Global food festival shows 'true multiculturalism'

Organisers of an international festival say the event demonstrates how multicultural the town really is.

The Global Food and Pita Festival is happening in Ipswich on Sunday 17 May, organised by the charity BSC Multicultural Services (BSCMS).

Rupa Ahmed, one of its advice officers, is co-ordinating the free-of-charge annual event for this year.

She said: "The atmosphere is great, it's always buzzing... a fantastic day of food, different culture and just everyone gathering together."

A photoshoot to launch the event saw local councillors, politicians and supporters gather at Suffolk New College, where the event will be held.

The festival will include children's activities and a food competition for traditional Bangladeshi cakes called pitas.

Isaac Turay, from the Caribbean and African Community Health Support Forum, said: "We want to be part of it and want the town to move forward.

"Ipswich is a big diverse town and if everyone works together we can move mountains."

Among the judges this year will be Lydia Tse from the Anglo Cultural Chinese Exchange and Marianne Flack, deputy principal at Suffolk New College.

Flack said: "It's a fantastic reflection of our own college learner community and we promote social cohesion, equality and diversity throughout everything that we do, so this is a great celebration for us."

Mojlum Khan, BSCMS funding officer, told BBC Radio Suffolk: "The word multiculturalism often becomes contentious because people don't understand what it means.

"Instead of talking about it, which can become argumentative, we say let's put it in practice and we have done that for nearly 30 years now in Ipswich... [people from] 65 different nationalities have come and accessed our services alone."

Speaking about the launch event, he added: "We brought politicians of all different colours here, all different backgrounds, culture, faiths all revolving around one thing that is common to all of us - food - and we celebrate that."

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