Mazí Mas is a social enterprise with four main aims:

• to provide women with an independent income;
• to develop women’s existing culinary skills in a professional setting, in order to give them the confidence, support, and practical experience necessary to start their own food businesses or gain employment in others;
• to reduce social isolation and foster community through collective enterprise; and
• to preserve women’s recipes and diverse cultural heritages, and celebrate these as what makes London unique.

Mazí Mas is inspired by Maria Maroulis, a Greek woman who lived in the United States for nearly twenty years. An extraordinary cook, her dream was to open her own bakery – but she was prevented from doing so by her husband, who had rigid ideas about what a woman ought and ought not to do. Maria’s warmth, generosity, and stunning food shape the ethos of Mazí Mas, as they do her dinner table. Together, from scratch, with us – mazí mas.

Mazí Mas was started by Nikandre Kopcke, a half-Greek, half-German chef/activist. Nikandre recently gained her MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation from the LSE’s Gender Institute, and has since worked with FoodCycle, social enterprise Rubies in the Rubble, and eco chef Tom Hunt of Forgotten Feast. She is passionate about the rights of migrants and refugees, and volunteers regularly at the Hackney Migrant Centre. Get in touch with her at niki@mazimas.co.uk.