European Network of Cultural Centres (ENCC)

NOMAD - Food for Thought

Artopolis Association
Hungary
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Nomad is a community brunch, where foreigners/refugees host the locals, tell their stories on migration while sharing self-prepared food that represents home for them. In the current Hungarian socio-political environment, it is urgent to find ways to rehumanize the image of ‘the stranger’, and give them back the ownership over their own identity. We believe in the power of personal stories and of the intimate act of eating together as a community experience.

NOMAD was designed by Femini duo for Sandwich Bar community Hub. The hosts of the events came from different backgrounds, with various reasons to leave their home country and their legal and social situation in Hungary was also diverse: some came to study, others had to seek asylum either because of their religion or war, some were from the Hungarian minorities of surrounding countries. The number of the foreigners living in Hungary has doubled over the last 20 years and at the same time more than 500 thousand Hungarians live abroad.

After the infamous billboard campaign, anti-migration is still part of our government's communication and politics, in which migrants are depicted as a faceless mass who threaten Hungarian culture and traditions.

  • How can we define home, belonging and community?

  • How can we all benefit from the constant movement and new cultures mixing in Europe?

  • What can we do to create a peaceful and inclusive society?

  • How aware are we of our privileges, and what responsibility are we willing to take in shaping the world of the underprivileged?

We wish to continue the series and reach out to more people and to broaden the community around Nomad.

Currently we are also working on bringing the project outside of Budapest, to another smaller city Zalaegerszeg. A few thousand factory guest workers from the Philippines moved there recently, and we would like to create a platform for them and the locals to meet and connect.

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