Photo ©UNHCR/Benjamin Loyseau
❝ During the organisation of the Refugee Food Festival in Paris, we were happily surprised to see that the project was welcomed with enthusiasm, care and excitement by restaurateurs. If the list of restaurants we had initially drafted changed slightly before the event, it was fairly easy to find restaurants willing to participate in the festival. Most of the time, if a restaurateur has agreed to meet you after having initially heard about the project, there’s a good chance he or she will participate: almost all the restaurateurs we met with eagerly agreed to participate! During your first meeting, here are the points you should address❞
The Refugee Food Festival seeks to overcome the following problem:
The dangerous rhetoric around the arrival of refugees, which dwells on misery and fear overshadows the fact that these are men and women who arrive from their home country with incredible skills, know-how, cultural baggage and many things to contribute to societies… and to our kitchens!
Organising a Refugee Food Festival in your city means opening up restaurants’ kitchens and showcasing refugee chefs’ culinary talents and skills. It shows that the arrival of refugees is a positive opportunity for the culinary scene of your city. It is also a sociable event, where people get to know each other all the while enjoying the best of Syrian, Afghan, or Ethiopian food.
We strongly believe that work is the key to successful integration, because it allows learning of language, cultural codes, restored dignity, financial independence and belonging to the national community.
The Festival is a citizens’ initiative founded by the association Food Sweet Food and supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The first edition of the Festival took place in Paris in June 2016, the second one in Strasbourg in December 2016. All restaurants were fully booked with over 2,500 participants who all had positive and enthusiastic feedbacks, it received impressive international media coverage and some chefs were even hired after the event: safe to say it was a huge success!
The Festival aims to be an employment platform for participating refugee chefs. We support the Festival’s chefs in their employment search and encourage participating restaurants to do the same, particularly by recommending them to their network when the collaboration was a success (which is always the case!).
The event is built and organised in partnership with each of the participants. It takes place over a few days and each restaurant participates for a day or for a meal. The idea is to adapt to the needs and wishes of the host restaurant, by carefully picking the date with them and working closely with the refugee chef to elaborate the menu. By assigning a volunteer to each restaurant, the organising team offers its support all along the preparation process.
The Refugee Food festival is a non-profit event. In each restaurant the event should self-finance as restaurateurs cover the wage of the refugee chef along with the cost of supplies (see Costs Chapter). We also encourage restaurants to donate any profit from the event to pre-identified local associations.
All restaurateurs decide to participate in the Festival because of their convictions and commitment to its values. In Paris and Strasbourg, all the restaurants benefited from positive publicity by being associated with the festival and have asked to be included in the upcoming editions!
