Canada Day VIP Iftar with Mayor John Tory
Yesterday was an incredibly special night for the Newcomer Kitchen. Last week we were approached by Mohammad Al Zaibak with an invitation to prepare the meal for a VIP Canada Day Iftar hosted by Kirstine Stewart and Zaib Shaikh, with some of Toronto’s most distinguished guests, including Mayor John Tory. How could we say no?
With the super-human efforts of Cara Benjamin-Pace, together with the amazing Newcomer Kitchen cooks, Tolga & Murat of M&T Boutique Meals, Hiyam Samara of Akram’s Shoppe and Maria Abdelkader, we pulled together what many guests told us was “the best Iftar they ever had”. The ladies got a private audience with the Mayor, and our multi-talented co-ordinators, Esmaeel & Rahaf, ended the evening with a beautiful performance of traditional Syrian folk songs and original composition, “Thank You Canada”. I’m sure the applause could be heard around the block!
It was an incredible amount of work, undertaken by an amazingly tough and talented group of women – most of them fasting through the whole 3 days of preparation – all determined to raise the profile of the Newcomer Kitchen’s FundRarz campaign, and help us get this idea into any kitchen, in any city in the world.
