Abundance, Culture, and Community!

cookingforgood1
Feb 12
5 min read

Updated: Feb 13

Welcome to the second edition of our newsletter! January has been a month of vibrant beginnings at The Good Kitchen. While the Sicilian winter gifts us its famous oranges, we have dedicated ourselves to transforming that abundance into delicious food and connections. Thank you for being part of this journey.

What’s Been Cooking at The Good Kitchen

Our Community Table

Our first community lunch was a great success. Seeing the kitchen filled with new faces and old friends reaffirms why we do what we do and makes all of our hard work so worthwhile. Food is the bridge and community is at the heart of the kitchen.

History and Dialect: Event with Pro Loco Mussomeli

We participated in an emotional day celebrating the National Day of Italian Dialects. In Mussomeli, as in all of Sicily, language is a map of the many cultures that have lived here. It was an honour to hear young and elderly alike share their stories. Our incredible volunteer Calogera moved us deeply by reading a beautiful poem written by her father, reminding us that both cooking and poetry come from the heart. Pro Loco Mussomeli work tirelessly bringing us all together to celebrate the beautiful town of Mussomeli.

Sweetness to Share (Recipes!)

We brought our famous orange cake to the event, at Pro Loco and since so many of you asked for the recipe. This month we are sharing two of our favourite "rescue" recipes using the abundance of oranges that have been donated to the kitchen. Some of the local farmers have arrived at the kitchen as well with basket loads of oranges.

Sicilian Orange Cake:
To make the most of the citrus gold that surrounds us.

Banana Bread: Our favourite way to give new life to the overripe bananas we rescue from local supermarkets.

Our New Digital Home

We have important news! We’ve simplified our domain to be closer to you. You can now find us at: goodkitchensicily.com. Along with the name change, we’ve been working hard on updating our website to make it faster, more visual, and a better reflection of what happens daily in our kitchen. Come take a look!

Generosity From The Community

January brought us the tools to grow:

The Coffee Station: Thank you to Joel, a new resident in Mussomeli for the donation of a coffee machine. It may be small but it packs a punch of coffee flavour. Our resident barista Antonella is now serving exquisite cappuccinos and lattes. Our resident carpenter and cabinet maker José built a new cabinet for the coffee machine using recycled materials.
New Oven: Thank you as well to local residents Enzo and Silvia for the donation of a new oven. Now we will have more space to accommodate the massive pot of boiling water we need for the pasta that we cook for our Sunday lunch. We also received a slow cooker that will allow us to experiment with slow-cooking.

Community Voices: Santiago

In this section, we introduce the people who are a part of The Good Kitchen family.

From volunteers to friends and even some of the families who we support every week.

Today, we meet Santiago.

"Santiago arrived in Mussomeli from Argentina to trace his roots and apply for citizenship, but what he found was a home.

A radiologist by profession currently working at a local clinic, Santi found a space in our kitchen to share his other great passion: photography.

With his camera always ready and a constant willingness to help, He’s become part of the The Good Kitchen family, capturing the heart and soul of the kitchen through his stunning photography."

In his words:

La cocina, LA BUENA COCINA:

Cualquier cosa que pueda decir de este lugar seguramente se quedaría corta. Cuando llegué, no sabía qué esperar, pero el proyecto de Danny me cautivó desde el principio, supe que quería ser parte de esa energía.

Un domingo llegue a esa puerta mágica y me encontré con la sonrisa de Danny, un gesto de generosidad que es difícil de encontrar hoy en día. Al sentirme tan bienvenido, nació en mí un profundo deseo de retribuir todo lo que el lugar me estaba brindando. Se convirtió en el espacio perfecto para crecer, no solo en lo personal, sino también para generar amistades que continúan hasta el dia de hoy.

En la simplicidad de este sitio están aun los valores que el mundo parece haber olvidado, conectar a través de los aromas, las pastas italianas y las tortas de Calogera. Es un lugar donde las diferencias se desvanecen para dar paso a la ayuda mutua y, simplemente disfrutar del presente. The Good Kitchen logra que el tiempo se detenga, al menos por unas horas. Mis fotos son el testimonio de lo que se vive dentro de este hermoso lugar, la belleza de compartir y la certeza de que, a pesar de las dificultades, aquí estamos.

The Kitchen, THE GOOD KITCHEN:

Anything I could say about this place would surely fall short. When I first arrived, I didn’t know what to expect, but Danny’s project captivated me from the very beginning; I just knew I wanted to be part of that energy.

One Sunday, I reached that magical door and was met with Danny’s smile—a gesture of generosity that is hard to find these days. Feeling so welcomed, a deep desire was born in me to give back everything the place was offering me. It became the perfect space to grow, not only personally, but also to build friendships that continue to this day.

Within the simplicity of this place, there are still values that the world seems to have forgotten: connecting through aromas, Italian pastas, and Calogera’s cakes. It is a place where differences fade away to make room for mutual aid and simply enjoying the present. The Good Kitchen manages to make time stand still, at least for a few hours. My photos are a testament to what is lived inside this beautiful place, the beauty of sharing,and the certainty that, despite the hardships, here we are.

Through his eyes:

What’s Coming Out: Cultivating the Future

We are dreaming big and applying for grants and funds.

More Than Cooking: Life Skills

Thanks to the hard work of our volunteer Valeriia, we have applied for a grant from UniCredit to work with children and teenagers. Inspired by our founder Danny McCubbin’s experience at Fifteen (London), our vision goes beyond teaching how to chop an onion. We want to use the kitchen as a metaphor for life: managing anxiety while waiting for bread to rise, facing frustration when a recipe doesn't work the first time, and learning that with patience, results always improve. Through food, we aim to teach young people of Mussomeli skills that they can learn for life.

Expanding Horizons

We aren't stopping there. We are also working on grant applications for sustainability projects and a plan to share our community kitchen model with neighbouring towns. We already look after nine families in the neighbouring village called Aquaviva Platani and our plan is to be able to share of our knowledge of rescuing food with other towns in the region as well.

How You Can Help: Ways to Support Us

The Good Kitchen continues to grow thanks to the generosity of people like you.

Donations: You can make a financial contribution via PayPal to help us cover operational costs and continue rescuing food.
Information: Do you know of any local, national, or international grants that fit our mission? Let us know! Your tip could be the engine for our next big project.
Stay in the Loop: If you’re reading this because someone forwarded it to you, we’d love for you to stay! We invite you to officially subscribe to our newsletter. It’s the best way to keep up with our progress and receive recipes from our beautiful team before anyone else.