Carrot halwa is a sweet dessert food from India made from carrots, condensed milk, sugar and cashews. Glory Lordusamy spent more than an hour preparing the dish.

Kevin Allerston
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 15/05) - Each Friday the kitchen of the Aboriginal Women's Centre is transformed by laughter and the fragrance of spice as immigrants from all over the world come together for a multi- cultural feast.

For many, it represents an opportunity to experience a small piece of what they left behind after they moved to Canada.

"It's very good, we are enjoying it," said Glory Lordusamy, who moved to Yellowknife from India two months ago.

"We are missing our families so it's an opportunity for a few minutes to forget about our families and build friendship with other people," Lordusamy said.

There were people from India, Brazil, Armenia and Maritius serving up dishes from their homelands.

It isn't always easy for them to find the ingredients. Curry powder here is different in flavour, and other main ingredients in Indian dishes are supplied by friends in Edmonton.

"I bring my own spices," said Nasreem Mutoola, who moved from Maritius 18 months ago when her husband took a job with Laurelton Diamonds.

"Curry powder you can't get here. The stuff here is not as good, the taste is not the same," Mutoola said.

Ana Perdomo organizes the feast each week. "It's important because you miss a lot of 'home,' so when you have the opportunity to come to meet with other immigrants, you find we have a lot of things in common," Perdomo said.