ArtsEkta is a multi award winning cultural organisation that works to develop intercultural relationships at the heart of the community and is home to the Belfast Mela – the largest celebration of cultural diversity on the island of Ireland.

The brain-child of Indian-native Nisha Tandon, ArtsEkta was founded in 2006 on the principles of inclusivity, creativity and openness in all aspects of society – Ekta means ‘uniting’ in the Indian language.

Bringing together communities of Belfast and beyond, they create projects that inspire audiences to engage with the diversity, tastes, rhythms and sights that make up the multicultural life of Northern Ireland.

ArtsEkta worked with us on our third cookbook, Secret Dishes From Around the World 3. They commissioned the fantastic artist Rong-Gen Yin to create a painting for the project.

North Belfast Foodbank and West Belfast Foodbank are organisations that provide invaluable services to the local community. They help individuals and families in crisis, through the provision of emergency food supplies. West Belfast Foodbank is seeded by the Trussell Trust and North Belfast Foodbank operates independently.

We worked with North Belfast Foodbank and West Belfast Foodbank during our 2021 Reverse Advent Calendar Campaign. The project encouraged people to donate a specific item to their local food bank every day leading up to Christmas. We created a resource hub on our website with information about food banks across the country and promoted our free donation tracker to help people support their local food bank.

Another social enterprise fighting to end food poverty in Belfast is the Belfast and Lisburn Community Project, who oversee the Walk INN Foodbank on Holywood Road. The foodbank is run independently, and relies on a group of dedicated volunteers committed to ensuring that no one goes hungry in times of crisis. As such, the chief aim of the Walk INN Foodbank is to confront homelessness, offering community support to those already on the streets as well as to those at risk, including children, parents and the elderly. As well as donating food to those who need it most, the Walk INN Foodbank also provides pamphlets of recipes and meal ideas to help families save money and plan meals in advance. Donations can be dropped off at the Lisburn Golf Club.

Belfast is also home to MACS on Ormeau Road. MACS is a social enterprise supporting children and young people in the most deprived areas of Greater Belfast, Lisburn, Downpatrick and Newry, helping young people to overcome substance abuse and self-harm and to allay the risk of homelessness. MACS runs a wellbeing support service including one-on-one mentoring to help build confidence amongst the local youth while creating career opportunities and building systems of support for those who need it most. MACS also offers housing staffed by experienced support workers trained to guide young people through the common complexities of daily life, including budgeting, making repairs and paying bills, and to encourage participation in MACS events and involvement in the wider community.

Our Community Cookery School team visited Belfast as part of the Secret Dishes From Around the World book tour in 2021. While we were there we spoke to Nisha Tandon, founder of ArtsEkta and artist Rong Gen Yin who created an original piece of artwork for the Chinese section of the cookbook. You can listen to both interviews on our Share Your Secrets podcast which is available for free via Spotify, Google and Apple!