THE city saw its first multicultural picnic held in Cripplegate Park on Saturday, attracting people and foods from across the world.

Those of all nationalities were encouraged to bring food from their countries of birth and their ethnic roots, which could then be tried for free. Food on offer included Polish piernik, Romanian cozonac and Kaiser meat.

Organised by Basia Ligas, community cohesion officer for Worcester City Council, alongside Fortis Living, the event aimed to promote further ethnic diversity, particularly in the fallout to the Brexit vote.

Ms Ligas, originally from Poland, said schemes like Talk to Me Worcester and the newly formed European Connections Forum, inspired her to launch an event which encouraged different ethnicities to join together.

“There’s not really an outlet in Worcester that allows us to promote communities,” she said. “We wanted to show that everyone who lives here is not an enemy but a friend. We all want to be part of the community.”

Having lived in the UK for 11 years, Ms Ligas, who was helped on Saturday by her sister Gosia Ligas, said while the country is particularly multicultural, “after Brexit there’s been so much uneasiness”.

“We felt we wanted to do something that’s not political but fun. That would show and educate people that Worcester was a place for all of us to call home.”

She said while there are already well-established communities for nationalities like Bangladesh and India, Eastern European countries in particular don’t have this.

This is despite the city seeing more Bulgarians and Romanians, for example, in the last 10 years since these nations became full EU members.

Ms Ligas went on to say that the city council has been toying with the idea of an event or festival in Lowesmoor, where there is a very diverse mix of ethnicities, and the food on offer reflects that.

“People are interested in ethnic foods, but as much as British people will eat international cuisine, I don’t know how many go do their food shopping in Lowesmoor.”

She said a festival there would help to “expose people to what’s there, in terms of food and culture”.

Tom Piotrowski, diverse inclusion advisor for Fortis, also involved in organising the picnic, said: “There’s a mix of languages and people with different experiences – that’s what Worcester is all about.”

Gosia Jaroch, from Poland, who attended with her partner, said the event allowed people to “see what other nationalities are all about”. She added: “It’s a shame that it’s not been advertised as well as it could have been.”