89 Norma Listman: We are definitely fighters. Choosing to work with food the way we do requires us to be fighters. The stakes are too high. We fight hard to be a restaurant that focuses on labor rights, food justice and social change. We fight to use our platform to create a better restaurant industry for all. Saqib Keval: Food has historically been used as one of the first weapons in colonization, control and state-sponsored systemic violence, but it is also an equally powerful tool of rebellion and resistance. Food has the unique ability to create spaces where we can gather, nourish and share. It's in those spaces that we can create change and spark resistance. There is a neo-liberal fallacy of bringing people together around a table, as if a shared meal can heal all wounds. It’s not enough to bring people to the table if they are not vested in each other’s wellbeing and humanity. As we see all too often in the world, food can be used as a weapon to steal someone’s identity, to steal their recipes and their history. To rebrand their recipes and resell them as your own. The table can become a map of that theft. One of the ways that we use food to create change is through using our kitchen to uplift little known stories and center the voices, experiences, resilience and dignity of the global south. We want people to know where the food comes from and why. Sometimes that narrative can challenge the diner’s understanding of the world. People expect that dining should always prioritize the comfort of the diner because they are the ones paying. But what happens when that diner does not care for the people cooking the food? Or the communities whose ingredients, recipes and histories they are consuming? Norma Listman: We know our restaurant isn't for everyone, and we recognize that it can make some people uncomfortable. We cook with our politics and our commitment to speaking truth to power. It’s in the food. Sometimes people don't like that, and we kindly welcome them to dine somewhere else.
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