Where:Islington Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD
Date: 21st November 2013
Time: 14:00

Abstract

November 2013 saw a series of community outreach events organised by East London Community Connector Tamer Yigit around the tradition of the Noah’s Pudding. Noah’s Pudding, a dessert traditionally prepared by Anatolian Muslims around the Muslim festival of Ashura and shared with neighbours, has long been used by the Dialogue Society as a way of connecting neighbours and bringing together different communities and stakeholders through the simple pleasure of sharing food. As well as reminding those of the Abrahamic faiths of common ground by the reference to Prophet Noah, who features in each of those religious traditions, the pudding is a fitting symbol of a healthy multicultural society: the many different ingredients retain their own flavours and textures in the finished pudding and the combination tastes great, just as in a thriving diverse society different people retain different traditions and beliefs while being part of a harmonious whole.

At an Interfaith Week Event hosted by Islington Faiths Forum at Islington Town Hall, Noah’s puddings were shared with a diverse group of fifty faith leaders and interested local people. The guests showed great interest in the pudding and in the Dialogue Society’s publications. It was a sociable and meaningful conclusion to a very interesting afternoon of interfaith dialogue.