Taste & Tell: Food stories & mapping the taste of home

Bringing together Arab-SWANA communities across London for an afternoon of stories, food, and memory.

Taste & Tell is a participatory workshop exploring food heritage through storytelling, memory, and creative making. Participants will trace the spices & scents that shape their kitchens and cultures, share recipes, map local food traditions, and create recipe cards capturing remnants of taste, smell, and the everyday negotiations of home.

Organised by Shubbak at Education Room at Willesden Green Library, Brent Museum, in collaboration with Hekayyatna and facilitated by Hekayyatna’s Al Shaibani and Zeina Dowidar

Open to Arab and SWANA community

Zeina is an award-winning audio producer and storyteller, Egyptian and a proud Londoner. Serial host in her private and public life. A researcher and advocate, Zeina is currently doing a PhD in Anthropology. She is fascinated with stories of archives and saving what was once thought lost.

Al is a Czech-Iraqi producer (audio & video), with a passion for cycling and crafting narratives that bridge cultures. With a background in Microbiology, English Literature, and community building, Al loves the creative, collaborative process of getting to the heart of a story and the best ways to bring it to life.

Hekayyatna- meaning 'our stories' in Arabic. Hekayyatna is a London-based community organisation that centres SWANA cultural storytelling and community-led programming. Co-founded by Al Shaibani and Zeina Dowidar, we are committed to authentic representation and community care, creating spaces for shared reflection, creative expression, and the preservation of stories. Through museum takeovers, film screenings, supper clubs, and workshops, Hekayyatna builds platforms for SWANA communities to tell their own stories on their own terms.
Learn more…

This programme is made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Generously supported by Arts Council England.

  • Paul Hamlyn Foundation logo
  • Supported using public funding by Arts Council England

    • Details

    Saturday, 4 April 2026

    2:00pm - 5:00pm

    Tickets

    Tickets are on a sliding scale solidarity rate, please pay honestly.

    Event info

    Education Room at Willisden Green Library, Brent Museum

    second floor
    95 High Road
    Willesden
    London
    NW10 2SF