Welcome Meals Press Release

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

 

Foodhini Creates Partnership to Provide Welcome Meals to Afghan Refugees 

Afghan Homestyle Meals to be Delivered to Newly Settled Families;
Meal Delivery Service by Emerging Immigrant & Refugee Chefs Expands to Bethesda

 

Washington, D.C., September 2021 –  Foodhini, the Washington, D.C.-based meal delivery service that features multicultural meals prepared by emerging immigrant and refugee chefs, has set up an initiative to cook and distribute authentic, Afghan-style meals to newly-settled Afghan refugee families. This program ensures welcoming and familiar meals for a family’s arrival in their new home and provides a way for people to help newly arrived Afghan families even if they are unsure of how to get started or are located outside of the DC metro area.

Foodhini is teaming with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), Lutheran Social Services (LSS) and the public to provide affordable, high-quality Welcome Meals to newly-settled Afghan families. Each three-dish, halal-friendly meal is prepared by Foodhini’s Chef Zainab from Afghanistan. Affordable Welcome Meals can be purchased from anywhere in the U.S. for $10 apiece at foodhini.com. Meals will be delivered to families free of charge when they are settling into their new homes. Since launching the Welcome Meals initiative, Foodhini has secured over 2500 meals through the generous support of the public. As of mid-September, Foodhini began distributing the first of many Welcome Meals to newly arrived families in the DC metro area.

Also this month, Foodhini expanded its same-day home delivery service to Bethesda, MD. Foodhini already delivers to homes throughout Washington D.C. and in several neighboring suburbs. 

“Foodhini wants to help in the way we know best – through the sharing of food and community,” said Foodhini founder and CEO Noobtsaa Philip Vang. “Afghan families throughout the country are going through frightening and exhausting journeys similar to the one my family took when they fled Laos as Hmong refugees and came to the United States several decades ago. These meals will bring all the flavors of home, while also providing hope for new beginnings.”

Foodhini offers authentic homestyle dishes from Afghan, Lao, Eritrean and Ivorian menus with selections updated weekly. In addition, Foodhini offers the Taste The World weekly meal subscription, TasteKit recipe kits, catering services for events, and a neighborhood pickup program for communities not yet covered by home delivery services. Orders can be placed at foodhini.com.

Foodhini was founded on the idea that food can be used to create new opportunities for immigrant and refugee communities, and also satisfy the appetites of hungry foodies in search of authentic multicultural meals. Many immigrant and refugee communities face financial, educational, and cultural barriers that can limit their access to sustainable living wage jobs. By providing a platform for diaspora communities to use their existing culinary skills to prepare and sell their delicious home-style cultural cuisines, Foodhini empowers these communities to overcome those barriers and create new opportunities.

Foodhini’s current team includes four chefs:

• Chef Zainab was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan. She learned to cook with her mother at fifteen years old. Zainab and her husband brought their family to America looking for new opportunities for themselves and their family in 2019. Zainab wants people to taste and enjoy new and different foods. She loves how cooking can bring people together and how sharing meals together can create lasting memories.
  
  
• Chef Yebralem was born in the fishing town of Assab, Eritrea. She left her home country due to political instability and the desire to provide a better life for her family. Her journey took her first to South Africa, and then to the U.S. Chef Yebralem’s food is typical of Eritrea, with her own twist. Her food is a mix of flavors: the flavors from her childhood home, her travels in East and Southern Africa, and her new life in the U.S.
  
  
• Chef Veronique was born in Koumassi, a suburb of Abidjan in Ivory Coast. She left the Ivory Coast as a teenager due to the country's First Civil War and moved to Togo, where she developed her passion for cooking. After coming to the U.S., Veronique is thrilled to finally be making her dream of becoming a chef come true. Veronique loves experimenting and trying new recipes. 

• Chef Mam learned Lao cooking from her mother-in-law by watching her in the kitchen and preparing meals for the family. Since then, she has mastered her culinary skills by cooking at home for her family and has also become popular in Washington, D.C.’s Lao community by catering for family and community gatherings. She didn't start cooking until later in life, but she’s excited at the chance to cook from the heart and share it with everyone. 

 

About Foodhini

Foodhini is a unique local meal delivery service that features authentic multicultural dishes crafted by emerging immigrant and refugee chefs. Foodhini was founded in 2016 by Noobtsaa Philip Vang with the mission of using the power of food to create sustainable jobs and economic mobility for immigrant and refugee communities, while at the same time providing epic tastes from around the world for everyone to enjoy. Since then, Foodhini has steadily expanded its delivery area from Washington, D.C. to neighboring communities. More information is available at foodhini.com.

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