Highline’s Partnership with Project Feast
Highline College
January 7, 2019
Project Feast and Highline College work together to teach the foundational skills of running a food-based business that participants need to capitalize on the assets they bring to their new country.
Highline College
January 7, 2019
Project Feast and Highline College work together to teach the foundational skills of running a food-based business that participants need to capitalize on the assets they bring to their new country.
Project Feast opens doors for immigrants and refugees to become culinary leaders
Good Food Jobs
December 4 2018
The small, but growing, Project Feast team listens to former students and their employers to fine-tune training. The apprenticeship was extended to 18 weeks as the staff realized the value of sustained hands-on experience in the café and its catering program. They worked with Highline College to shore up English and math instruction, and they incorporated recipe development to help students translate their own creations into dishes others can make.
Good Food Jobs
December 4 2018
The small, but growing, Project Feast team listens to former students and their employers to fine-tune training. The apprenticeship was extended to 18 weeks as the staff realized the value of sustained hands-on experience in the café and its catering program. They worked with Highline College to shore up English and math instruction, and they incorporated recipe development to help students translate their own creations into dishes others can make.
Kent’s Project Feast brings people together through food
Q13 Fox TV
October 16 2018
Inside the Ubuntu Street Cafe in downtown Kent is a plethora of aromas, food, and creativity.
The word “ubuntu” is South African and means a bond of sharing that connects all of humanity. The people teaching, working and learning inside show that connection.
“Everyone in our program is a fantastic home cook, they know their food, their cuisine. They are eager to learn other cuisines as well,” said Veena Prasad, executive director of Project Feast.
Q13 Fox TV
October 16 2018
Inside the Ubuntu Street Cafe in downtown Kent is a plethora of aromas, food, and creativity.
The word “ubuntu” is South African and means a bond of sharing that connects all of humanity. The people teaching, working and learning inside show that connection.
“Everyone in our program is a fantastic home cook, they know their food, their cuisine. They are eager to learn other cuisines as well,” said Veena Prasad, executive director of Project Feast.
Where to Eat and Drink in Kent, Washington
Gemini Connect
September 9 2018
Operated by the non-profit Project Feast, Ubuntu Street Cafe offers a unique dining concept. The chefs in the kitchen are refugee and immigrant apprentices. They receive hands-on culinary job training at Ubuntu Street Cafe, while they offer traditional and cultural insights to the menu. The resulting dining experience is a diverse menu of international flavors.
Gemini Connect
September 9 2018
Operated by the non-profit Project Feast, Ubuntu Street Cafe offers a unique dining concept. The chefs in the kitchen are refugee and immigrant apprentices. They receive hands-on culinary job training at Ubuntu Street Cafe, while they offer traditional and cultural insights to the menu. The resulting dining experience is a diverse menu of international flavors.
3 Days in Kent, Washington: A Foodie Getaway from Seattle
Valerie & Valise
Sept 2018
This cafe is run by Project Feast to support women immigrants to the Kent region, harnessing their knowledge of specific cuisines and dishes at home (such as Syrian, Ukranian, Indian, or Mexican), teaching them professional kitchen skills, and letting them perfect those skills at the cafe so they can have a better chance of finding a job in the U.S.
Valerie & Valise
Sept 2018
This cafe is run by Project Feast to support women immigrants to the Kent region, harnessing their knowledge of specific cuisines and dishes at home (such as Syrian, Ukranian, Indian, or Mexican), teaching them professional kitchen skills, and letting them perfect those skills at the cafe so they can have a better chance of finding a job in the U.S.
5 Things That Will Surprise You About Kent, WA
Small Town Washington & Beyond
Sept 2018
Located in downtown Kent, Ubuntu Street Cafe is operated by Project Feast. This nonprofit has a unique mission to give immigrants real-life culinary and customer service experience. What this means for the diner is that you can try a wide range of international dishes from countries like the Ukraine, India, Syria, and Mexico. The best way to dine here is to order a few things to share so you can taste all the flavors.
Small Town Washington & Beyond
Sept 2018
Located in downtown Kent, Ubuntu Street Cafe is operated by Project Feast. This nonprofit has a unique mission to give immigrants real-life culinary and customer service experience. What this means for the diner is that you can try a wide range of international dishes from countries like the Ukraine, India, Syria, and Mexico. The best way to dine here is to order a few things to share so you can taste all the flavors.
When you’re in touch with your cuisine, you touch a deeper part of yourself
December 2017
Check out this audio postcard about our café by KUOW.
December 2017
Check out this audio postcard about our café by KUOW.
Community Stories: Project Feast
November 2017
“Seattle’s Veena Prasad helps immigrants and refugees use their cooking skills to advance beyond entry-level restaurant jobs. The flip side of her project is increasing the local appetite for gourmet food and home cooking from around the world. We explore the connections between culture and cuisine as the first set of apprentices open Project Feast’s newest venture – a café with a menu that features beloved dishes from each student’s home country.”
November 2017
“Seattle’s Veena Prasad helps immigrants and refugees use their cooking skills to advance beyond entry-level restaurant jobs. The flip side of her project is increasing the local appetite for gourmet food and home cooking from around the world. We explore the connections between culture and cuisine as the first set of apprentices open Project Feast’s newest venture – a café with a menu that features beloved dishes from each student’s home country.”
Project Feast Helps Turn Love of Food Into Sustainable Work
October 2017
“Immigrants and resettled refugees in Western Washington are learning crucial job skills and making new friends while sharing a love of food. Project Feast takes on apprentices and teaches them how to work in a restaurant kitchen while inviting them to share favorite dishes from their own cultures and families. They test their skills and share their culinary talents at Project Feast’s restaurant, Ubuntu Street Cafe.”
October 2017
“Immigrants and resettled refugees in Western Washington are learning crucial job skills and making new friends while sharing a love of food. Project Feast takes on apprentices and teaches them how to work in a restaurant kitchen while inviting them to share favorite dishes from their own cultures and families. They test their skills and share their culinary talents at Project Feast’s restaurant, Ubuntu Street Cafe.”
Immigrants from Across the World Bring Family Recipes to this New Kent Restaurant
August 2017
“At Ubuntu Street Café, lunch is a learning experience, for both diners and cooks…The program helps refugees and immigrants acclimate to local culture (and prepares them for restaurant jobs) through a shared love of food…With each new class, the menu changes to reflect the students’ heritages and recipes. Come with an open mind—they’ll take care of the rest.”
August 2017
“At Ubuntu Street Café, lunch is a learning experience, for both diners and cooks…The program helps refugees and immigrants acclimate to local culture (and prepares them for restaurant jobs) through a shared love of food…With each new class, the menu changes to reflect the students’ heritages and recipes. Come with an open mind—they’ll take care of the rest.”
Good Food: How the country’s most creative culinary minds are serving much more than great meals.
July 2017
July 2017
Building Bridges by Breaking Bread: Migrating Meals
Apr 27, 2017
“We slurped down bowls of goat bone broth and pitchers of mango juice and attacked metal platters heaped with tender roasted halal lamb, goat, beef and salmon (a decidedly local adaptation, as Warsame said Somalis don’t typically eat much fish), green salad, and mountains of aromatic rice, accompanied by a whole, ripe banana…Our table’s conversation ranged from segregation and discrimination to favorite local ethnic eating spots to the Somali civil war and the Drumpf “travel ban.”
Apr 27, 2017
“We slurped down bowls of goat bone broth and pitchers of mango juice and attacked metal platters heaped with tender roasted halal lamb, goat, beef and salmon (a decidedly local adaptation, as Warsame said Somalis don’t typically eat much fish), green salad, and mountains of aromatic rice, accompanied by a whole, ripe banana…Our table’s conversation ranged from segregation and discrimination to favorite local ethnic eating spots to the Somali civil war and the Drumpf “travel ban.”
A Kent café connects diners to local refugees: As Trump seeks to close the door to outsiders, a new culinary training café for immigrants and refugees opens its doors to the public.
Mar 16, 2017
“Food is a way to bring people together,” Veena Prasad says. “We could use so much more of that these days, even in liberal Seattle.” Adds former Project Feast trainee Sheelan Shamdeen, who arrived in Des Moines in 1996 as a refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan (and is now a U.S. citizen): “These are scary times. But we’re all just human beings. Hopefully the café will help everyone to see that.”
Mar 16, 2017
“Food is a way to bring people together,” Veena Prasad says. “We could use so much more of that these days, even in liberal Seattle.” Adds former Project Feast trainee Sheelan Shamdeen, who arrived in Des Moines in 1996 as a refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan (and is now a U.S. citizen): “These are scary times. But we’re all just human beings. Hopefully the café will help everyone to see that.”
Refugees feed Seattle at the new Ubuntu Street Café
Mar 13, 2017
“For years, the non-profit Project Feast has trained refugees and immigrants in kitchen skills to help them find jobs in their new home, and now they have a venue in which to demonstrate their new knowledge to the public.”
Mar 13, 2017
“For years, the non-profit Project Feast has trained refugees and immigrants in kitchen skills to help them find jobs in their new home, and now they have a venue in which to demonstrate their new knowledge to the public.”
Project Feast helps immigrants and refugees achieve American dream one meal at a time
March 1, 2017
This Kent kitchen where a handful of cooks are kneading, chopping and sautéing is a true melting pot.
March 1, 2017
This Kent kitchen where a handful of cooks are kneading, chopping and sautéing is a true melting pot.
The apprentices: Project Feast’s Culinary Apprenticeship Program helps immigrants open restaurants
Feb 8, 2017
“In light of everything that’s been going on,” she continues, meaning President Trump’s attempts to radically alter U.S. immigration policy, “it helps me feel not quite so helpless, and like maybe in some small way we’re actually trying to make a positive difference for people.”
Feb 8, 2017
“In light of everything that’s been going on,” she continues, meaning President Trump’s attempts to radically alter U.S. immigration policy, “it helps me feel not quite so helpless, and like maybe in some small way we’re actually trying to make a positive difference for people.”
‘Migrating Meals’ encourages difficult conversations, one delicious dinner at a time
Sept 8, 2016
We are living in a moment that demands difficult conversations. Issues like racism, xenophobia and gender discrimination may dominate headlines, but many of us struggle for the language or opportunity to talk about any of it face-to-face. But a new program, developed by Project Feast, an organization that helps immigrants and refugees find sustainable employment in the food industry, hopes to help — one delicious meal at a time…“So much of how people create their world views is around the table. It’s that family foundation of eating together,” says Payne. “So we’re bringing it back to that space of learning and sharing and creating.”
Sept 8, 2016
We are living in a moment that demands difficult conversations. Issues like racism, xenophobia and gender discrimination may dominate headlines, but many of us struggle for the language or opportunity to talk about any of it face-to-face. But a new program, developed by Project Feast, an organization that helps immigrants and refugees find sustainable employment in the food industry, hopes to help — one delicious meal at a time…“So much of how people create their world views is around the table. It’s that family foundation of eating together,” says Payne. “So we’re bringing it back to that space of learning and sharing and creating.”
Beyond Philanthrophy – Social Venture Partners Impact Report
Aug 2016Project Feast: The Secret Ingredient is Purpose
Aug 2016Project Feast: The Secret Ingredient is Purpose
In Tukwila, Project Feast Helps Women Gain a Foothold Through Food
Oct 28, 2015
“It changed my whole life,” says Ibrahim, who arrived in the U.S. in 2013. “I told Veena I was like a broken woman because of what we’ve been through, country to country. Family issues, dramatic issues, all this makes me lost. But I found myself through Project Feast. I trust myself I can do everything.“
Oct 28, 2015
“It changed my whole life,” says Ibrahim, who arrived in the U.S. in 2013. “I told Veena I was like a broken woman because of what we’ve been through, country to country. Family issues, dramatic issues, all this makes me lost. But I found myself through Project Feast. I trust myself I can do everything.“
Bringing an International Feast Home
July 20, 2015
“With a single mom at work and a grandmother missing both her legs, Susana Ramirez was seven years old when she was left in charge of caring for her younger siblings in Mexico City. Part of that responsibility was learning to cook, something she did begrudgingly. “My grandpa had to make a kind of ladder/stool so I would be tall enough to stir the pans,” she says, laughing.Now, nearly 35 years later, Ramirez’s family recipes run through her veins. She came to the U.S. in 1999 with the hope of a better future for her own kids, and it was her eldest daughter who urged the passionate home cook to sign up for a course in commercial kitchen basics at Tukwila’s Project Feast, a nonprofit organization offering kitchen job training for immigrants and refugees. Ramirez registered in the fall of 2014—with little confidence in her English abilities and no driver’s license— and has not looked back. “I was really nervous, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” she says. “This is my passion. I love it.
July 20, 2015
“With a single mom at work and a grandmother missing both her legs, Susana Ramirez was seven years old when she was left in charge of caring for her younger siblings in Mexico City. Part of that responsibility was learning to cook, something she did begrudgingly. “My grandpa had to make a kind of ladder/stool so I would be tall enough to stir the pans,” she says, laughing.Now, nearly 35 years later, Ramirez’s family recipes run through her veins. She came to the U.S. in 1999 with the hope of a better future for her own kids, and it was her eldest daughter who urged the passionate home cook to sign up for a course in commercial kitchen basics at Tukwila’s Project Feast, a nonprofit organization offering kitchen job training for immigrants and refugees. Ramirez registered in the fall of 2014—with little confidence in her English abilities and no driver’s license— and has not looked back. “I was really nervous, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” she says. “This is my passion. I love it.
Get Homeschooled
Dec 4, 2014
“Seattle’s Project Feast lets you work alongside refugees from countries such as Iraq and Burma, learning how to cook what they cook at home.”
Dec 4, 2014
“Seattle’s Project Feast lets you work alongside refugees from countries such as Iraq and Burma, learning how to cook what they cook at home.”
Thanksgiving Tamales? Biryani Stuffing? Immigrant Cooks Say Why Not?
Nov 26, 2014
“The Thanksgiving menu might seem static, but it’s changed a lot over the years. The Pilgrims brought eel. The Wampanoag brought venison. Caribbean cooks introduced sweet potatoes. And the French brought us pie crust.
So what might this most American feast look like in the future? The Record invited two cooks to the studio to propose some ways Seattle might mix up the Thanksgiving menu. They’re both graduates of Project Feast, a program at the Tukwila Community Center that teaches refugee and immigrant cooks the skills they need to work in commercial kitchens. “
Nov 26, 2014
“The Thanksgiving menu might seem static, but it’s changed a lot over the years. The Pilgrims brought eel. The Wampanoag brought venison. Caribbean cooks introduced sweet potatoes. And the French brought us pie crust.
So what might this most American feast look like in the future? The Record invited two cooks to the studio to propose some ways Seattle might mix up the Thanksgiving menu. They’re both graduates of Project Feast, a program at the Tukwila Community Center that teaches refugee and immigrant cooks the skills they need to work in commercial kitchens. “
Feast Masters: Immigrants train for Food Industry in Project Feast’s Kitchen in Tukwila
Nov 18, 2014
Students in Project Feast’s six-week Commercial Kitchen Basics Program are learning how to hold true to Mom’s recipe by getting it in writing so they can share it with others – or serve it at their own cafe someday.
Nov 18, 2014
Students in Project Feast’s six-week Commercial Kitchen Basics Program are learning how to hold true to Mom’s recipe by getting it in writing so they can share it with others – or serve it at their own cafe someday.
For Immigrants and Refugees, Project Feast makes Food, Work
Sept 16, 2014
“The mish-mash of cuisines tackled in the Feast program is a reflection of an increasingly diverse community in King County, where immigration is on the rise and the collective palette is expanding. “
Sept 16, 2014
“The mish-mash of cuisines tackled in the Feast program is a reflection of an increasingly diverse community in King County, where immigration is on the rise and the collective palette is expanding. “
Taste of Tukwila is City’s Chance to Taste Eritrean Coffee
Sept 14, 2014
“It may sound daunting to serve 400 sips of coffee to a big crowd. But the prospect doesn’t faze Zaid Kidane of Tukwila, who is providing just some of the tastes of the world at the Taste of Tukwila Friday, Sept. 19, at Foster High School.”
Sept 14, 2014
“It may sound daunting to serve 400 sips of coffee to a big crowd. But the prospect doesn’t faze Zaid Kidane of Tukwila, who is providing just some of the tastes of the world at the Taste of Tukwila Friday, Sept. 19, at Foster High School.”
How Project Feast prepares Immigrants and Refugees for Jobs in the Food Industry
June 23, 2014
“Beyond giving students a weekly opportunity to cook as a team and assert leadership, these sessions simulate the on-the-job work environment that many will soon encounter.”
June 23, 2014
“Beyond giving students a weekly opportunity to cook as a team and assert leadership, these sessions simulate the on-the-job work environment that many will soon encounter.”
Refugee Roundtable Radio Interview
April 14, 2014
“Food is such a great bridge builder. There is a lot of community building in just 2 hours of cooking class.”
April 14, 2014
“Food is such a great bridge builder. There is a lot of community building in just 2 hours of cooking class.”
Travel on Your Stomach in Classes Taught by Immigrant Cooks
April 4, 2014
“The program connects Seattleites hungry for ethnic cuisines they might not find in local restaurants with immigrants and refugees eager to gain experience in a professional setting.”
April 4, 2014
“The program connects Seattleites hungry for ethnic cuisines they might not find in local restaurants with immigrants and refugees eager to gain experience in a professional setting.”
Cooked up on Capitol Hill, Project Feast Breaks New Culinary Ground by Employing Refugees
Nov 29, 2013
“The mix of ingredients that created the nonprofit Project Feast were practically ready-made: a growing number of women refugees looking for work in a city whose residents have an insatiable hunger for culinary adventure and a soft spot for good causes. “
Nov 29, 2013
“The mix of ingredients that created the nonprofit Project Feast were practically ready-made: a growing number of women refugees looking for work in a city whose residents have an insatiable hunger for culinary adventure and a soft spot for good causes. “
Eating up benefits of Project Feast
July 28, 2013
“The aroma of fried dates, cardamom, curry, cumin, Ackawi cheese, rice and chicken had been swirling above the Iraqi dishes — some that the students had never smelled, tasted or heard of before — and they could hardly wait to eat it.”
July 28, 2013
“The aroma of fried dates, cardamom, curry, cumin, Ackawi cheese, rice and chicken had been swirling above the Iraqi dishes — some that the students had never smelled, tasted or heard of before — and they could hardly wait to eat it.”
Empowering Refugees through Food
May 22, 2013
“Washington State welcomes more than 2000 refugees every year. Many find it hard to get jobs even though they have work authorization. But a lot of them know how to cook great food and can share their culinary heritage. With the help of Project Feast, they can get the skills and confidence to work in restaurant or catering operation.”
May 22, 2013
“Washington State welcomes more than 2000 refugees every year. Many find it hard to get jobs even though they have work authorization. But a lot of them know how to cook great food and can share their culinary heritage. With the help of Project Feast, they can get the skills and confidence to work in restaurant or catering operation.”
