Austin is diverse.  Really diverse.  Wonderfully diverse! And as members of this community Cooking Up Cultures has a mission to bring together our shared cultural experiences to supportive, edible environments for learning languages and learning about each other.  In our programs, relationships are formed, stories are shared and this all occurs in the kitchen and over the dinner table. After all, we all eat!  Specifically, we are able to naturally combine cultural education and language learning by way of cooking since all ethnicities and cultures possess these traits: 

 

appetite for food

cultural traditions

familial heritage

 

Cooking Up Cultures puts these commonalities to the forefront of our educational programs to overcome the divisions in our neighborhoods and schools in order to achieve a more cohesive and multi culturally astute community.

 

We combine culture-specific foods and cooking with the teaching of related languages, for a multi-discipline approach that addresses culture and education.  An edible environment not only tastes good, but is supported by real science that proves the effectiveness of immersion learning.  Cooking is a contextual learning experience that lifts inhibitions for learning a new language and allows learners to have fun in the process.