created an instant messenger group called ‘Cooking Beauties’ for close communication, haha!”

The Community Kitchen’s service group

In order for more families in need to enjoy a comfortable cooking environment and healthy meals, all members of the Centre can join the parent-child cooking activities of the Community Kitchen programme. Families with financial difficulties or with low income can join the activities with priority or free of charge, and reserve the Community Kitchen and its equipment for free, ensuring that all families will be able to feel the love and care.

The Community Kitchen’s scope of service

With an aim to promote love and care in the community through cookery , the Community Kitchen programme consists of a series of parent-child cooking activities, cooking classes, parent-child volunteer and visiting services, and corporate cooperation.

1. Cooking classes for children

The classes start with easy recipes to help children develop their interest in cooking and enhance their self-confidence and sense of achievement, while at the same time educating them about the nutritional value of food and the importance of reducing food waste.

2. Parent-child cooking workshops

Many parents do not allow their children to enter the kitchen for the sake of safety, so the parent-child cooking workshops provide an opportunity for children to cook with their parents. Apart from letting children understand the difficulties and joy of cooking, it also offers a quality parent-child time and fosters their relationships.

3. Cooking classes for parents

Here, parents get to learn and try out new recipes. They can also meet other parents, expand their social circles, and even exchange cooking and parenting skills, demonstrating the spirit of neighbourliness.

4. Parent-child volunteering

Parents and children volunteer by preparing tasty food and snacks together at the Community Kitchen, and delivering them to the people in need in the community to express their love and care.

5. Children’s parties

The Centre organises birthday parties and festival celebration parties for the children regularly. The Community Kitchen serves to create special snacks and festive food for them to feel the joyful atmosphere.

6. Use of the Community Kitchen for free

The Centre allows families with financial difficulties or low income to use the Community Kitchen and its equipment for free, so that families without a decent cooking environment can still enjoy healthy and delicious meals together.

7. Corporate cooperation

Happiness is found in helping others. By doing volunteer services, we help the people in need in society and enrich our own life. Therefore, the Community Kitchen programme welcomes corporations from different sectors to co-organise volunteer activities with us and join hands to extend our care and support to the disadvantaged groups.

Since the launch of the Community Kitchen programme in last year, we have successfully organised more than 50 cooking-related activities or classes, benefiting more than 500 families and about 1,000 people, which were very encouraging results. Yet, we still need more resources to cope with the daily operations, maintenance of facilities, purchase of equipment and manpower for the Community Kitchen. Therefore, we need your support in order to provide sustained services and expand our efforts to more families in need.

If you / your organisation are interested in supporting the Community Kitchen programme or have any enquiries, please contact Ms Carmen Chan at 2309 1690 or email to cfs_smadmin@hkspc.org.