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Migrant Women Serving Up Social Enterprise Through Food

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POST WRITTEN BY
Amandas Ong
This article is more than 7 years old.

Mazí Mas cooks in the kitchen. (Photo by Gercama)

Across many cultures cooking typically has been a woman’s role: predominant gender stereotypes dictate that an accomplished homemaker, wife and mother holds her own in the kitchen and feeds her family well. Recently however, popular cultural theorists such as Katrine Marcal have done a lot to get people thinking and talking about the value of women’s labor, which often remains invisible and unaccounted for in the formal economy.

At the same time, over a million migrants—many of them women—have crossed over into Europe, some driven by violence and unrest in various parts of the Middle East and northern Africa and others seeking better economic prospects away from politically fragile states. In 2015, EU countries offered asylum to 292,540 refugees, with the UK accepting almost 14,000.

At this intersection of culture and politics, a number of social enterprises have been born in the UK, encouraging women from migrant and refugee backgrounds to achieve their dreams of establishing their own businesses—all through the strength of their culinary skills. Such initiatives are aimed at allowing women to both use their power to earn and to fight anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Two of these businesses are Mazí Mas and The Chickpea Sisters, both of which are based in London.

(Photo by Mara Klein)

Eláte na fate mazí mas” means “come eat with us” in Greek. It is the last two words of this phrase that have become the name of Nikandre Kopcke’s roaming restaurant, which trains migrant and refugee women for careers within the food industry. Kopcke was inspired to set up Mazí Mas by her Greek godmother, who was a great cook; she wanted to set up a bakery after emigrating to New York with her family, but was prevented from doing so by her husband.

“A woman’s job was to stay at home and look after the kids,” says Roberta Siao, the kitchen manager of Mazí Mas. “Niki believed this was unjust and wanted to do something to help other women who face similar barriers to finding paid employment as chefs.” While volunteering at migrant centers and community kitchens in London, Kopcke realized that her grandmother’s tale was echoed in lives of many women she met, and was inspired to transform her feminist beliefs into practice.

Taking on six chefs at a time, Mazí Mas offers a platform for women from all over the world—including Iran, Peru, Nicaragua and Senegal (some with asylum status, some as economic migrants)—to exchange culinary ideas and experiences, work in a team and receive business training. Dishes that the women learn to prepare for a rotating menu include ceviche (Peruvian marinated fish) and ghormeh sabzi (Persian lamb with herbs).

Roberta Siao (Photo by Gercama)

“We want very much to emphasize that many of these women are not uneducated or unqualified. We actually once had a doctor from Sri Lanka,” adds Siao. Several of the women working at Mazí Mas have faced social mobility issues for years, because the professional qualifications they were granted in their respective countries were not accredited in the UK. “Immigrant women are not charity cases and that they can come to the front of the economy and contribute with their skills,” Siao says.

Currently, Mazí Mas’s chefs cater events and work at month-long residencies in restaurant and café spaces around London, each taking on shifts of three to four days a week.

The Chickpea Sisters was inspired by a similar goal—to amalgamate the culinary skills of refugee women living in the UK. Based in Tooting, southwest London, the social enterprise was evolved from a refugee and migrant women’s cooking project that began at the Community Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (CARAS).

Two early members of The Chickpea Sisters, who agreed to be interviewed for this article but declined to be named (due to concerns over the privacy of their families as well as their vulnerable legal statuses), reflected on how creating the initiative changed their lives.

“I came from Somalia 13 years ago and used to sit in on the after-school club sessions at CARAS that my children attended. While waiting for our children, all of us would bring food that we had made at home and invite the rest to share. I started to really look forward to these meetings, because I could see my friends and try their cooking,” says one of The Chickpea Sisters.

A number of the women soon realized that they should pool their efforts together to generate income through their cooking. After obtaining their food hygiene certificates, the women banded together to begin catering events such as wedding parties and student conferences. Over the last few years, they have been regularly renting kitchens in the area to do so.

“We’ve become very good at making finger food like samosas, falafel and dolma,” another Sister adds. For big events, the Sisters offer a wide range of dishes on their menus such as stews and tagines, from an eclectic array of ethnic groups. The costs of running the business are fairly low since they do not work in a permanent space, and ingredients can be purchased locally at reasonable prices.

At present, the initiative brings together women from places as diverse as Senegal, Iraq and Libya. Both women agree that The Chickpea Sisters has done a lot to foster rapport and camaraderie. The initiative is also guided by a steering committee, comprising mostly volunteers who assist with various tasks such as mentoring the women with business skills and assisting with marketing.

“It can be fairly challenging at times to help everybody get into business mode, especially when they’re working alongside their friends,” says Iona McNeil, a volunteer who attends Sisters' weekly meetings and advises on controlling the finances. “We’d like to improve the menu offering, and we aim to cater for lots more events in the future, cooking for up to 300 people.”

Upcoming projects for the women include publishing a cookbook that introduces their recipes from all over Northern African and the Middle East, but with a healthy twist. Members of The Chickpea Sisters also dream of one day opening a restaurant.

Running these women-focused social enterprises is not without its difficulties.

The Chickpea Sisters’ biggest issue has been the women juggling tasks in a busy kitchen environment. The second Sister quips: “Sometimes all of us want to use the stove at the same time but there isn’t enough space, and we need to get the food ready under time pressure.”

Siao says that Mazí Mas has been gaining a lot of positive press, but still struggles with attracting long-term investors. However, she is hopeful: “I believe that there are a lot of good people in the world who would support us with their money and make this business sustainable in the long run, so we just have to keep trying."