THUNDER BAY — The International Tapestry Women’s Network brings picnic ambiance indoors with its fifth annual Ethnic Food Picnic at the Moose Hall on Sunday.
The picnic showcased more than 23 home chefs from roughly 15 countries, originating from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, Latin America and more.
It also featured cultural programs every half hour, as well as interviews with the vendors about their food.
“It’s a really fun opportunity and it’s cool,” said Deyala Al-katari, whose family was running a stall selling a mix of Middle Eastern food varieties, including Palestinian food.
With the picnic held only once a year, Al-katari added that it is fun.
“We have some fattoush, which is a salad with lots of nice vegetables. And then we have some msakhan, which is a chicken and onion wrap with plenty of seasoning. And then we have falafel, which is veggies,” said Al-katari.
Al-katari’s family also sold knafeh, made from cheese and pistachio, for dessert, as well as two different kinds of baklava, the first being pistachio and the second cheese and cream.
She encourages people to attend their stall as there are lots of delicious foods and also explore the different booths.
These home chefs are coming forward to showcase their food, the different spices and traditions behind them, as well as the journey and why they cook that food, explained Roopa Rakshit, the co-founder of the network, which began in 2018.
“Each of them has a story behind, not just the dishes, (but) even the people who are behind selling this food. They’re newcomers to Thunder Bay. They’ve come from different parts of the world. They bring the resilience and they’re trying out in a new country,” said Rakshit.
They also bring cultures and traditions, she said, all of which people are learning and also come with stories.
“Every single member of the International Tapestry Women’s Network… has stories like mine, who have come from different parts (globally) and have started from maybe academics or jobs or entrepreneurships,” said Rakshit.
They’ve come with something and got back so much from the community, Rakshit explained, so now they’re giving it back.
“Every single dollar that we raise goes back to the community in some form or the other. We keep just a little bit for operational purposes, but otherwise, everything goes back to the community,” said Rakshit.
She added that she loves Thunder Bay and the city has personally given her a lot, which she, too, was giving back.
“Come with an open heart, open mind, come with your appetite and just try out new stuff, new things (and) new flavours. You may not like it for the first time. Give it another try… Food brings people together,” said Rakshit.
For Asfaty Kaze, whose family also ran a booth selling food from the Congo, she agreed everyone should come and taste her family’s food.
“There’s a lot of different food, traditional food, and even though you’ve never been in the country, at least you eat the food and learn from the food and be like, ‘yeah, this food is coming from that country,’” said Kaze.
“Whenever you meet even a person from my country, (be) like, ‘yeah, I ate this food from your country.’”
Kaze’s family was selling homemade salad, as well as fritters, which are similar to doughnuts.
“We feel like we are outside sharing our traditional food,” said Kaze. “Yeah, we feel nice and overwhelmed and stressed at the same time.”
She said they had seen a lot of people at their booth.
“We are making sales, so we hope we go while our buckets are empty,” said Kaze.
