this is a very special series for us to be filming
we're taking you into these home kitchens of three very special women who have come to New Zealand
have arrived in Aotearoa as refugees or forced migrants and have since set up these thriving
home businesses where they're sharing their food with the community you're going to love this one
all of the chefs are graduates of a programme which is put together by Iti Rearea Collective
who are made up of a bunch of not-for-profits who help refugees and forced migrants after they
arrive in New Zealand to create enterprises and businesses that give them financial independence
so Esther is a graduate of this programme and she cooks food from Myanmar
this one ginger ginger okay
so ginger, turmeric, onion, garlic too much ginger for kids
quite hot quite hot
yeah put only small
Esther is making the spice paste for a beef curry so she cooks homemade Myanmar food
so food from her homeland and what's been a recurring theme is that cooking food from their own cultures
means that these chefs get to connect with their identity as well as share it with Kiwis
smells really good
Taste of Myanmar is a way for Esther to achieve financial independence but
it's so much more than that and talking to her the business is also about connection
creating connection with her community it's about her expression of her identity
and of sharing the food from her homeland with her new Kiwi community
so it's a really special thing
the customers they very love this one
I'm going to love this one it looks amazing
was seven years this one selling wherever I sell this one all gone gone gone already
I can see why
it's very fragrant
eat yea
eat, eat, eat I'm being told to eat, eat, eat
I've got a plate of the fried chicken here and what did you call this Esther? Myanmar mayonnaise...
Esther's just popped a whole load of their chilli, homemade chilli paste which she's called
Myanmar mayonnaise because you just slop it over everything it's got tamarind chilli garlic
nice? good ah thank you
it's so juicy thank you
fried chicken cooked to perfection crispy juicy golden look at that in the pan delicious
thank you Esther this is amazing thank you
Welcome, thank you
the programme that the chefs go through provides them with business mentoring
and microfinance and it means that they can become
financially independent through these enterprises that they start up
eat together right
yes we'll eat together thank you Esther wow it looks amazing beef curry is served up
thank you so much for inviting us into your home and sharing your food with us it's delicious
thank you so much for watching we really hope you enjoyed this one
support this small business jump onto Facebook all of the details are down below
thank you thank you thank you now can we eat together no no no no this one
oh just adding another dollop of Burmese mayonnaise..