Traditional flavours inspire market cook up

Published on 19 November 2021

Salamanca Market is celebrating its fresh local produce and the growers who supply it at a Community Cook Up this Saturday.

A collaboration between Salamanca Market, Eat Well Tasmania, Hobart’s Hmong community and the Migrant Resource Centre Kitchen, the event will feature free tastings and try-at-home recipes.

“The Community Cook Up celebrates the history and culture of the market‘s Hmong growers and aims to support them and all of our market stallholders as they recover from the effects of COVID-19,” Acting Lord Mayor Helen Burnet said.

“Using this amazing fresh produce, there will be a range of dishes cooked on site and served up for market-goers to enjoy.”

The Community Cook Up will showcase new recipes that have been developed by Megan Quill from the Migrant Resource Centre and inspired by Hmong traditional recipes.

“If you taste something you really enjoy and would like to try cooking for yourself, there will be free recipe cards available to take home,” Cr Burnet said.

Eat Well Tasmania State Manager Carl Saunder said produce markets played an important role in providing access to fresh, local food, and connecting consumers with growers in their community.

“Cooking with local seasonal produce means eating food its freshest and most nutrient-dense, not to mention most flavourful,” he said.

“Hearty, vibrant summer greens are flooding into Salamanca Market right now. We encourage Tasmanians to enjoy an exciting variety of foods at markets and at home by looking for what’s in season.”

Mr Saunder said Community Cook-up provide an ongoing opportunity to remind people about the abundance of Tasmanian produce available all year round.

“Tasmanians are rightly proud of the huge variety of seasonal food produced in Tasmania – food that is available across the year,” he said. “Eating seasonally also means eating well, which improves the wellbeing of the Tasmanian community and workforce.”

The Community Cook Up will be located in the fresh produce section (Gladstone Street) of Salamanca Market on Saturdays 20 November and 4 December from 9 am to 12 noon.

More information on the Community Cook Up and Salamanca Market is at salamancamarket.com.au.

History of the Hmong community at Salamanca Market

Abridged text below from the Salamanca Market book: Salamanca Market, A short history, 2014, by Bernard Lloyd.

The Hmong people originated in China, but their journey is difficult to trace because their story was told, passed on, but not written down. They arrived in Tasmania in the late 1980s from Thailand, refugees from the mountains of Laos where they were being persecuted for aiding America during the Vietnam War.

In the late 1980s they started coming to Salamanca Market to sell their produce. Working with the Migrant Resource Centre, the Council valued the Hmong community contribution to the market and as a result, provided them with a trading space alongside the main market corridor in 1995.

In the early days, there were up to 40 Hmong stallholders and many continue to grow and sell vegetables from well-established market gardens out of Hobart.