Pavee Peck
A collection of recipes and stories by Traveller women
17 Traveller women created this cookbook, which showcases healthy meals prepared without electricity and while living on the roadside.
Women met at TravAct Coolock every Monday morning from September to December 2023. They talked and shared memories from the past as they cooked their way through the foods of their childhood.
Eager to share Traveller recipes that don’t require typical kitchen equipment, the cookbook includes recipes for spud bread, colcannon, the Christmas Goose, and many more.
The book also has Travellers cures for when people had no access to doctors on the side of the road. Travellers believed in these cures, such as goose grease for burns and alexander leaves for healing wounds on horses. They also have treatments for skin and hair, showcasing the many ways Traveller women looked after themselves while travelling.
There is also a section dedicated to Cant – the Traveller language.
Recipes, stories and more can be found on the website here: http://www.coolockals.ie/the-cookbook/
Here is a link to the Pavee Peck Cook: https://www.adultliteracyforlife.ie/f/120607/x/e72a22fb26/pavee-point-cookbook-print.pdf
‘Pavee Peck’ was the result of a collaboration between the City of Dublin Education and Training Board (CDETB), the Health Service Executive (HSE), Community Health Organisation (CHO), Dublin North City and County (DNCC) Health and Wellbeing and Social Inclusion, St Margaret’s Traveller Community Association, TravAct, and Pavee Point.
These women were celebrated at a launch at the CDETB – Adult Education Centre in Ballymun through a Q&A, a presentation and we were even treated to some traditional songs by Molly Collins, Brigid Collins & Mary Collins. With most women in attendance, they all agreed that the many hours spent talking and cooking together, brought them closer than they already were.
A collection of recipes and stories by Traveller women
The Collaboration and Innovation Fund supports projects for adults with unmet literacy, numeracy and digital literacy needs and projects that support organisations to be literacy friendly. The closing date for 2024 applications has now passed but keep an eye out for information on our 2025 fund which will be launched in December.