Cooking is second nature to Jizel Joulak. She’s been making Syrian food for decades, only now she gets to share it with different people.
Joulak and her family fled the Syrian civil war two years ago.
Back in Aleppo, she was a lawyer, but when she arrived in Montreal she quickly realized that getting a job in her field would be nearly impossible.
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“We’ve hosted them, we’ve brought them in — but where do we go from here?” said one of the two founders of Les Filles Fattoush. “So the idea was to empower these women and give them a first step into employment and integrating into society.”
That first step for these women has been Les Filles Fattoush.
Gauthier, along with Syrian native and Montrealer, Adelle Tarzibachi, came up with the idea for the catering service last September.
The goal is to give Syrian refugee women a job, and in turn, they give Montrealers a taste of Syria.
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“Syrian food is very rich, it’s unique, it has its own flavour,” Tarzibachi said. “It’s spicy, colourful, a mix of vegetarian, non-vegetarian. So that’s why we want to share our culture, we want to share our food, with this city.”
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But there’s more to this catering service than just the food.
After the women finish cooking, they deliver it straight to the hands of the different people or companies that ordered it.
The founders say it’s important for people to meet the cooks and hear their stories, so they can understand the meaning of the project.
“With each spoon, or with each small bite people get in their mouth by eating Les Filles Fattoush food, they contribute to helping those women work,” Tarzibachi said.
The company is currently renting a kitchen in the Town of Mount Royal — they have yet to find a permanent kitchen of their own — but they’re hoping that will soon change, as more orders come in.
For information on their menus or to place an order, you can visit their Facebook page.
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