Syrian newcomers share tasty morsels from their homeland with Quebec City neighbours
Aliments Ensemble gives refugee women tools to commercialize Syrian cuisine while adapting to new culture
When Quebec City's new farmers market opens to the public in 2018, shoppers looking for the perfect desert wine or fine cheese will also be able to pick up some sanbousak or a dozen maamoule — staples of authentic Syrian cuisine.
The women who will be cooking the delicacies and ringing up the cash register have just started rebuilding their lives in Quebec, after fleeing their homes in Syria.
"I worked in Turkey as a cook, I'm very happy to be here with Mrs. Nour, very happy," said one of those women, Hanan Abdul Karim, taking her time to find the correct words in French.
She is one of nine Syrian women who now work part-time for the catering project Aliments Ensemble.
The women get together to cook traditional Syrian food as they learn to navigate the labyrinthine corridors of Quebec bureaucracy, when it comes to obtaining licenses and permits in the food industry.
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They also learn about business management and how to find distributors, all while practising their French with customers.
"They come from war, and these ladies have exceptional resilience. I find them very strong."
"At first their salaries were combined with their husbands, but now they ask me to have their own bank accounts," Sayem said with a laugh, adding she has managed to get the men on board.
"They are with us, they support us, and this is the most important thing that I have done," Sayem said.
Sharing a lifetime of knowledge
The energetic woman can certainly relate to these families that left everything behind in Syria. She left the war-torn country in 1967 when she was just 15.
Sayem obtained a PhD in food science and technology, raising her two children with her husband, who she met in Quebec.
"I know the Québécois, I know they are a big people. And I know Syrians; I know their language. So it's a new mission I gave to myself," she said.
After hearing about a catering project for Syrian refugees in Saint-John, N.B, she decided she could recreate the concept in the city in which she's lived for the past 37 years.
Community support
On the last weekend before the holidays, Karim was busy selling the last merchandise the women had prepared for 2017 at Quebec City's farmers market at the Old Port.
"Salty, sweet, Syrian food is very good," she explained to people who stopped by for a taste.
The stall was offered to the women free of charge by the co-op of the Marché du Vieux-Port for the entire month of December, said Sayem.
A local bakery also opened its kitchens on Sundays so the chefs could cook their products in a kitchen recognized by the province's food regulatory agency.
Everywhere you go, if you share food, it's a pacific way to get integrated.- Nour Sayem
In 2018, Aliments Ensemble's knaffehs and stuffed vine leaves will be prepared in the brand new kitchens of the city's new farmers' market.
Last spring, six women in the group received certification in food sanitation through Université Laval, learning along the way to improve their recipes.
"It's beautiful, when you see these ladies who didn't speak a word of French when they got here, and now they text me in French," said Sayem.
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Sayem says this will allow the women to continue the project's mission: to facilitate the integration of Syrian women but also introduce Syrian food and culture to Quebecers.
"The only thing you can share with others is food. Music and food. It's an art. Everywhere you go if you share food, it's a pacific way to get integrated."