Learning to Cook at Bristol Friends Meeting
Bristol Meeting’s new clerk, Alisa Myles, arrived with lots of ideas and enthusiasm. Previously a member of Newtown Meeting, Alisa and her family moved to Bristol Borough in 2022, and recently transferred their membership to Bristol Meeting. Her timing was perfect, as Bristol’s long-time clerk, Paul Shaffer, was ready for a change, and so Alisa began serving as clerk in October 2023.
Alisa is passionate about refugee resettlement, so it was only natural that her first outreach project would involve Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URM). She contacted Bethany Christian Services, who partners with Bucks County Interfaith Coalition for Refugee Resettlement (BCICRR), an organization that she has been involved with for many years. She asked how she could help their twelve URM youths who currently live in a group home in Bensalem. They suggested focusing on improving their everyday life skills.
One life skill they identified was cooking, and Alisa thought “well that’s something we can do,” as the meetinghouse has the perfect space for both meal prep and cooking. She quickly had eleven youths register for a December cooking class. While language differences might have been a barrier, they were fortunate enough to have translators for all languages spoken: English, Spanish, Arabic, and French.
The lesson began with introductions, with each person telling where they were from and what they wanted to learn how to cook. Alisa feels it’s important that the lessons are self-directed and focus on what the participants want to learn; however, the first lesson had to begin with the basics. This included kitchen safety, food storage, knife skills, and how to use a stove. “Some of them hadn’t used a can opener before,” remarked Alisa. They also started learning English words for different cooking terms.
The first lesson was a basic menu developed by Alisa, beginning with two kinds of lentil stew – a Spanish version and an Indian version – each with a different spice blend. Next, they made grilled cheese sandwiches. None of them had ever made or eaten one before, but all decided they really liked it! The lesson ended with baking chocolate chip cookies – and who doesn’t like cookies?
All the participants enjoyed the lesson – they were attentive and really were excited about learning to cook, and the food was delicious. “I thought it was a great success,” said Alisa. They are all looking forward to the next lesson, which will focus on learning how to cook pasta. Alisa plans to continue the cooking series into the new year, with six to eight lessons planned. She welcomes volunteers who might be interested in helping. “Another pair of hands would be great,” said Alisa. If you are interested, can email her at clerk@bristolfriendsmeeting.org for more information.
Bon Appetit!