Historically, Hillingdon used its green lands for market-gardening and farming on agricultural land, largely owing success to the position in the Green Belt. With the trend of urbanization growing at a rapid pace in the 20th century, building development reduced the land available for cultivation. However, this opened the door for new opportunities of social and cultural life to flourish. With the help of local trade and industry, new clubs and associations sprung up to provide sports and other social activities for the population of Hillingdon. These activities became foundational with the support of the parish, who supported drama clubs, opera, music, and a festival of the arts. 

 

As lives in Hillingdon changed with all of these advances, how did food change alongside it? Given that food is an essential part of daily living, as lifestyles shift through the transition to urbanization, how did the role of food and cooking change in Hillingdon culture? While these questions are difficult to answer right away, they’re imperative to creating a well-rounded archive central to the Hillingdon Food Stories’s project mission. 

 

The vibrancy of Hillingdon also opened the door to welcome immigrants and create an ethnically diverse community. The most recently published data from 2018, which you can find here, shows 49.5% of residents as being from black or minority ethnic groups, noticeably higher than the percentage in the whole of London. A contributing factor to the diversity in Hillingdon comes from refugees and immigrants. An important part of this is Hillingdon’s welcoming and pledge of support to refugees, most recently from Afghanistan in September 2021, by working with local and national partners, and managing volunteer efforts. 

 

Hillingdon is a location for refugee asylum-seeking youth and children fleeing from violence in their home country. Organizations like The Hillingdon Refugee Support Group support these youth with resources, activities, social events, and workshops to help them acclimate to all different aspects of life in England. 

 

Food is an essential part of human identity and expression, so an important question is how the diversity in Hillingdon is presented through food culture; is it publicized and open or limited more to the space of home? How is food knowledge and skill passed down through generations of Hillingdon residents? Do members of the black and minority ethnic population cook food customary to their cultural background, to what is represented as traditional British food, or mediate between the two options? 

 

These core questions are unique to Hillingdon, especially because of the refugee population whose sense of place and home, which is a large factor in cooking knowledge and food culture, has been uprooted. Hillingdon has a special opportunity to give new insights on food culture and cooking knowledge because of the large diversity of ethnic populations, and I’m thrilled to work with this project to find answers to these questions.

The best way to gather insights into these questions are through direct interviews with you, Hillingdon residents. If you are a Hillingdon resident or a member of a black, minority ethnic population, or have refugee status and would be willing to share your personal experience with cooking knowledge, food, and culture to document for the Hillingdon Food Stories project,  please contact hillingdonfoodstories@gmail.com.