Meymuna Hussein-Cattan launched Flavors from Afar

Flavors From Afar in LA uplifts and supports refugee chefs and communities through food

This Little Ethiopia Cafe Is Fostering Refugee Chefs

LOS ANGELES – Walking into Flavors From Afar restaurant in the Little Ethiopia neighborhood, visitors are greeted instantly by an aroma of spices and herbs emanating from the kitchen, where all the chefs are refugees or asylum seekers. The smells and the decor – artworks, trinkets, spice jars, and tapestries from around the world – are meant to transport diners to distant lands, through cuisine and hospitality.

Co-founder Christian Davis, beaming as customers enter, welcomes newcomers and regulars alike. He has developed personal relationships with his regulars, referring to some by name and knowing what they’re going to order the moment they step through the door.

“The opportunity of working with something that gave back to refugees and asylum seekers and indigenous individuals was very important to me,” Davis said. “Plus, I’m a big foodie, so working with food was very exciting, too.”
Through its food and hospitality, Flavors From Afar sheds light on refugees and asylum seekers by featuring cuisines from countries that have experienced a refugee crisis.

Its structure is unique and rewardingly daunting: Every month features a menu from a different cook who works with in-house chefs, led by program instructor Kenna Copes, to translate the home-cooked dishes of their culture to a professional kitchen setting. Copes and the restaurant staff prepare the meals, and the translation process can be a delicate dance: The key is to present food that feels true to the showcased chefs but also appeals to restaurant customers. And finding proper seasonings from the cuisine’s source can make for a mad scramble.

“When it comes to introducing people to a different culture, we’re finding that sometimes people have a negative perception of these cultures,” Davis said. “Food is a really great way to introduce somebody to a new place that is really positive. If it’s delicious, all of a sudden, they’re interested in everything about that country’s culture.”
For many refugees, America offers a sense of safety and hope, and Flavors From Afar has given them a new opportunity to share their cultures with the world.

“I feel like this is a really original project, and it has so many people involved,” said Theo Diaz, a cook from Mexico who started at the restaurant two months ago. “I think it’s really beautiful that an organization sheds light on people who are more marginalized than most.”

What began as a catering company became a restaurant a year and a half ago, and now Flavors From Afar has served cuisines native to 11 different countries. This month the menu features items from Lebanon, and Afghanistan, Palestine, and Venezuela are among the countries they’ve featured in the past. The restaurant also serves a classic menu along with monthly specials.

In the past, Flavors From Afar worked with “Mama” Lina Georges, a Lebanese chef who moved to the United States two years ago. She and her son created the new menu.

Each month, they give 5% of their earnings to organizations that support refugees from that month’s featured country.
“All our chefs are refugees,” Davis said. “None of them were really professionally or academically trained, they just have these long-time family recipes that they’re really willing to share with us.”

As the restaurant settles in, the menu also is incorporating favorites from months past. I urge you to focus on the Lebanese dishes, but two Somali dishes also deserve their place on the table: crisp-gushy sambusas filled with cheese and potato and gently sauced chicken over turmeric-stained rice, matchstick potatoes, and other vegetables.

If Flavors From Afar started quietly due to its early-in-the-pandemic opening, its existence now deserves to be trumpeted. It has outdoor seating and, for vaccinated parties, limited indoor seating as it continues to build out its interior.

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