diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py
index 5d01af31ac..23fffc97bc 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ class BBCooker:
         #
         self.configuration.event_data = bb.data.createCopy(self.configuration.data)
         bb.data.update_data(self.configuration.event_data)
+        bb.parse.init_parser(self.configuration.event_data)
 
         # TOSTOP must not be set or our children will hang when they output
         fd = sys.stdout.fileno()