In many cultures, cooking is traditionally women’s work.

But for one group of Fijian women, home cooking is the key to liberation and making money, as they turn favourite recipes and home baked delights into a career and new opportunities.

Clement Paligaru: Preserve making has long been a tradition in Indo Fijian homes and kitchens. Getting to taste the piquant pickles once depended on your curry connections. But a community of women in Fiji's west is changing all of that.

Sashi Kiran: There was no local chutney or pickles or jams in the market when we started. It's available in everybody's household but it is not in the market. So that's why we started.

Clement Paligaru: FRIEND stands for Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprises and Development. And today it's best known as a brand of tasty home style condiments sold across Fiji.

Sashi Kiran: Well tamarind and chilli are extremely popular. Mango - because it's off season - mango chutney is very popular. Mango pickle is extremely popular.

Clement Paligaru: What is it about these things here that people really enjoy?

Sashi Kiran: One, it's everyday taste, people are used to eating it. And not only the Indian community. Chutney is synonymous with all communities in Fiji now. I mean, it's amazing. The tamarind chutney is very popular with the Fijian community as well. Before our Fijian friends say they have to go to an Indian house to get it. So now it's available.

Clement Paligaru: FRIEND was set up to help women from disadvantaged backgrounds earn a living.

Sashi Kiran: My initial idea was people are poor they need to do something they already know. What do people know and can do well.

Clement Paligaru: It was an idea that struck a chord with the women who joined FRIEND.

Ranjani: It feels good to work here. Because it is the same as we do at home - making chutney and other things. Interesting.

Evelyn: We make pickles at home, But here it's in a different way. We learn how to pack, preserve, you know. And those are the things we are learning here. It's good.

Sashi Kiran: So here you have jars. They are cleaned, they are dried. They are filled. The lid is put on at the same time.

Clement Paligaru: They started selling at roadside stalls and markets but are now one of the nation's biggest brands, after convincing the corporates they could get the manufacturing process right and guarantee continuity of supply - and delivery.

Sashi Kiran: Tamarind is not sourceable in Suva and other places so (in) upmarket supermarkets it's doing wonderfully well. But duty free's doing extremely well as well and I have constant emails from Australia and New Zealand. They take it as a taste of Fiji and they say where can we get it from, it's awesome so it is getting popular abroad as well.

Clement Paligaru: The popularity of FRIEND's products extends to handicrafts, like these cards made by young deaf women.

Evelyn: FRIEND is important because it has given my daughter work. She is deaf In Fiji the deaf can't find work. So FRIEND has given her work. She makes cards. And she is learning new things, which is very important for her and she is very artistic.

Clement Paligaru: Each year, only half Fiji's school leavers find work. Sashi believes cottage industries are the best way to grow the nation's economy to absorb unemployment, particularly for the disadvantaged, who have few other options.

Sashi Kiran: More than 50 percent of Fiji's population lives below the poverty line. And there's not enough jobs. This is something they know how to do. They can do it in their backyard. They can make enough money. And in most cases more money than people are paid in casual jobs. So this gives them the power to sustain their families, and be able to earn enough to earn meet their other needs.

Clement Paligaru: For these women, home cooking has been the key to liberation.

Sashi Kiran: The power balance has also changed. Now women can bring money home and can negotiate their own family wellbeing. So that's wonderful.

Pushpa Wati: The difference is that everything's going well. It feels good that money is coming in. We no longer have difficulties. I also got my daughter married. I was given some money from here. And slowly I paid that off.

Ranjani: When we were working on the roadside, selling barbeque, my husband was robbed. After that when I started working here, I was able to send my son to school, My husband stayed at home. And we were still able to meet our expenses. The household ran well. We bought what we wanted to And so everything was good.

Evelyn: Oh, this is from ...we made it! It's our production, FRIEND's! We feel proud! It's so colourful - the bottles in the shop. And we are proud to see that - yeah, I did it!