Community Centre Manager Kristina Karasulas said the Tuesday lunch is now a weekly tradition in Redfern with catering provided by student chefs from the National Indigenous Culinary Institute (NICI) and their resident local cooks trained through Yaama Dhiyaan, Lisa Simon and Aunty Patty.
To help celebrate NAIDOC week, British India Trading Co. Head Chef, Matt Taylor, agreed to give the students a helping hand. A traditional beef brisket was enhanced with native herbs and spices from the Australian bush.
More than 80 people attended the free lunch including family and friends from Redfern, Surry Hills and La Perouse. Ms Karasulas says it was a chance for local people and organisations to get together for NAIDOC week to share good company and great food.
The woodwind trio members are part of the 1,100 strong crew of USS Blue Ridge, the flagship of the US Seventh Fleet, which is normally based in Japan but recently docked in Sydney ahead of the forthcoming Talisman Sabre naval exercises in Northern Australia.
Musicians Scott Wilson of San Angelo, Texas, Aaron Schmidt of Dayton, Ohio, and Cassie De Moss of West Virginia performed a number of classical pieces before joining local residents for lunch.
