Nelly Robinson, chef and owner of Surry Hills diner Nel, is known for telling stories with his food. From Broadway productions to fairytales, he pulls inspiration from all over to create regularly changing degustation menus.

His latest menu is a little different. It’s based around stories told to him by nine individuals who have led change in some way. And it’s in partnership with social enterprise Plate It Forward, which runs eateries Kabul Social and Colombo Social, and helps provide food, education and employment to those who haven’t been given the same opportunities as many of the rest of us.

“I come from a small town in Lancashire, UK, and at 14 years of age someone gave me an opportunity to work in a Michelin-star restaurant,” Robinson tells Broadsheet. “If I didn’t get that opportunity, and somebody didn’t give me a chance, then I could’ve gone other ways in life.”

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Robinson has created nine courses based around stories told to him by individuals from Plate It Forward’s venues and its Ability Social training school. They include a female-rights advocate who recently arrived from Afghanistan; Somalian-born slam poet Hani Abdile, who sought asylum in Australian in 2011 and was placed in immigration detention for 11 months; and Shiranie Christie-David, whose son Shaun Christie-David is the founder of Plate It Forward, and whose recipes inspired Colombo Social.

Shiranie’s dish is a curry beef tartare with Sri Lankan spices, while Abdile’s is goat samosa with broad beans, tomatoes and cottage cheese. Also on the menu is a Kabul-style porridge with carrot dumplings, and tin-can damper with kangaroo jerky. During the degustation, each dish will be presented by the person who inspired it.

“This event will pay it forward to help more people,” says Robinson. “And in turn … you will get an amazing meal inspired by and shared by people you will be humbled by.

“Getting to hear peoples’ backgrounds, their experiences and their lives, and seeing it brought to life on a plate in the Nel fashion, shows the incredible power of food, storytelling and humanity to celebrate each other.”

Degustation for Change runs from October 19–21 at Plate It Forward’s headquarters at Harbourside Shopping Centre in Darling Harbour.

plateitforward.org.au