As we reflect on the past six months, Flavors from Afar is thrilled to share exciting highlights and plans for 2023.

In November, we received the prestigious MICHELIN Bib Gourmand designation and for the second year in a row are rated a Los Angeles Times’ Top 101 Restaurant – WOW! The following month, our founder, Meymuna Hussein-Cattan, was honored as a 2022 Top 10 CNN Hero and spoke about the Tiyya Foundation and Flavors at a star-studded event on national television. In January of this year, we launched a monthly ‘Meet the Chef Night,’ an intimate evening of food tasting at Flavors from Afar where you can meet the featured chef behind that month's cuisine. We also officially expanded our culinary program to include new education workshops and consultations in addition to culinary training at our restaurant – you can read about it in a great piece for the LA Daily News here.

Lastly, we want to celebrate over $12,000 being paid to our featured chefs in 2022, four chefs received support in starting their own catering businesses, and one secured a six-figure job placement.

We're already feeling gratitude and are in full CREATE-mode!

As we move further into 2023, our focus will remain on developing our culinary program so we can support more families beyond the twelve featured chefs each year – in both Los Angeles and Orange County. The workshops are held at the Tiyya Foundation office and will educate participants on how to receive food-handling certifications and attain proper licensing for those who seek to start their own business. Tiyya has also partnered with the online platform Shef to support those who’d like to provide delivered meals from their own home, ideal for mothers with young children to care for. Our first workshop was held on February 28th and we had 10 attendees set up with Shef to begin catering from home.

Forty percent of our profits go back to support the sustainability of Tiyya Foundation’s programs centered around economic advancement, housing, and community. With our continued growth and success, our program participants are ensured a roof over their heads, a livable wage, and a community to feel rooted. This year, Tiyya Foundation relaunched its youth soccer program, expanded its Tea and Tots gatherings and is continuing to build out its career placement and housing program offerings.

We’re grateful to the LA2050 grant and team for their support as we continue to change the conversation around refugees. Our collective goal is to create a seat for refugees and undocumented immigrants at the table. We want our society to appreciate their contributions to our communities and celebrate the diverse cultures they represent.

We hope you will join us for a meal, use us to cater your next gathering, or mingle with us at our next Meet the Chef Night in April. Through Tiyya, we welcome new volunteers to work with our participants or donate diapers for a Tea and Tots gathering. If your business is hiring, consider a refugee candidate, or if you own a rental property, consider offering your space to a displaced family. We’d love to connect and share more, please contact Tiyya Foundation’s Director of Operations, Shukry Cattan at shukry@tiyya.org.