Let’s Cook Together: Empowering intergenerational communication through cooking

Abstract

This paper presents the implementation and results of an Adult Learning Pilot Project (ALPP), which was organized as part of the A.L.I.C.E (The Adults Learning for Intergenerational Creative Experience) Grundtvig project and put into practice at St Luke’s Community Centre in London, UK. It especially tries to justify which settings and language best promote the communication between generations and whether COOKING together and personal storytelling can be used as creative languages to empower intergenerational communication and learning. Findings suggest that even though food and cooking together are fundamental parts of daily routines, they can create a positive, non-formal setting for parents, children and elderly people and bring people from different cultures together. Cooking together can serve as an ‘ice breaker’ to build dialogues while creating rapport and furthering the
communication. Food and cooking together enabled the participants in this study not only to go back to their families of origin and value and tell their personal stories but also to listen and appreciate other real life stories.