A pair of Syrians have created a community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war.
Founded in 2018 as a “humanitarian catering service," HummusTown was originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria.
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Customers enjoy hummus outside the HummusTown bistro in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Jumana Farho, from Syria, prepares Kunafa a traditional Syrian cake in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Shaza Saker, of Syria, right, serves hummus to customers outside the HummusTown bistro in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Jumana Farho, from Syria, prepares Kunafa a traditional Syrian cake in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Ruqaia Agha, a Palestinian woman from Ramla, prepares boxes of falafel in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Ruqaia Agha, a Palestinian woman from Ramla, prepares boxes of falafel in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Jumana Farho, from Syria, holds slices of bread as she works in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Ruqaia Agha, a Palestinian woman from Ramla, right, talks to Jumana Farho, from Syria, as they work in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Ruqaia Agha, a Palestinian woman from Ramla, works in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Ruqaia Agha, a Palestinian woman from Ramla, prepares falafel in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Ruqaia Agha, a Palestinian woman from Ramla, works in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A falafel wrapped in bread is warmed up at a HummusTown kiosk in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A menu is displayed outside a HummusTown kiosk in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
It has since grown into a successful small business that has shifted from sending remittances to helping new migrants integrate in Italy, all the while gaining a steady following on Rome’s gastronomic scene.
As the Syrian war continued to rage, Shaza Saker, a long-time U.N. employee living in Rome, and Joumana Farho, who was working as her cook, wanted to find a way to help people at home. Farho, 48, brought her "divine'' cooking, while Saker, 49, networked.
“I told her: ‘Let’s start inviting people over for dinner ... and whatever we make out of these dinners we’ll just send to Syria," Saker said. “My house had become a bit of, you know, a restaurant, a home restaurant. But it was fun. We felt useful.”
The non-profit that started with 45,000 euros ($48,670) raised through crowdfunding now employs 13 full-time and 10 part-time staff at its kitchen kiosk near Rome's train station and a small bistro, with plans to open a restaurant.
The expanded group now also organizes cooking classes, cultural events and summer aperitifs, as well as catering for events in the Italian capital.
Each month, they donate food to the homeless and last year they raised 40,000 euros for victims of the earthquakes that struck Syria on Feb. 6, 2023 with the loss of thousands of lives.
As more refugees arrived in Rome, the two shifted their focus to providing Syrian asylum-seekers with work and a support network, eventually expanding their mission to all vulnerable people, including Italians.
They include Mayyada al-Amrani, a Palestinian woman who fled Gaza with her eldest daughter, who is getting treatment for cancer. She spends her days rolling traditional spiced rice into grape leaves, working alongside four other cooks of Syrian and Palestinian origin. While she is able to earn money to help support herself and her daughter in Italy, she worries about her five other children back in Gaza, the youngest not yet 9 months old.
“They are surviving,'' she said. ”They struggle and suffer mostly from (lack of) water."
Fadi Salem, now HummusTown's manager, is a Syrian refugee from Damascus who arrived in Rome in 2022 after living in Lebanon for seven years. Salem discovered the humanitarian catering service through Rome’s Syrian community and said it gradually became a family for him.
“I found integration through HummusTown instead of finding it through the migration centers,'' he said. "Because from my position here I speak with many Italian and foreign clients, so I practice my Italian, English and Arabic every day,” he noted.
Customers enjoy hummus outside the HummusTown bistro in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Jumana Farho, from Syria, prepares Kunafa a traditional Syrian cake in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Shaza Saker, of Syria, right, serves hummus to customers outside the HummusTown bistro in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Jumana Farho, from Syria, prepares Kunafa a traditional Syrian cake in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Ruqaia Agha, a Palestinian woman from Ramla, prepares boxes of falafel in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Ruqaia Agha, a Palestinian woman from Ramla, prepares boxes of falafel in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Jumana Farho, from Syria, holds slices of bread as she works in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Ruqaia Agha, a Palestinian woman from Ramla, right, talks to Jumana Farho, from Syria, as they work in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Ruqaia Agha, a Palestinian woman from Ramla, works in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Ruqaia Agha, a Palestinian woman from Ramla, prepares falafel in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Ruqaia Agha, a Palestinian woman from Ramla, works in the HummusTown kitchen in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A falafel wrapped in bread is warmed up at a HummusTown kiosk in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A menu is displayed outside a HummusTown kiosk in Rome, Saturday, July 27, 2024. A pair of Syrians have created community that provides support to migrants and vulnerable people in Rome, by sharing the flavors of a homeland torn by civil war. Created in 2018 as a "humanitarian catering service," HummusTown originally aimed at raising funds for families and friends in Syria. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
