Feasting on Peace: Refugees, Food, and Community Building with Ross Carper

Send us a text

What happens when refugees share their culinary heritage with a new community? The story of Feast World Kitchen reveals something extraordinary about the power of food to transform lives.

Ross Carper didn't set out to launch a nonprofit restaurant. His journey began with a food truck side hustle and volunteer work helping refugee families navigate life in Spokane, Washington. When these worlds collided, he discovered how sharing meals created deep connections and support. That insight sparked a vision: a restaurant where refugee and immigrant chefs could earn income, build skills, and share their cultural heritage.

Today, Feast World Kitchen hosts a different chef family each day, all from refugee or immigrant backgrounds. They prepare authentic dishes from Afghanistan, Syria, Venezuela, Sudan, Burma, and dozens of other countries. For customers, it's a delicious culinary adventure. For the chefs, it's transformative – they might earn $2,000 in a single day, develop entrepreneurial skills, and forge meaningful connections in their new community.

Beyond the restaurant, Feast operates a drop-in program helping newcomers navigate housing, healthcare, employment, and other essentials. Community health workers, many former refugees themselves, provide culturally sensitive support. The result is a comprehensive approach to refugee resettlement built around food and hospitality.

In an era of increasing hostility toward immigrants, Feast demonstrates a radically different approach – what Carper calls being "pro-human." Their model replaces traditional charity dynamics with mutual hospitality, recognizing that refugees bring valuable skills, knowledge, and cultural gifts. Through something as simple as sharing food, they're building bridges in a divided society and showing what's possible when we welcome the stranger.

Hungry for a different way of thinking about food, community, and immigration? This conversation will leave you inspired – and probably craving international cuisine.

Episode Transcript

Chris Nafis (00:00):
Hey and welcome back to the Current.
This is Pastor Chris Nafis, andtoday I am happy to have Ross
Carper on the podcast with me.
He's a friend that I met in mypeacemaking training cohort
where we went to NorthernIreland.
He's also the co-founder andco-director of Feast World
Kitchen in Spokane, washington.
I'll let him share the detailsabout what they do.
They operate a restaurant andcatering service where they

(00:22):
empower refugees to share theirfood with Spokane and with the
world, to develop someentrepreneurial skills and do a
whole host of other things.
You'll hear all about it if youstay tuned to the episode here.
It is Well, hey, ross, thankyou for taking the time to come

(00:55):
and talk to me about all theamazing stuff you're doing with
Feast World Kitchen.
Appreciate you being here.

Ross Carper (00:59):
Absolutely Glad to be here.

Chris Nafis (01:01):
So we met on our trip to Northern Ireland.
Absolutely Glad to be here.
So we met on our trip toNorthern Ireland.
Some of our folks knowsomething about the trip that I
went on the peacemaking trainingthat we did together and I
really love the project that youkind of have like been
investing yourself in for howmany?

Ross Carper (01:17):
how many years now?
Six years plus, yeah, six and ahalf.

Chris Nafis (01:21):
Six and a half years.
It's a long time and, uh yeah,feast world kitchen.
So for people that have like noidea what that is, could you
just like like.
What do you?
What do you all do?

Ross Carper (01:31):
absolutely, uh, we are a restaurant and catering
company in spokane, washington,uh, but the thing that makes us
unique is that we're also anon-profit, that we have a
different chef family every day,and they a hundred percent of
them are people who came to theU?
S as refugees or immigrants ofsome sort, and so it's all

(01:54):
international food.
And the people in our programs,uh, in our chef program, are
going through job skills,english language skills, career
skills, small businessincubation, all these different
programming things that we do inorder for them to, you know,
take the next step, whateverthat might be, here in the US,
as they're building their liveshere.

(02:14):
Many of the folks we work withhad to flee really difficult
circumstances like war, famine,violence of some kind, and so
they're often, you know, kind ofstarting from scratch or have
started from scratch over thepast several years and are just

(02:35):
building their lives here in theUS.
And we also have a drop-inprogram.
So we're a restaurant where wedo full service.
You know, there's a bunch oftables in the restaurant and
people can come in from thegeneral public and just order
food like any other restaurant,but the difference is there's
always a couple of tables thatare reserved for our drop-in
program and that's where youknow we're always meeting with

(02:56):
folks from those former refugeeand immigrant communities to,
you know, help them navigatelife.
A lot of times we're working onhousing jobs, english language
programs, finding healthcare,really just community resource
navigation and care, and thecommunity health workers that
work in that program are severalof them have lived experience

(03:20):
as former refugees andimmigrants themselves and speak
those languages.
So there's overlap betweenthose two things the drop-in
program and the chef program.
But basically it's a spacewhere we're always, every single
day, there's delicious foodfrom around the world being
cooked and the family thatcooked that food makes a pile of
money that day that they use inaddition to the other training

(03:43):
and programming, to build theirlives or their businesses or go
back to school or whatever it is.
And then, yeah, then there'sall kinds of other navigation
and support going on and what itreally is, you know it boils
down to, is it's a network ofsupportive friendships around
food.

Chris Nafis (04:02):
Yeah, that's so cool.
So, like the everything is kindof like the restaurant is like
this hub for all these differentlike branches of things that
are happening, including likehow the food gets prepared and
and then the people who evensome of the people who eat the
food.
So if you're just coming infrom the outside, you're just
like you're going to arestaurant and you get to eat
some delicious food, but then inthe background, so like you

(04:23):
said, there's a different chefevery day.

Ross Carper (04:30):
Do they have like a day of the week, or is it
literally like 365 days, 365chefs, or how does that work?
No, that's a good question.
We have usually about maybe 30or so who are active at that
stage of the program wherethey're featured in the
restaurant as a chef.
So they usually cook every likesix weeks or so.
We're open Wednesday throughSunday for lunch and dinner, so
yeah, it's kind of a rotation.
They'll cook maybe 12 to 25times as a featured chef in the

(04:53):
restaurant before graduatinginto the next stage.
Yeah, and oftentimes they'rejust launching their own
business, whether that's arestaurant.
That that's pretty rare becauserestaurants are really
difficult and expensive andrisky and all those things.
But we have had a few do that.
But many of them launchcatering and pop-up events
businesses, uh, that theycontinue to grow as like a side

(05:17):
hustle income to continue to tomake extra money.
Yeah, cause, uh, life isexpensive here in the U S, so I
don't know if you've noticedthat.

Chris Nafis (05:27):
Yeah, Uh, I, I, I have noticed.
Um, yes, yeah, so do they?
Are they when they come in andcook?
Are they cooking Like, do theymake their own menu?
You know what I mean or do youguys have like a standard menu
that they come in and learn?

Ross Carper (05:41):
They come.

Chris Nafis (05:42):
They're like, we're gonna cook these foods probably
from, like, wherever they'refrom, and yeah, could you maybe
say a little more about that?

Ross Carper (05:50):
yeah, absolutely so .
They love.
I mean it's it's a point ofpride for for everyone to share
a little bit of who they are,where they're from, and food is
the way that.
You know our chefs do that andyou know a lot.
A lot of people love to do that, you know, even if it's
regional, like, oh, I'm from the.
You know a lot of people loveto do that.
You know, even if it's regionallike, oh, I'm from the South,
you know, I do this amazingbarbecue or whatever, like we do

(06:11):
that here.
But people have a ton of pridein the food that they bring from
their home culture and so we dowork with them to build their
own menu and we sort ofencourage them like you know,
what would you cook if it was,like your daughter's wedding
back in you know Sudan orsomething?
And so that helps spark that,the creativity for them to

(06:32):
really share the best of theirhome culture and what they're
good at cooking.
And usually it's a pretty smallmenu.
You know we have maybe a coupleappetizers, a couple entrees,
one of which will be vegan, oneof which will be gluten-free,
maybe a couple of desserts,maybe they have a special drink
or tea or something that theylike to share, and that's it.
And so you walk in and the menuhas.

(06:54):
You know, here's the eightthings from Afghanistan that you
could try today, and the familyis excited to cook that.
And there's some friendlycompetition.
You know, like, who has thebest shawarma from the middle
East?
You know who has the best uh,samosas or sambusas, or you know
.
So there's hopefully, you know,usually it doesn't get too too

(07:15):
heated that competition butpeople actually yeah no, I mean
the opposite.
you know, uh, a lot of timespeople are helping one another
out where, if it, you know, ifit's not your day cooking, you
might have, you know, arelationship with an other chef
through the program and you'rejumping in, uh, to be sort of a

(07:37):
support staff person for themthat day.
So it's, it's pretty cool howthat network works, yeah.

Chris Nafis (07:43):
Yeah, and they're like getting to see kind of how
a restaurant runs here in the usand you know, learning all
these entrepreneurial skills andthinking creatively and uh, and
then getting some yeah likemaybe even mastering some
recipes, maybe that they coulduse for catering or wherever
else absolutely.

Ross Carper (07:59):
Yep, yeah, all of the above, that's right, and
some of them owned restaurantsback in, you know in there.

Chris Nafis (08:05):
Yeah, they know what they're doing.
Yeah.

Ross Carper (08:06):
Yeah, and, but the regulatory environment is
different and you know theaccess to ingredients is
different.
So you were just, we just helpthem navigate those things so
that they can get what they needto have a successful day.

Chris Nafis (08:20):
Yeah, I love it and I'm sure you get to eat a lot
of delicious food Like, like, doyou eat there every day?

Ross Carper (08:26):
Oh man, I mean, it's tough because I often I
don't want to be rude, you know,but sometimes I feel guilty
about it.
Honestly, chris, we know eachother well enough that you know
I have that, you know, a littlebit of that Catholic upbringing
guilt in my veins.
Know a little bit of thatCatholic upbringing guilt in my

(08:48):
veins.
But, you know, oftentimes I'mlike tapping away on my computer
.
I'm on my back porch at homeright now, which is about 10
blocks away from the restaurant,and so I'm often just doing
whatever paperwork permitsfundraising, like you know,
nonprofit management stuff and Ido work in the restaurant a few
hours a week, for sure.
But, um, and at the beginning Iwas, you know, myself and the

(09:08):
other people who started thiswere in there all the time, and
not even you know getting paidor anything.
Sometimes I'll sneak in thereto like grab a checkbook or
something, and then it's likeyou know, someone, one of our
chefs, is like oh, here's thisgiant plate of food, like I
really want you to try this, andand so, yeah, I have to watch
myself or else I'll just gain aton of weight, because it really

(09:29):
is, you know it's, it'sfantastic, and, and that's one
of the one of the perks, forsure, of working at Feast.

Chris Nafis (09:37):
Well, so you co-founded this, right?
Um, how?
How did you come up with theidea for like this project and
like?
How did it?
How did it start out?
You know cause?
You tell the story a little bit.

Ross Carper (09:50):
Yeah, and you can cut me off anytime because I I
can get launched on this one andsometimes people are like
falling asleep when I'm tellingthe story, so I'll try to make
it the brief version, but it'sreally, it's a real like
expression of this neighborhood.
So I used to work at FirstPresbyterian Church, which is
kind of one of the most historicProtestant churches in Spokane,

(10:15):
and that place has been that's.
I attend there, I'm a part ofthat community.
But I used to work there inyouth ministry and then, after
you know this was maybe almost10 years ago I decided to move
into a role they had posted ajob in, more like community
engagement, like helping connectthe church with the community,
particularly marginalizedmembers of our community service

(10:38):
.
You know, conversations aboutsocial justice, discussion
forums, connectedness withnonprofits who we really overlap
missionally with, and I lovethat kind of work and sort of in
the missional space.
And that was a halftime job.
So what I did was I figured, ohyeah, of course I'll start a

(11:01):
breakfast food truck to make theother half of my living workout
, which when I thought of thatidea I thought it was going to
be a lot easier than it actuallywas.

Chris Nafis (11:12):
But just like a regular, just like you were
running the food truck sellingthe food, just a side gig for
yourself.

Ross Carper (11:19):
Yeah, so I did.
I started this.
It was called the compassbreakfast wagon and it was a
breakfast food truck and Ioperated it here.
In started this.
It was called the CompassBreakfast Wagon and it was a
breakfast food truck and Ioperated it here in the
neighborhood.
So when I say the neighborhood,I mean the lower South Hill of
Spokane, which means nothing tomost of the people listening to
this, I'm sure.
But yeah, it's a pretty centralarea in our city.
Spokane is not the most diverseplace in the world but this

(11:41):
neighborhood has a lot ofdiversity in it because there's
a lot of kind of older, somewhatrun down apartment complexes or
old kind of mansions that arecut up into a bunch of
apartments in the neighborhoodand a fair amount of those
apartments are where folks whocame here as refugees have their

(12:03):
first place.
Some of the landlords connectwith those resettlement agencies
and my job at the churchactually my favorite and one of
the bigger parts of my job wasat that time forming teams of
volunteers that can help welcomethose families to the
neighborhood and to our city andto the US and just help with
navigation stuff.
Everyone has a caseworker ifthey come here through the

(12:24):
refugee program, but thosecaseworkers are overloaded and
there's a specific list ofthings that they're supposed to
work on.
But you know, families need alot more support than that.
You know, just looking at thepapers that come home from your
kid's school is is reallydifficult, like I'm.
I try to imagine myself doingthat if those papers were

(12:45):
written in, you know, dari orPersian or something you know,
and it's just like what do yourecycle and what is really
important?
You know, yeah, that's wherethose volunteer teams come in.
And so at that time again, thisis like 10 years ago I'm in
this position where I'm runningthis food truck in the

(13:05):
neighborhood on the weekends andduring the week.
My job is to connect, you know,and part of my job is to
connect volunteers, you know,who want to be about that
Matthew 25 marching order ofwhen I was a stranger.
You welcomed me and I thinkthat in our world it's like a
really pertinent call,particularly on my life.

(13:29):
You know, from my faithperspective, that gives me
something to do, you know,because we have more displaced
people in the world than anytime in recorded history and you
know, sadly that number hascontinued to expand since, you
know, in those years hugely.
So I'm doing this work, you know, with these teams of volunteers

(13:49):
and I'm being a foodentrepreneur on the other side,
and then those worlds kind ofcollided in a bunch of ways.
You know, in part because thesevolunteer teams that I was a
part of, we would be sitting inpeople's apartments and hanging
out, and then you know it's like, yeah, it's like food would
start coming out of the kitchen,usually about two hours into

(14:11):
the gathering, where theAmericans are like, oh, time to
go home.
You know, because they have alittle bit of a.
Americans usually have a littleshorter of a social clock than
a lot of folks from around theworld who tend to linger in
community a little bit longer.
That's when the food wouldstart coming out of the kitchen.
And then everyone's like, well,okay, they made this incredible

(14:31):
meal, we're going to stay.
And then it kind of is likethat's where friendships start
happening.
It's not just, hey, we'rehelping you fill out some
paperwork or get a practice foryour driver's license test or
something, it's more sittingaround and really connecting
over food.
And that idea led to and I won'ttell the whole story because

(14:54):
it's too long, but that was partof our origin story with Beast
World Kitchen is that washappening a lot, and then people
were asking me how they couldstart a small food business.
Many of these families alreadywere running small food
businesses out of theirapartments, you know, like
selling 20 plates of food on aSaturday night to students from

(15:14):
Saudi Arabia who really wantedsomething that tasted like home
but were here at the universitynearby, you know.
So these are, you know, kind ofunder the radar food businesses
, that.
But for people who wanted toscale it up and do it legally,
with commercial kitchens andstuff, they often, you know,
were asking how I navigated allthat with my food truck and and

(15:34):
so those conversations, yeah,just led to this idea of having
a commercial kitchen that wouldbe a shared cooperative space
and a nonprofit, where it couldbe like this hub where people
can cook and earn significantincome, sharing food from their
home culture, and that thatwould be a chance for more to

(15:59):
happen there too.
So this really old, reallyterrible condition restaurant
came up for sale across thestreet from my church in early
2019.
And, yeah, a bunch of us in theneighborhood and in the church
were like, hey, you know,someone should really start
something like this andthroughout 2019, that someone

(16:21):
should start this kind of became.
Well, maybe we should startthat.
And by the you know, by thegrace of God, I have no idea how
this happened, but we pitched,we, you know, we formed a 501c3.
A lot of our board members arestill with us from that original
board.
Some of them look like me andare from Spokane, washington,

(16:41):
born and raised, and others areformer refugees themselves from
all over the world, but reallyall of our original board is
from the neighborhood.
You know, from a few from mychurch and a few people of
different faiths and differentethnicities and backgrounds who
just came together and startedrefining this idea.
And we pitched it to the churchto see if they would be

(17:03):
interested in buying thatrestaurant building and renting
it to this newly formednonprofit Cause yeah, we didn't
have any way to get a mortgageor something and, to my eternal
surprise, they actually said yes.
So that's that's kind of to makea long story kind of long.
That's how that came together.

(17:26):
And my co-director, maisa,she's from Jordan and so she was
doing some catering and doingsome food business and she lived
two blocks away from where Iwas operating my food truck and
another neighbor was doing thispop-up curry business across the

(17:46):
street from that.
So within this two-block radiuson the lower South Hill in
Spokane, the three of us werethe core of those people who
really had a desire to supportour neighbors who came here from
around the world and are tryingto get their lives set up and
working really hard to do that,and who are into food and and

(18:07):
bringing community togetheraround food and and that was
kind of the core team as wecontinued to get going and, yeah
, we did a Kickstarter and endof 2019.
And then, and then after, yeah,right at the end of 2019, we
did our first catering and thenwhich?

Chris Nafis (18:26):
is the perfect time to start a restaurant right at
the beginning of 2020 right yeah, especially a catering company
yeah, catering company largeevents yeah, gotta have really
big events.

Ross Carper (18:38):
um, so, yeah, in march all of the catering
business went away and wepivoted quickly to pop you just
take out, you know, like one westarted with one night a week
and it was like no contact.
Take out, you know, we were alllike hazmat suit, like you know,
masked up, bringing food outand putting in people's trunks

(18:59):
of their cars and stuff duringearly COVID time and, to be
honest, like we, we sold a lotof food during that time because
takeout was like the only funthing you could do and people
were really excited to like, youknow, to do something at home.
That was like supporting thecommunity.
And, um, we would make theselittle sheets and we still do,

(19:20):
but at the time we would makelittle sheets with like QR codes
or like links to YouTube videoswhere people can like listen to
the music of that culture whilethey're having the meal, and
here's a little paragraph aboutthe family and what they when
they arrived and what they're upto.
And so it became a communitybuilder, even during that time
when we could hardly be together.

(19:41):
But that actually gave us thetime to remodel the dining room
anyways, because we, you know,we had gutted it.
We weren't ready to havecustomers inside there anyways,
whether it was COVID or not.
So so yeah, we went from onenight a week to like two nights
a week and then maybe and thenthree, and then we added some
lunches and then we built outthat fall a patio dining area so

(20:06):
people could like come andactually eat and kind of open
air outside.
So and then now we're, yeah,open five days a week with
interior and exterior dining,and we cater probably like five
to ten events per week as well.

Chris Nafis (20:15):
So, yeah, it's crazy times yeah and yeah, I
mean you said about six yearsand you know, through the
pandemic and you've got thisreally beautiful thing happening
now.

Ross Carper (20:28):
Every culture has feasts, you know every religion,
every faith has, like you know,the feast of St, whatever, or

(20:50):
like it's a wedding feast, oryou know it's like there's it's
just a word that does crosscultures and and it implies
celebration and abundance, andso we just thought that that
that would be a word thatembodies some of what we're
trying to do.

Chris Nafis (21:06):
Yeah, and you may.
I mean, you've mentioned people.
You've mentioned people groupsfrom like many different places
already just in this like littleconversation how many?
I don't really know the refugeekind of culture there in
Spokane, but like how, how many?
Where are people from?
You know what I mean, likewhat's the, what are the
demographics I guess of?

(21:26):
Uh, yeah, your area.

Ross Carper (21:29):
Yeah, so I think we've worked with people from
about 40 different countries.
Hey, um, of those 160 families,we've covered maybe a little
over 40 countries.
And you know, primarily itreally it really it just depends
again, like sadly, on whatdepends on what's going on in
the world.
And people are really on themove.

(21:51):
You know, since we, since westarted Feast, more and more
people have been displaced byviolence.
You know, afghanistan fell tothe Taliban and hundreds of
Afghan folks ended up, throughdifferent government programs,
ended up in Sp Spokane and manyother places.
And, of course, russia invadedUkraine.
So we have a lot of Ukrainianswho came a few years ago because

(22:12):
of that.
And these are people we knowthat we wouldn't know if they
hadn't experienced that traumaof being forced to flee because
it just wasn't safe, because itjust wasn't safe.
But you know, other refugeesare like people from Iraq who
worked with the US forces there,you know, in some capacity, so
it wasn't safe for them to stay.

(22:32):
Or the situation in Darfur,sudan, has become the worst
humanitarian crisis again in theworld.
You know, just like it was inthe early part of this century,
and so we've had a lot of folksfrom that area who have come
here, but, yeah, syria, ofcourse, and then definitely,
like South and Central America,venezuela, colombia, el Salvador

(22:55):
, you know we have folks fromall over the place.
And then some folks came asimmigrants of another sort, you
know, not necessarily throughthe refugee resettlement program
, and so we've had folks frommany, many other places who came
here through some means and arebuilding their lives here in
the US.

(23:15):
So, yeah, we've the populationshave really kind of ebbed and
flowed based on those worldevents, but, yeah, we're
thankful to know all of them.
You know it's it's a joy to getto know people from around the
world and and again, like Feastis not necessarily a Christian
nonprofit, but that wascertainly my motivation and and

(23:36):
there's a lot of folks on our,you know, on our board or in our
volunteer base or customer basewho you know, who support
because of a desire to live outthat, that calling that I
mentioned, um, that is allthroughout scripture, but it's
just, it feels like now is thetime, um, and it felt like this
at the time too, it felt likeimmigrants in the U?

(23:58):
S and in our community werebeing targeted by folks who want
to instill fear or narrativesabout them, racism being a big
part of that.
And yeah, you know, it justfelt like we need, we need a
positive space to to createcommunity that crosses those
cultural boundaries.

(24:19):
And food is kind of thatultimate, like the thing that
brings people together more thanmore than most things, you know
.
So, so there's somethingpowerful about food, you know.
It's like the.
Sometimes we say like the tableis the ultimate playing level
playing field.
You know it's like we're all,we're all together, like the
table is the ultimate playinglevel playing field.
You know it's like we're all,we're all together around the
table, kind of like thoseoriginal, you know like

(24:40):
volunteer groups that I wasworking with.
You know we're helping, we'redoing, you know we're serving,
you know we're volunteering.

Chris Nafis (24:47):
And then it kind of transitions into something
deeper when you get around thetable with folks yeah, like make
space, it's like this sensoryexperience and it's like a yeah,
there's food is so deeply tiedto like kind of culture and
language and like place, youknow, and so, yeah, there's like
that sharing that happens overa meal.

(25:07):
That's goes.
I feel like it really goesbeyond words.
You know what I mean.
Like you get you get this likefull-on, embodied experience of
like experiencing somethingtogether, but then also like
something that someone made andalso someone grew, and something
you know what I mean.
Like all the steps that bringthings to the table are like so
much of like what make, and thenit's literally the food is what

(25:28):
makes us who we are Right.
So, yeah, I love it.

Ross Carper (25:32):
Yeah, we talk about mutual hospitality.
Yeah, I love it.
Yeah, we talk about mutualhospitality.

(25:52):
That's one of our organization'svalues is yes, like you know,
people who look like me, who areinvolved with us, we want to
extend hospitality to the UnitedStates, and with all the warmth
and love and friendliness andsupport that we can, but in our
space, we're also like I am arecipient of hospitality right,
um, all the time there, and it'sand it's this mutuality of of
we're supporting one another,you know, and helping each other
out and I receive a lot in thatwork as well and and so that's
how we want it to feel is that asense of mutual, uh, working

(26:13):
working side by side with withone another to help each other
take the next steps.
You know, for me it might betaking new steps in education
and learning about differentcultures, or facing some biases
that I might have, or, or, youknow, learning about food, or
learning how to cook somedifferent types of food, or
whatever it is, um, but, uh, forothers, it's a step of, like
learning how to navigate and andsupport their family and in

(26:37):
this environment.
So, yeah, it's uh, yeah, it'spretty fun.

Chris Nafis (26:42):
Well, I love the entrepreneurial model of it
because there's like, yeah, likethat dual hospitality thing I
mean for, uh, at our church,that's been an important thing
for us to you know.
As you know, we have a lot offolks on the street and there
are people that are often mostof the world just looks at and
thinks they have nothing tooffer the world.
But when you invite people into share their gifts and their

(27:03):
giftedness, which everybody has,um, there's something so like
empowering about that anddignifying and like the, the
ways that we can serve togetherand not just be like have this
charity, sort of dynamic of likewe give you everything, but
like when it's a, when it's moremutual and relational, there's
the back and forth, like there'sso much more potential for

(27:26):
meaningful, deep relationshipsto form and and for people to,
yeah, like you said, meet eachother on the level playing field
of the table, like I love.
I love how you put that, and Ialso think there's something
about the way that are like.
The kind of the job culture ofthe United States is so like

(27:46):
corporate now that everybody'sexpected to just kind of like
fit in and get a job working atMcDonald's or Walmart or you
know what I mean, and you kindof have this like huge
organization that doeseverything, these certain ways,
and you just kind of fit intothis slot and you do the job
expected of you.
But when you're doing likeentrepreneurial work which, like

(28:10):
you're doing and you've didbefore, you even started this
program, you know my Rachel, mywife is, you know, started and
runs a small business.
We even started this program.
You know my rachel, my wife is,you know, started and runs a
small business.
We planted a church.
You know you just kind ofthere's this like autonomy in it
that it's hard to describe.
It's like a responsibility anda weight that you always carry.
But there's also, like thisinherent like freedom in it that

(28:31):
um is so good.
You know what I mean like, haveyou seen that with the folks
Like, are they and you can kindof create your own way?
And maybe people that wouldn'tfit so well in the corporate
culture of wherever like they,can make their own way where,
like this, this like thing thatoffers you a living, it matches

(28:51):
your gifts and your time andyour rhythms.
And you know what I mean Isthat are you, am I imposing
things, or do you?
Are you seeing this too in whatyou're doing?

Ross Carper (28:59):
Oh, absolutely yeah , being an entrepreneur, you
know, starting a business orsome sort of like
self-employment income, is sohard but it also does have, you
know, some real upsides, youknow, for folks who maybe
traditional employment isn'tsomething they can really do.
Right now we work with a lot ofsingle moms, you know, who have

(29:22):
.
You know some of them have likesix kids and have been through
a ton of stuff and are workingthrough all that and you know
they're one day a month or oneday every six weeks cooking a
feast.
You know they might make liketwo thousand dollars worth of
income that day.
It's a big day, yeah, but um,that doesn't happen if they're

(29:46):
like cleaning hotel rooms, uh,five days a week, six days a
week, for you know and scrapingtogether some way for their kids
to be cared for at that time.
And so you know that kind ofwork in a big spurt every once
in a while is something that youcan do as an entrepreneur.
That you're not.
You're just not able to do thatas a hourly wage worker.

(30:08):
So we also, you know, we try tomake sure that people are
finding those steady kind ofbread and butter employment
situations if they desire themand if they can do that.
But you know, just lifesituations and different things,
it's a great way for people tokind of fast forward their, you
know, kind of their settlementprocess here, to make, you know,

(30:29):
significant income and to haveit be something that they can
scale themselves.
Just on Saturday, I was withthis father and son team that
these guys are awesome.
They're from Syria, yusuf isthe dad and Hamsa is the son,
and he's like 16, I think andthey're always working together

(30:51):
and they owned restaurants inSyria and in Egypt.
So they had to leave Syriabecause of the war and you know,
they found themselves in Egyptand he opened a restaurant there

(31:13):
too.
You know, these guys did it.
They actually bought suits forthe occasion.
I was like, you know, it's awedding, so maybe like, wear a
polo shirt or something underyour, uh, under your apron, and
these guys show up in suits.
I mean, they cooked all day andthen they, um, you know, once
the food was kind of ready inthe warming units and stuff

(31:34):
they're like okay, and then theywent and changed into their
nice, these nice suits that theyhad ordered online for that
occasion, you know, and and theymade great money that day.
But you know, yusuf the dad, he,he was working in sort of a
manufacturing situation untilrecently and, uh, and he's been
scaling up what he does as afood entrepreneur to the point
that it makes more sense for himto focus on that than working

(31:57):
in a factory.
So, and it's, of course, morealigned with what he loves and
the joy that that he exudes whenhe's cooking.
That's true of the many, many,many of the folks we work with.
You can tell how much joy theyhave.
But you know, that's justanother day in the life of
feasts.
As we I showed up to help, youknow, make sure this wedding was
set up properly and I, Icertainly didn't have to be

(32:19):
there at all because they had itcompletely dialed in and my
main job was unlocking thecommercial kitchen that they use
to cook that and, uh, check inon them, and it was a really,
really great day, and that kindof thing happens all the time.
The income from catering awedding for a hundred and some
people is significant, you know,and they source the ingredients
and did the work and dideverything properly, with health

(32:41):
and safety and and all therules of the road for running a
small business, and, um, andthey earned it.
So one of my favorite things iswriting that, writing those
checks.

Chris Nafis (32:52):
Yeah, well, and they and like again, I don't
want to harp on it too much, butlike having the freedom to kind
of do their own thing with thatwhich you know.
I mean, obviously, if you'recatering someone's dinner, like
it's not like you just makewhatever you want, you know, but
like there's some, you're doingit right and that allows it to
be like a family thing.

(33:13):
So him and his son, you know,you get hired at wherever at the
hotel chain, like they're notnecessarily going to like hire
your son also, and you get towork together.

Ross Carper (33:21):
You know what I mean.

Chris Nafis (33:22):
Like there's, just like this there's this like
there's something differentabout it, where you get to be
really who you are and part ofyour, your people, and do the
thing that you love doing andthat you get to share with the
world.
That's like so cool in that andthen, yeah, like the pride in
it.
And uh, yeah, the suits.
Did you have a suit or did?
Were you underdressed?

Ross Carper (33:42):
I was completely underdressed.
I left because I was.

Chris Nafis (33:44):
I was embarrassed um, but no I left because or you
got thrown out, like jesus, youknow like you don't have your
wedding clothes on, yeah nice uhbible reference there gotta get
a bible reference in there, ifwe can.

Ross Carper (33:57):
You know no, they didn't need me there.
So I I had a, you know, I had abutton-up collared shirt on and
in an apron and but I just, youknow, I was just kind of there
to just kind of say hellobecause I knew that they had it
and help get something set up.
But but yeah, I mean, it's justa part of their this, this

(34:18):
couple who got married, this wasat, like, the Spokane central
public library.
They got, they got married onthe top floor of our brand new,
nicely remodeled library and itwas just cool and you know,
that's a memory for them andtheir guests that they'll always
have.

(34:42):
And they, they wrote that reviewtoday.
That was like we were just likeour, our guests were so
thankful for chef Yusuf andHamza and the service and the
food.
And you know, our weddingplanner does you know 30
weddings a year or whatever andshe said she's never had food
that good at a wedding.
So it's like, yeah, good jobguys, awesome.
I feel like Yusuf's going toget another wedding soon,
probably with a wedding.
So it's like, yeah good job,guys.

Chris Nafis (34:56):
Awesome, like he's going to get another wedding
soon, probably with that wedding.

Ross Carper (35:02):
Exactly, yeah, well , seriously, and those are,
those are relationships thatlike as vendors, like that could
that could end up being a hugeincome source for him, for sure,
yeah man, that's so cool.

Chris Nafis (35:11):
How many like do people?
What's a typical path forsomeone that like comes through
your program?
Do they graduate?
Do they keep working with youkind of long-term, or what does
that look like?

Ross Carper (35:20):
Yeah, we never.
We're not very good at likekicking people out, um, but we
do have like a limited number oftimes when you can be a
featured chef in the restaurantand then then you're on like the
sub list for last minutecancellations and things.
You're always on the cateringlist If someone requests you for
catering because they love yourfood, and we really do have a

(35:42):
lot of customers who startfollowing specific families as
they go through the program andthen it's like, oh, my
daughter's graduation party, Ireally want these guys to come
out and, if possible, possible,we make that happen.
So so, yeah, you're always partof the feast family, but you
know, we want to make sure we'removing people through enough to
give opportunities for newfamilies and new cultures to be

(36:05):
represented at the restaurant,which is hard.
It's hard to say goodbye andthen and then some people do
launch their own things.
We've had a few restaurants thathave spun off and are doing
well, and so, yeah, that'shappening too, but we are not
necessarily guiding peopletoward that specific outcome
because of how risky anddifficult it is lifestyle-wise

(36:30):
and financially, and so for somethey want to do it, and
immigrant families have alwayssucceeded owning restaurants in
the U?
S.
So we never want to say no forpeople or anything but part.
It's just as big of a win Ifsomeone in our program realizes
they really don't want to dothis every day and take on this
massive like risk and debt and,you know, rent this place for

(36:54):
$9,000 a month.
And you know um, and say, youknow, maybe I'll just kind of
cater as a side hustle but goback to school to be a, a nurse
or something.
You know, um, and we'd love tofacilitate that too, you know.
So a lot of people think of ourprogram like as a restaurant
incubator.
But we are much more open-endedthan that because the point is,

(37:17):
you know we're, we want toincubate flourishing, not just
restaurants.
You know, restaurants is that'sa, that's one outcome of many
and it's a really low percentageof folks who are going to be
able to do that and but some doand some will and that's that's
great.
But like, like, if there's somestability and skills and
connections that they build,that leads to other

(37:40):
opportunities.
We see that all the time andthat's much more common.

Chris Nafis (37:44):
Yeah, not everything's fair.
Like sometimes, like a seasonin your life is as important as
you know, getting to the nextstage or whatever.
You know it doesn't have to bethis thing that I tried for a
bit is what I do forever, um,but like as you're getting your
feet under you in a new place,like having that experience and
the friendships and the you knowbecause you're I imagine a lot

(38:05):
of these people are coming outof like very traumatizing
situations where they're facingdirect threat of violence right
and so as you have time to like,just just kind of settle
yourself, your mind, yournervous system.
Having like that community, Ifeel like would be invaluable.

Ross Carper (38:37):
And not only was the situation that she came from
violent, like her marriage wasalso violent, and she worked
with us in our program in avariety of different ways,
including, you know, as apart-time janitor for part of
her time with us, but now she'sworking full-time at a hospital
Navigation that she's gottenfrom our drop-in program, like
support workers particularlyRobin who has walked alongside

(38:58):
with her like okay, here's thejob you want to do.
Like let's think about theEnglish that you need to gain.
That here's this apps onlineprogram that we bought licenses
to so you can learn thatspecific vocational English.
And just one foot in front ofthe other.
And she's in a place ofstability that, like I mean, I
can't even I don't even want toshare other details just in

(39:21):
terms of identifying people, butlike not only the violence, but
like specific, like one of herchildren, a lot of health, a lot
of health problems too, and andso, just like gosh, the, the
strength that that woman has isabsolutely I don't know how to
even imagine or describe whatthat must be like to be her she

(39:56):
still comes in and organizes our, our like we have this like
external, like storage containerwhere we keep a lot of supplies
for, like, takeout boxes andcatering supplies and stuff and
like, part of her thing wasorganizing that and she just
comes in and does it, eventhough she works full-time at a
hospital, like, like, and she'sa single mom.
She just wants to give back andlike the, the friendships we
have with her um, and she's asingle mom.
She just wants to give back andlike the, the friendships we
have with her um and and ahundred other people like that,

(40:19):
um are worth so much Um, but butyeah, it's pretty joyful to see
people move, move from onepoint to another and and the
friendships that happen alongthe way.

Chris Nafis (40:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and she probably wants to stay
just connected, you know, andyeah, it's awesome, I love it.
So I want to ask also.
So, like when we were innorthern ireland, we were
getting news from back home.
Part of the news was that arestaurant in san diego had been
raided with like a reallystrong uh, bona fortuna, san

(40:52):
diego people listening to thisprobably know the restaurant and
you know it's one of ourfavorite places and uh, and then
the la stuff was going on where, like the raids were getting
really intense in la and therewas a huge community pushback.
They ended up calling inmarines and stuff.
Um, there was also some thingshappening in spokane where, like
there were some people in ornear your restaurant that were

(41:15):
also sort of getting arrested byice.
Well, what's happening?
Because it was interesting,because we we there was a bunch
of spokane people on the tripwith us and so I was hearing
about the spokane thing and Igot home and I was like it was
spokane like in the news thatdid people hear.
Hear about it and not reallyhadn't been national news, which
makes me think this stuff'sprobably happening all over the

(41:35):
place, but it's only gettingsort of national attention in a
few places what, what happenedand what's going on there now.

Ross Carper (41:43):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I I had to kind of step away
from our training at Corey Milafor an afternoon just just to
touch base with our team andmake sure we like just see how
people are doing and think aboutour training.
If, if ice was to show up atour restaurant and they, they
have not yet done that.
Uh, that we know of Um and theyhaven't, you know, identify

(42:04):
themselves there ever.
But we have a.
You know we've done a lot ofpracticing and training for that
.
But but, like you said, thesetwo young guys from Venezuela
were arrested here in Spokanewhile we were there and this set
off a pretty massive protestand I didn't actually know it at
that time.
But a day or so after that Ifound out that these guys

(42:27):
actually are part of the Englishlanguage school housed within
my church, first Presbyterian,and that you know that we
partner with that English schoollike every day.
You know these, these guys,hadn't like engaged with Feast
as chefs or anything, but it'sjust like they're very much in
the ecosystem of of support thatwe were a part of and and doing

(42:49):
everything the right way.
You know, came through TPS,temporary protected status that
has been rolled back by thecurrent administration, but they
had also sought asylum andfiled those claims, and so
that's a form of relief also forimmigrants who are, or become

(43:10):
undocumented.
So these guys were documentedbecause they came through the
specific government program thathas now been canceled, and so
now they all of a sudden becomeundocumented.
I'm not commenting on theseguys' specific case because I
don't know it as well, but justin general, that's happening to
a lot of folks, particularlyfrom those places like Venezuela

(43:32):
and Haiti and a lot of thosecountries in that part of the
world, but others too.
You know, there's a while wewere in Northern Ireland.
There's a travel ban institutedthat includes a lot of other
regions as well.
So yeah there's a major protestdowntown.
People were trying to, you know, physically impede the ice

(43:52):
vehicles, you know, and itstayed peaceful, like a lot of
what we were studying inNorthern Ireland was peaceful,
you know, nonviolent,de-escalation, and trying to be
present in a way that is, as apeacemaker while still being a
justice maker too, and I thinkthat was the posture of the vast

(44:14):
majority of the folks that weredown at this protest.
But then it got.
I think a couple of peopleslashed the tires of a vehicle
and that kind of got thingsgoing into a more physical.
When property is damaged, thenthe local police will engage in
terms of, like their measuresthat they take, and so that
happened.
And then there's tear they take, and so that that happened.

(44:36):
And then there's, you know,tear gas and all the different
things, flashbang stuff.
And then, yeah, the mayorinstituted, instituted a curfew
in our city that night, you know, it was just like it kind of
escalated and it wasn't likeprobably everyone in the nation
knew about it, but for thatnight it was a national news
story because of that curfew and, yeah, just the eruption of,

(44:59):
you know people, the way peopleare feeling, being very erupting
in the middle of our city.
So, in response to what feelslike a totally unjust abduction
of a couple of members of ourcommunity who are by no means
gang members or violentcriminals or anything like that.
So, with the people in ourprograms, there's a whole

(45:20):
spectrum of their experiences asimmigrants and there probably
are more undocumented folks thanI even know about who help with
the cooking and things likethat.
We have a certain amount ofdocumentation we have to do, but
we certainly don't go beyondthat for obvious reasons, and we
just want to be about bepro-human and that's like our

(45:43):
friend Jer, who led our globalimmersion experience along with
Oshita.
The idea of being pro-human is,for some reason that's
counter-cultural in our societyright now.
For some reason that'scountercultural in our society
right now, chris, and that'ssomething to lament and to try
to stand against in the waysthat we can.
But yeah, there's people whoare afraid, even if they're

(46:07):
totally legally documented andlike perfect status.
There's people who are justafraid that they're going to get
picked up, because it doesn'tseem like these cowboys really
care about that sometimes, orthat's the perception, or
something happened that theyheard about to someone who has a
green card or who hascitizenship even, or it's just

(46:30):
maybe less of that and more justthe sadness of knowing that
their families might not be ableto come here and join them as
immigrants, because a lot ofthese programs are completely
shut down.
Um, and I've talked a lot aboutrefugees.
Uh, the refugee resettlementadmission program is, it's not a
thing in the us right now andthat's that's.

(46:52):
Uh, yeah, with the times thatwe live in and the 120 some
million people who are displacedby violence around the world,
that we see feels like a tragedythat we're not able to be part
of.
Be I think people often thinkabout people who are getting
arrested, families being splitup, all the direct impacts.

Chris Nafis (47:25):
But I think about all of the fear that is
instilled in everybody else andall of the stress that
communities have to bear notknowing what the future is going
to be.
As you see the administrationbuilding up more and more

(47:47):
detention centers and adding tothe ICE agent payrolls and just
kind of gearing up for whatseems like a more massive
deportation process anddefinitely promising that to the
community, which voted for this, you know.
I just think about all of thepeople who are kind of living
with, like the dread ofpossibility, even if it never

(48:07):
comes.
You know what I mean.
Like especially after having tohaving come from somewhere else
where you left for a reason youknow, like maybe you already
felt unwanted, unwelcome, underthreat there, and then now
coming here and finding yourselfonce again in a position of
like two people will want mehere and uh, am I in danger

(48:28):
again myself here and am I goingto get thrown back into a
dangerous situation?
Um, it just um, I don't know,it's just, it's, it's, it's not
good.

Ross Carper (48:37):
Yeah, I mean, sadly , there's a lot of folks that we
work with who this kind ofstuff feels really pretty
familiar to them and, like yousaid, like some of them came
here to get away from that, like, maybe their husband was a
political protester in someplace, where, if you are
protesting, the strong man inpower you could have a van show

(49:00):
up and take you away.
And the beauty of America issupposed to be that that's not
how it works, right?
Well, that's how it does workfor some people here now, and,
and so I think we need to try tofigure out how to, you know,
keep standing up and saying thatwe want to be about something

(49:21):
we want to strive to be, thething that America has always
striven for and never actuallyfully embodied, which is that
all people are created equal.
You know so.
Anyway, I could go off on acivics lesson, but I'm not going
to do that.
I just think you know you workwith a lot of folks who are, you
know, without housing, and thescapegoating that goes on for

(49:45):
that, for those communities ofpeople, is reinforced by leaders
in your city and in your, in mycity and in in our society to
say, oh, these people, blah,blah, blah.
You know the cities used to beso much better because there
weren't.
You know, there's just all ofthese talking points that people
continue to rehearse to.

(50:05):
I don't know if they're beingtaught, and they're.
You know, this is the mindset,instead of being a little more
curious about what it might belike to be in that situation and
a little more creative, the wayyour church is about trying to
offer some different, you know,some different sorts of
responses, I would say, that arealigned with the love of God.

(50:25):
You know, and the same is truefor refugees and immigrants.
It's when you're taught yourwhole life to say, oh, those
people, they're the ones takingall the jobs, or they're dirty,
or they're blah, blah, blah.
You know whatever it is.
Oh, and you know, I used to goout and all I heard was English,
and now I can't go anywherewithout hearing you know

(50:46):
whatever language.
And I just think we need toteach our kids some different
narratives about because, asidefrom policies and people being
picked up by ICE and things likethat, there's an emboldening of
people's behaviors in schoolsand in public, when the

(51:07):
leadership is reinforcing that.
So, kids, that we, our chefsand other people in our programs
are sharing with us the thingsthat are being said to their
kids at school that two yearsago weren't being said.
Because you know we're just ata heightened place right now and
and you know kids will repeatthose things, um, if that's what
they're hearing at home.

(51:28):
And anyway, I just, um, itoccurred to me thinking about
your work and the communitiesthat you hang out with and, yeah
, that there's much to be donein terms of the, the
scapegoating and the prejudice.

Chris Nafis (51:42):
Yeah, I mean there's as I've talked to.
So, like we've been doing thispodcast, I'm talking to people
who are doing all kinds ofdifferent work and the parallels
are just always there.
You know what I mean, and Ithink that's part of what's fun
about even just doing this,having these conversations.
For me is that it's inspiringfor people in our context to
think, even in parallel ways,about like, oh yeah, that that

(52:02):
dynamic that's true for theimmigrant community in Spokane
is also true for the unhousedcommunity in San Diego and all
that cool thing that they'redoing there.
Like maybe something similarcould happen, even if it looks a
little different because thecontext is different where we
are.
And I mean that's part of howlike I think the witness works.
I mean you're, even if it looksa little different because the
context is different where weare.
And I mean that's part of how,like I think the witness works.

(52:24):
I mean your, your work, your therestaurant, feast World Kitchen
and all of the things that areare happening there is like a
witness to the rest of us.
I think both to to counteringthat narrative that you're
talking about around immigrationand refugees, and and like
diversity, I guess, in general.
And I mean I just want to saylike well, just think about the
food you know great to have,like food, don't we all from

(52:49):
different places?
And if we kick everyone out whoknows how to make great food,
then what are we?
I mean that sounds kind ofsilly, but like that's like all
of life, right?
I mean I wish we could heardifferent languages being spoken
in our places and be like thisis awesome, like there's people
that have all this differentwisdom and knowledge and

(53:09):
experience that they bring withthem from their culture and from
their giftedness and from thearts and from all the things
that happen, and celebrate it,instead of being like, oh you
know, we got to get back to.
You know English only, orwhatever.
It's so silly to me.

Ross Carper (53:25):
I know.

Chris Nafis (53:26):
Frustrating.
But like that's, you all arewitnessing to a different truth
about what it means to live incommunity across cultural and
ethnic and national barriers,and and it's awesome, I love it
and hopefully you know we canfind ways in our context to do
the same around homelessnessyeah, I don't know Any well, I

(53:47):
wanted to ask this question.
I'm just looking at my notessee what else, so I don't miss
anything.
This is totally out of leftfield at this point.

Ross Carper (53:55):
Does.
Spokane have like food that it'sknown for, like what's local
spokanean food or like, oh man,I mean, this time of year
huckleberries are a a primeexample of like an inland
northwest food, because thoseare like native to the mountains
here and they're, of course,delicious, and so that's not a

(54:19):
culinary.
I mean, chefs do a ton of stuffwith huckleberries.
In fact, one of our chefs atPeace World Kitchen is currently
on the national TV show, thePBS Great American Recipe, and
she is she's from Thailand andshe's one of our chefs.
We're very proud of her.
So I'm getting this plug in theGreat American Recipe she's on
Suwannee.

(54:40):
Uh, we had a big watch party onFriday night at the restaurant.
But she, she does this.
Uh, she's featuringhuckleberries and some of the
like dishes she's making on theshow because you know that's
emblematic of this region here,um, but but yeah, you know, in
terms of food diversity, I dofeel like Feast is providing a
strong service to the communitybecause you know, we're not a

(55:02):
big city and in many ways that'swhy we have a fair amount of
refugee resettlement when thatprogram is operating and I hope
it will in the future.
We're a medium-sized city withenough infrastructure and
schools and jobs anduniversities and hospitals, you
know, so people can kind of getthe services they need but and

(55:22):
have a job and stuff.
But we're not such a big citythat is super unaffordable and
and uh expensive to live herecomparatively.
But you know there's not amarket, probably a big enough
market, for some of the foodtypes that we serve at the East.
We have Thai restaurants, ofcourse, but there's not maybe a
big enough market for like atrue like Burmese restaurant.

(55:43):
But people will show up whenthat family cooks every six
weeks or whatever, and they'llhave.
You know there'll be some Thaifood on the menu, but there'll
be some stuff that's like reallyreally unique to Burma, myanmar
, you know so anyway.
So yeah, there is.
It's not the most diverse place, but I, when I had my breakfast

(56:05):
food truck, it's not like I hada lot of like Northwest food.
Like salmon is like atraditional thing, but like the
salmon don't get here because ofthe dams anymore.
So you know so.
But yeah, it's a, it's's a,it's a good place.
You got to come visit herechris, I know I need.

Chris Nafis (56:21):
I have some family out there.

Ross Carper (56:22):
I gotta get that's right, all right.
Well, if you come into therestaurant, it's one percent off
for you.
Yes, one percent.
So that's a little discount Iwanted to offer you.
I appreciate that.

Chris Nafis (56:33):
Yeah, thank you, yeah, mention r Ross's name and
you get one percent off at FeastWorld Kitchen.
Last last question I'll let yougo.
Maybe this is negativelyreinforcing some of the
competitive things we weretalking about earlier, but what
are what are like top threedishes that have been made at
Feast World Kitchen by thesechefs?
Give us a couple.

Ross Carper (56:54):
I mean, it's all subjective, but some of my
favorite things are oh, I don'twant to get in trouble, that's
for sure, but there's a womanwho cooks with us from Pakistan.
Her name is Zubia.
She makes some of the mostincredibly delicious and spicy
biryani rice with chicken orvegetarian.
She knows that my whole familybesides me are vegetarian, so

(57:17):
she's one of those who willalways like, if I walk through
the restaurant for five minutesand she's there, she will pack a
box of food for me to take home.
Nice, and, yeah, the vegetarianbiryani with the yogurt, kind
of cucumber yogurt right Tosauce to cool it off a little
bit.
And then, yeah, shawarma wraps.
That's like the cheeseburger ofthe Middle East, everybody it,

(57:40):
but man, I can't.
Even I've grown to really lovearepas.
Uh, venezuelan or colombianarepas, you know, kind of a
cornmeal patty that's eitherfried or or, or you know kind of
sauteed and then split open andfilled with delicious meats and
cheeses and all the things.
But yeah, I can't, I can't, Ican't choose.

(58:03):
It's all good, it's all good.

Chris Nafis (58:05):
You got any pupusas .

Ross Carper (58:06):
Over there we do a little bit.
We have some Salvadoran pupusasfrom time to time, similar to
arepas, but really good andunique in their own way.

Chris Nafis (58:18):
I was in el salvador for a summer and there
was like a pupusaria.
Basically, the host home ofmine was like a pupusaria in the
back alley and I ate a lot ofpupusas that summer.
It was very good, oh man.
Anyway, it's awesome.
Well, uh, I'm really gratefulfor your time, ross, really even
more grateful for your work and, uh, for your friendship and,
as we were saying before, like I, I really hope that we get to

(58:40):
continue hanging out from timeto time through global immersion
or just outside of that.
And yeah, it's a, it's inspiringwhat you're doing and, like I
said, I think it's a publicwitness to counter some of the
horrible things that arehappening and some of the
horrible narratives that arehappening and some of the
horrible narratives that arecoming out around the country.

(59:00):
And uh, yeah, man, keep it upand send some food down south
and I'll come up, yeah and offuh whatever is being served that
day absolutely, just let meknow in spokane listeners go and
hang out at feast world kitchenand get some delicious food, or
if you're getting married thereor something.

Ross Carper (59:16):
Yeah, I mean reach out to me, ross, at feast world
kitchen and get some deliciousfood, or if you're getting
married there or something, yeah, I mean, reach out to me, ross,
at feast world kitchenorg.
Just let me know you're goingto be here.
I'll give you a better discountthan I would give chris.
So two percent at least.
Thank you, I'm glad to befriends with you too, man.

Chris Nafis (59:31):
Yeah, I appreciate that um and uh for anybody
listening.
Thanks for uh hanging out withus.
Let us know how you're doing,Talk to us about, talk about
this with somebody that you knowand give us some feedback.
Let us know how podcast ishitting you these days and and
be blessed.
Thanks, Ross.

Ross Carper (59:47):
Thank you.