If you’re interested in learning about new culture or cooking style, you can now take Turkish cooking classes at the Raindrop Foundation in Houston.
Located on the southwest side of town, the Raindrop Foundation focuses on educating Houstonians on Turkish culture, as well as providing a place for the Turkish community to celebrate their heritage and culture.
The non-profit organization offers cooking lessons for their traditional meals, Turkish language lessons, Ebru lessons, and coffee nights with other Turkish women to bring more awareness and raise funds to help them give back.
Ebru is a type of cultural art popular in the Middle East and Turkey, where the artist drops paint onto water mixed with a thickening agent and then marbles the paint together into beautiful designs. The paint is then transferred from the water to a paper surface to create the painting.
As for coffee night, well the Turkish are famous for their special way of serving coffee. They finely ground the beans and then boil them in a special pot, called a cezve, with sugar and then poured into small cups where the grounds are allowed to settle. The coffee is delicious, and the traditional serving is beginning to dwindle since the introduction of instant coffees and teas.
The Raindrop Foundation strives to keep Turkish traditions alive and thriving here in Houston, the most culturally diverse city in America. You can sign up to participate or help the foundation as volunteer through their website or by paying them a visit.
The aim of all Turkish lessons at Raindrop is to develop all students’ listening, speaking, reading, writing, and socio-cultural interaction skills.
Learning a second language is a great way to open yourself up to the world and all the great experiences that are out there!