YUM: A Taste of Immigrant City Celebrates Immigrant-Owned Restaurants in Somerville
YUM: A Taste of Immigrant City Celebrates Immigrant-Owned Restaurants in Somerville
With more than 500 people already savoring a “Taste of Immigrant City” with their YUM restaurant cards, The Welcome Project is preparing to feed the growing appetite for global flavors in Somerville as it prepares new YUM programming for the new year.
The $10 YUM restaurant card, which premired in February, offers 10% off food orders at 12 immigrant-run restaurants across Somerville. It was designed to help promote local businesses, highlight the many contributions of immigrants in our city, and also raise important funds to support The Welcome Project programs for immigrant families.
“I'm so sure that this card is helpful for [Somerville’s immigrant-run] restaurants if we target the right people,” Bundit Katekaew from Ronnarong Thai Tapas Bar said. “I love the discount and I think everybody loves it as well, but some people still don't have information about the YUM card.”
So, help us spread the word: use your YUM card and let your friends know what the program’s all about!
Also, don’t forget that the 2011 YUM restaurant card will premiere in the beginning of January with many of the same restaurants, and perhaps a couple of new surprises. Keep an eye out for the card’s release to find out what other restaurants and cuisines you can enjoy on your tour of the world’s flavors right here in your hometown.
April’s YUM celebration and fundraiser at the Arts at the Armory was a great success, bringing many participating restaurants together under one roof to be enjoyed with a variety of cultural performances. Guests savored the global cuisines of Amelia’s Kitchen (Italian), Café Belô (Brazilian), Fasika (Ethiopian), Highland Creole Cuisine (Haitian), House of Tibet Kitchen (Tibetan), Machu Picchu Charcoal Chicken & Grill (Peruvian), Maya Sol (Mexican), Namaskar (Indian), Neighborhood Restaurant & Bakery (Portuguese), Restaurante Turístico Machu Picchu (Peruvian), Ronnarong Thai Tapas Bar (Thai), and Sabur (Mediterranean).
The evening also showcased a number of local performance groups. Yarina, an Ecuadorean band and dance group who was awarded “Be
st World Music Recording” at the 2005 Native American Music Awards and “Best Folk Music Recording”at the 2005 Indian Summer Music Awards, headlined the event. Two members of the band also worked with the Welcome Project’s language interpretation training program, LIPS, throughout their high school careers. A performance by the Greater Boston Nepali Youth Group featured a traditional Nepali dance. La Salsa, a Tufts University dance group, also performed.
A Tufts University class taught by Jennifer Burtner produced an exhibit of photographs and artifacts, such as refrigerator magnets and pins, of and from the restaurants that was on display throughout the evening. The class interviewed restaurant owners, took photographs, and video. They even produced a blog.
Speeches by Warren Goldstein-Gelb, Executive Director of the Welcome Project and Dr. Jennifer Burtner from Tufts University reminded us how the partnership around Immigrant City: Then and Now in 2007 grew into a cultural restaurant mapping project in Dr. Burtner’s 2008 anthropology class and blossomed into a Somerville success with hundreds of participants eager to explore the flavors of the world right in their own backyard. Of course, bilingual high school students trained as interpreters through the Welcome Project’s LIPS program provided interpretation.
Press coverage of the evening included the Boston Globe, Wicked Local Somerville with two different articles, the Examiner which had multiple pieces, and the YUM Immigrant City blog which includes a slideshow of pictures taken during the event.
Planning for next year’s YUM fundraising event is beginning now! If you are interested in participating in the planning committee, contact Warren Goldstein-Gelb at warren@welcomeproject.org and help coordinate another evening of food, fun, and festivities.