Nitesh: Food is a common language, I’d watch my mum cook and I learnt from her. The woman would prepare food on the floor and we would prepare dishes on the kitchen table.

Khim: When I moved to London in the 70s, I didn’t speaking English. I was one of the first nurses to join the NHS. The food was horrible and cold, I ate things like spam salad. Me and the other Malaysian Nurses we would gather in the dorms and talk about what we cooked at home. In the beginning, I would be so upset during Lunar New Year, hearing the laughter and the joy of my family preparing food one the other side of the phone. Now, every new year, everyone is welcome through my door, we eat and we laugh and we chat and gossip.

Mimi: I opened London’s first Thai pub. I served pints and Thai food. If you are new to the country, you have to make money to survive, send the children to school and feed the family. Immigration is not easy but we did it.

Vio: Many Romanians come to England and do not speak the language. I work as a translator and interpreter. With language barriers there can be a lot of miscommunication and complications. Food can communicate for us when we don’t have the words. There is a stigma towards us Romanians, but one thing about us is we will feed you and welcome you into our homes. We are proud of our heritage and it’s in our blood to be generous.

Mary: Coming to London was hard. There were signs that said No Blacks, No Irish. So we went to the Irish pubs. We didn’t just drink for starters. It was a safe place, people brought their instruments and we’d play music and games, we’d talk and we would share food. I loved it, it was home and it was safe. We’d have parties there, birthdays, celebrations, it was more of a community centre than an establishment.