YamDaisy and Celebrations!

Chinese New Year Celebrations in Melbourne last week were captured in a wonderful set of photoes by Pol at White Forge Photoes. She has kindly let me use one of hers here! But do go and check the lovely gallery of them!

I want to write about celebrations because there were SO MANY of them last week! I read blog posts about a whole range of Carnivale celebrations (with the greatest concentration on Pancake Tuesday!!!). Valentines Day filled the food blogs ~ and The Chinese New Year was closest to my heart!

This set my mind to thinking the role of the YamDaisy Cafe in the years celebrations. Australia, my home, has such a diverse population that there are not that many celebrations that are universally celebrated, and those are generally over commercialised and can leave a lot of people lonely on the edges.

What we do have is an extraordinary number of celebrations observed by families and communities, and a lot of ignorance about their significance, their richness and their FOOD!

The YamDaisy Cafe (click on it to read more) will be a community cafe focussing on local clients, especially those with illness, disability and trying circumstances and without the family support for food provision and therefore, most likely, for celebrations.

Each individual cafe will differ according to decisions of the chef, and the needs and wishes of the clients. But I think the cafes have a great opportunity  to nurture community cohesion and delight in the history and understanding of food, by celebrating those dates that are important within the community.

Imagine what fun could be had with Pancake Tuesday each year, with an Asian Focus for Chinese (or Vietnamese, or Korean etc) New Year, and maybe a 'YamDaisy loves you' treat for those people without partners who otherwise suffer through Valentines Day alone.

The aim would be to celebrate and appreciate the different beliefs that make up the community.
And who knows, if the YamDaisy Cafes are vibrant focal places in the community, there is no doubt that over the years they will build up some celebrations of their own.

PS. Despite bad health and not getting out I managed red bean ice cream to celebrate the Year of the Golden Tiger, a raspberry and white chocolate cupcake (thanks to my daughter Rose) for Valentines Day and a magnificent breakfast of pancakes with lemon and sugar to celebrate Mardi Gras! Cheers!