Ms. Abdul Aziz sought asylum in the United States in 2014, leaving her five children — including Sohil, her youngest, who was 12 — in Afghanistan. In early March, Sohil was granted entry under a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services program that reunifies families of refugees and asylum seekers. After eight years apart, mother and son embraced in a long hug at the Missoula Montana Airport. United We Eat shared the news in a subsequent newsletter, an effort to deepen customers’ familiarity with Ms. Abdul Aziz and her family.
Most customers recognize familiar chefs’ faces and look forward to specific cuisines. Their sole complaint: The meals sell out too quickly.
Jim Streeter, 72, a retired accounting and finance professional in Missoula, waits at his home computer for the Thursday morning emails. One week in February, even that didn’t work. Mr. Streeter walked downstairs to relay the coming week’s menu to his wife, Sara, but by the time he returned to the computer, it had sold out.
Customers say the meals offer culinary diversity they can’t find elsewhere. The Census Bureau estimated Missoula County’s population to be 91.7 percent white in 2021. If not for the United We Eat program, there would be no place for Missoulians to order Congolese, Pakistani or Guinean food.
Tri Pham, 49, a high school counselor who has ordered from United We Eat nearly every week since last fall, says his wife and daughters look forward to the variety. Slips of paper included with each order explain the dishes, their ingredients and the chef’s background. The biography included with Mrs. AlMasri’s meal mentioned her arrival in Missoula during a record-setting cold snap, and described how eggplants for baba ghanouj are typically roasted over an open flame for a slightly smoky flavor.
“We like exposing our girls to it so they have a broader worldview,” Mr. Pham said, “that it’s not just hamburgers and French fries.”
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/dining/missoulas-kitchen-refugees.html
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