Kitchen at refugee centre running 20 hours a day in March

Some 200 refugees are at the centre at any one time, and about half of them will be fasting for Ramadan this month, said chef Chris Waghorn. Meals are catered for before sunrise and after sunset, and usual meals are provided for other people at the centre.

Since Mr Waghorn started at the centre, he has learned many lessons.

“For example, many Muslims break their fast with dates, but some nationalities don’t want the sweet little fruit, while others are very specific – preferring an odd number to be eaten.

“It’s different [for each person] and I’ve learnt that it’s amazing what you learn.”

The kitchen typically uses 40 kilograms of rice a day, and up to 400 eggs are cooked for breakfast daily. Up to 300 kilograms of meat are prepared each week. To help provide for various tastes and customs, theme nights are put on for every new refugee intake, where a few groups of the biggest nationalities gather in the kitchen and cook under the supervision of experts.

While theme nights help chefs understand what the refugees would like to eat, the goal is to share an experience with people of various cultures and to help them bond with each other, Mr Waghorn said.

“If you understand where they’re coming from and the fighting amongst where they come from, and they’re in here, then I’ll put them in the kitchen, which is even smaller,” he said.

“I had two groups in [the kitchen] who would not work alongside one another . . . . I said fine you can leave, because this is my kitchen, this is how it is. They stayed, didn’t leave.

“That was on a Monday, so there was no word spoken. . . . The Tuesday, bit of ‘hello and how are you?’ [On] Wednesday, they’re taking selfies of one another. Now that’s satisfying; that is what I wanted.”

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Slice of Ramadan at Mangere Refugee Centre (By Isra’a Emhail/Radio New Zealand)