Sudanese entrepreneur Julie Samir’s dream of opening a restaurant has lastly come true, nevertheless it’s a bittersweet achievement after she fled to Egypt from her war-torn homeland of Sudan.
Now, Ms. Samir has one goal for her menu: profitable over the palate of Egyptians with a style of Sudan’s advanced culinary traditions, born from a wealthy historical past on the crossroads of the Center East and Africa.
“I am concentrating on the Egyptian shopper, I would like them to get to know Sudanese tradition,” the 42-year-old advised AFP from her sun-lit eatery in jap Cairo, the scent of simmering aromatics wafting out of the kitchen.
Throughout the sprawling megalopolis of Cairo — residence to over 20 million folks — many Sudanese refugees have opened companies, bringing a style of residence and hoping to make a reputation for themselves.
Ms. Samir and her two kids have been within the Egyptian capital for over a yr, since making the two,000-kilometre (round 1,200-mile) journey from their residence in Khartoum.
Together with half one million different Sudanese, they fled the conflict between Sudan’s common military and the paramilitary Fast Assist Forces to neighbouring Egypt — and set to work rebuilding a life.
Right now, on the lawns of one in every of Cairo’s upscale sporting golf equipment, Ms. Samir’s restaurant ‘Kush Kids’s Village’ serves up a fusion menu.
“The identify was my father’s concept, impressed by the Bible,” she stated, explaining the reference to Kush, the traditional kingdom that straddled modern-day Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.
Robust competitors
“We serve all three cuisines,” she stated proudly, however insisted the restaurant continues to be distinctly Sudanese.
“Everybody who works right here is from Sudan, all of us got here right here fleeing the conflict,” she stated, explaining how the workforce discovered one another by means of solidarity networks on social media.
Within the kitchen, 46-year-old chef Fadi Moufid fussed over pots and pans stewing quite a few the restaurant’s big range of dishes.
The previous caterer’s signature is agashe — skewered meat, hen or fish seasoned with a spicy peanut dry rub then barbequed low and gradual on glowing embers.
“Egyptians don’t love their meals as spicy as we do, so we attempt to tone it down to allow them to actually recognize it,” Mr. Moufid advised AFP over a bowl of zigni, a beef stew marinated in Ethiopian spices and served with injera, a spongy flatbread.
However cracking the Egyptian culinary scene is not any straightforward feat.
“Competitors wasn’t as massive in Sudan between meals companies, however right here it is large,” Mr. Moufid says, pointing notably to “giant Syrian eating places” based by diaspora entrepreneurs who additionally fled their war-torn homeland lately.
Standing out might be tough, however Mr. Moufid and Ms. Samir are slowly drawing in Egyptian palates.
“I appreciated the style of the spices and the way tender the meat is,” one in every of their Egyptian visitors, Khaled Abdelrahman, advised AFP.
“It has a special really feel to it,” he stated.
Within the suburb of Sheikh Zayed, west of Cairo, Sudanese confectioner Qussay Biram’s dessert store, “Jeeb Maak” — Arabic for “Carry Alongside” — sells deep-fried dough balls known as ‘luqaimat’.
They’re much like Egyptian ‘zalabia’, however nonetheless shock the Egyptians who step into the sweet-smelling retailer.
‘Eager for Sudan’
“They’re taken without warning as a result of we put extra salt within the dough than they’re used to,” one in every of his staff, Ziad Abdelhalim, advised AFP.
“It brings out a special style to the sweetness,” he stated whereas serving clients a steaming cup of conventional cardamom-spiced milk tea — additionally novel to most Egyptians.
The enterprise mannequin is clearly working, with ‘Jeeb Maak’ now boasting three branches throughout Cairo.
However Mr. Biram says it hardly makes up for what he left behind.
At 29, the entrepreneur believes he’ll possible by no means return to Sudan and that the companies he “closed due to the conflict” again residence are gone ceaselessly.
In a bit over a yr, already impoverished Sudan has been torn aside. The conflict has killed tens of 1000’s of individuals, pushed near 9 million from their properties and introduced the nation to the brink of famine.
“Even when issues settle down, there will not be many enterprise alternatives,” he stated, resolute in his plan to “see this expertise in Egypt by means of”.
Ms. Samir, who stated her household was stalked by paramilitary fighters when fleeing Sudan, had deliberate to spend solely a month in Egypt.
“However the conflict’s not ending,” she stated, resigned to discovering methods to remind herself of the homeland she longs for.
“I wish to rent a henna artist within the restaurant, I do know Egyptians love that,” she stated with amusing.
