Anthony – Beach Haven

“The last meal I had was up at my local church. I’ve had experience in cooking for years, and I had the opportunity to provide a meal for those who come to meetings. It’s a great way to get people around a table. A lot of people get out stuff that they’ve been holding in all day.

Most of my ideas in cooking have come from the training of females – my grandmother, family members. I’ve only just followed along my cultural side – on the Māori side. Lot of secrets as to the way meals are prepared. Everyone’s got my secrets. A lot of families will keep their secrets.

A meal at the church is a great opportunity to share my past experiences – changed my life a hell of a lot. I came from a background where I’ve been through the gang scene, the drugs scene. When I joined the church a lot of people were wary of me because of my background. But I learnt how to be honest with myself and even open up around people that didn’t know me. It’s a time to get it out. You get help and you get people understanding where you’re coming from. Even if you haven’t got family, you feel that comfort. It’s changed my life a hell of a lot.

But you hear of places like City Mission and those that are in need of food. You would be amazed as to how much a church will provide for them. It’s a big government issue, the homeless needing food; you’d be so much amazed as to how much food is being wasted when it can go the needy. Its amazing, thousands of things that are just thrown out. I know from experience, I’ve seen it myself, it’s pretty sad in a way, it really is, the amount of food that just gets wasted.”

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