Home Made in Smethwick

In 2014 Multistory invited me to make stories with, for and about local people’s lives in Smethwick. I eagerly accepted the opportunity to explore one of England’s most ethnically diverse towns.

Historical maps in the local library show that Smethwick came to be during the nineteenth century industrial era. Rows and rows of tightly packed terraced houses were planted on the surrounding farmland to house factory workers rapidly arriving en masse from the countryside. From their initial construction these modest houses have become the spaces where to foster new beginnings. The terraced templates have been transformed to suit myriad lifestyles and home-styles. Since the 1950’s the paths leading to these homes have extended further and further across the world’s map. Nowadays Smethwick continues to welcome newcomers, as well as being a longstanding neighbourhood of Irish, Sikh, Muslim, Afro-Caribbean and White British communities.

I was interested to see how the traditional Victorian terraced houses, which were built en masse for industrial workers, have been transformed to suit cultures and tastes from around the world. On initial wanderings, I found the densely populated streets surprisingly quiet. However, the intense, sensory experience of exotic cooking smells pervading the air was like an olfactory calling from behind closed doors.

'What is your favourite family recipe and can I bring you the ingredients to cook it for me?’

Posing this question from door to door, I was welcomed into Smethwick’s kitchens and my global journey through just a few streets unfolded. I participated in the preparation of personal dishes embedded with meaning and memories. Conversation flowed over the kneading of family size naans, it continued over the harvesting of herbs grown from seeds stuffed into suitcases, and while waiting for Lynne’s bread and butter pudding to bake with a cup of tea in the back garden. Cooking and eating together allowed all of us to relive some of the stories that had brought people from every continent (or sometimes from just down the street) to their present home. Tastes weave throughout people’s lives, cementing relationships and being passed on and transformed by next generations. The dishes we prepared and shared are the product of family traditions, personal creativity, intimate moments with mothers and siblings, and primarily of the items available in Smethwick’s local Asda supermarket.

- Liz Hingley, 2014

Thanks to funding from Owen Family Trust and The Grimmitt Trust.