A new research project is launched! 'Global food Journey for deepening mutual understanding, respect, and well-being: Avoid hate crime by linking diverse cultural values via food'

We are pleased to announce that our visiting Professor, Dr Hiroko Oe, Bournemouth University, UK, has launched a project in collaboration with a charity as the Principal Investigator. The project is entitled 'Global food Journey for deepening mutual understanding, respect, and well-being: Avoid hate crime by linking diverse cultural values via food'. The collaborator is the London-based charity Polish University Abroad (PUNO).

PUNO is the only Polish academic institution based in the West since 1939. (https://puno.ac.uk/?lang=en).

The project focuses on the cultural diversity found across the UK, predominantly Asian and Eastern European food cultures.

The project will work with a London-based charity (PUNO) to develop three main activities.

1. to explore avenues to increase mutual understanding and respect for diverse cultures through an appreciation of diverse food cultures (including other local cultural assets and nature)

2. to design and propose a curriculum to promote mutual understanding

3. to propose and implement creative and innovative methods of digitalised information dissemination (e.g. GIS systems and visual information dissemination).

A rich and diverse food culture can also soothe our spirits and support a peaceful and healthy life. It also reflects the richness of the nature and culture of the regions where they originate, which can have a therapeutic effect on our well-being.

This project aims to promote mutual understanding through these diverse food cultures. The reason for our project is the difficult situation we are facing these days: since the pandemic that started two years ago, hate crimes against us Asians and people from Eastern Europe have been on the rise. Amongst other things, there have been over 120,000 reported cases of discrimination and hate crime against Asians, including harassment, physical assault and verbal abuse. (Stop Hate UK, 2021). Many Asian and other migrant households are now "living abroad" and are "living through fear".

Not only for Asians, but also for migrants from the EU, the situation is not easy. In the UK, it is worth remembering that hate crimes against migrants from Eastern Europe, especially Poles, have escalated since the referendum on 23 June 2016 to leave the EU. According to the Office for National Statistics, Poland has the largest population of people living in the UK by nationality, with 853,000 people (India second (365,000) and Ireland third (331,000)), and the integration of diverse cultures and diverse socio-economic and cultural elements in urban areas of the UK, which is also a model of a multinational society, is a sound community design policy is a key issue.

The spirit of anti-hate, that no one should be harmed with regard to race, may be understood in the head, but practical devices are needed to put it into practice and embed it in the social culture. In order to take this issue seriously and to provide an opportunity to deepen mutual understanding and respect, this project, entitled 'Global Food journey', implements a unique approach through 'food diversity'.