Thanks to an innovative culinary start-up incubator in Denver, Vian Alnidawi and her daughter Sara Nassr have teamed up to launch their own catering business. Recent refugees from the Syrian civil war, the mother-daughter duo are already making waves in the local food scene.
The two women established their company Zaki Mediterranean Cuisine after receiving training at a Denver culinary incubator called Comal Heritage Food Incubator. Based out of a local restaurant, the program provides shared space where culinary entrepreneurs can hone their skills and refine their business plans.
After immigrating to Colorado after fleeing Syria, Alnidawi and Nassr made the most of their time at Comal. The incubator offered a new community and helped launch their new career. While growing their business, the pair still makes time to give back to that community and help welcome other newcomers.
Comal Gives Vian Alnidawi and Sara Nassr a Community
Escaping the Syrian civil war via Turkey, Alnidawi and Nassr were resettled as refugees in Colorado in 2016. With limited English, the pair felt like outsiders. They had no community and limited opportunities.
Then-21 year old Nassr brought a tray of food cooked by her mother to Comal, sparking a process that would ultimately lead to a new family business. Mother and daughter were asked to join the eight month program at Comal with a class of 15 Latin American women, recruited from local neighborhoods.
Alongside another Syrian mother-daughter pair, the two helped Comal diversify its Latin-heavy menu with recipes from their homeland. Comal turned Fridays into popular Syrian and Mediterranean cuisine days. In the meantime, Alnidawi and Nassr developed new culinary and business skills and made new social connections in their community.
“Comal gave me a sense of home, and a better understanding of the community,” says Nassr.
Award-Winning Chef Teaches New Skills
As Alnidawi and Nassr found ways to form bridges in their community while learning new culinary skills, Comal distinguished itself as a top restaurant in the city. In fact, the incubator has been praised in Westword Magazine and Food & Wine.
The mother-daughter duo caught a break when internationally-acclaimed Israeli chef Alon Shaya discovered their cooking. Shaya first asked them to cook with him at the Food & Wine Festival in South Beach, Florida. Then he offered them a position on the staff at Safta, his Israeli-themed restaurant in Denver.
“It struck a chord with me,” the James Beard Award-winning Shaya says. “What these refugees go through and how they have found ways to become part of the Denver community, and not mask who they are.”
Vian Alnidawi and Sara Nassr Establish New Lives
Although their growing catering business takes up much of their time, Alnidawi and Nassr still find the hours to assist Comal. Nassr recalls the power that a good meal could have to change even the worst days. “Whatever bad things happened, it was all gone when I sat at the table with my family.”
As the founders of Zaki (“Tasty” in Arabic), Nassr and Alnidawi enjoy revising classic Syrian dishes. They incorporate new flavors they have learned from their new communities, including flourishes from Latin American and Turkish cuisine.
Experimenting and evolving suits the mother-daughter duo just fine. As Nassr says. “It makes me feel free. If I was just Syrian, Syrians would judge me by my choices or lifestyle. But nobody can tell me to do something, because I’m not completely from that place.”
