The menu at this Petaluma lunch pop-up reads like a map of the world

This pop-up might have the most diverse menu in the Bay Area. It also may be the most important meal you’ll eat this year. |

Sonoma Family Meal

Sabor lunch pop-ups

11 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday-Friday through July 26

1370 Redwood Way, Petaluma

Knife’s Edge: Taste the World

Global Cuisine Showdown and Tasting

5:30-9 p.m., Nov. 9

Richard & Saralee’s Barn, Sonoma County Fairgrounds

1350 Bennett Valley Road

More information: sonomafamilymeal.org

A Petaluma business park is an unlikely spot for an international smorgasbord. The menu, featuring borani banjan, an Afghan eggplant stew, Jordanian lamb kofta with tahini sauce and Haitian pork griot with a side of fried plantains, would put food halls in much bigger cities to shame.

The diversity of dishes is impressive and ambitious. Even more so when you consider that just four weeks ago, many of the people making them had never set foot in a professional kitchen.

Now, they’re in the middle of a two-week lunchtime pop-up called Sabor that’s part of Sonoma Family Meal’s nine-week culinary training program. The trainees come from seven different countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Jordan, Mexico and the United States.

Chef instructor Elias Cisneros conducts the classes in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole with the help of Carine Gabriel, a student from the previous class, who has joined Sonoma Family Meal as an interpreter.

Maintaining traditions

It’s important to Cisneros that the menu for this pop-up is culturally relevant to each of his students. They learn the basics of kitchen and food safety and culinary techniques, but when it comes to serving food, it’s personal.

“You still want to maintain the flavor and traditions,” he said. “I want the recipes to be something they want to sell. Something they can be proud of.”

The hope is that the menu is more than just an eclectic mix of dishes to tantalize customers, but something that translates into a sense of belonging for these students, most of whom have lived here only a short time.

“What a landing pad in a new country … being told, please serve your food, we want to taste it, we want to know who you are. You matter,“ said Whitney Reuling, Executive Director of Sonoma Family Meal.

The nonprofit was launched in 2017 by The Press Democrat’s dining editor, Heather Irwin, in the days after the Tubbs Fire to provide meals for those who evacuated and lost homes, as well as first responders. Its mission has expanded since then and includes the culinary training program which launched late last year and is now training its third cohort of students.

One of those students, Malakai Rakusa, worked with Cisneros in front of a whirring stand mixer making Fijian cassava cake while other students — all dressed in white chef jackets, black aprons and ball caps emblazoned with the Sonoma Family Meal logo — chopped onions, sliced eggplant and tested recipes for their public debut as cooks the following day.

Rakusa, a father of four, immigrated to the U.S. from Fiji with his wife and children last year. He took a job as a caregiver, but after witnessing the violent and tragic death of his client, Rakusa said he had to take some time to heal from that trauma. That’s when he found out about the training opportunity at Sonoma Family Meal.

A welcome for newcomers

The Sonoma Family Meal program is, in part, a reflection of immigration trends in the county and Petaluma in particular.

Seven of the 19 students are from Haiti, like Guerline Jean Georges who was busy frying plantains and then smashing them with a tortilla press. The single mother of a young son, Jean Georges moved to Sonoma County two years ago, and says Sonoma Family Meal has made her feel welcome and has given her a sense of pride in her culture.

Catherine Crotty is coordinator of the Petaluma Family Resource Center through Petaluma City Schools and has referred several new immigrants to the culinary training program. She has seen an influx of arrivals from Haiti the past few years due to political turmoil and violence following the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise in 2021.

Crotty says many newcomers arrive having experienced trauma and dysfunction in their home country with only a suitcase of possessions. They face language barriers and many have to rely on a public transportation system that’s insufficient. Their needs are many, but she says the community has stepped up to help.

“We’re really happy to welcome and embrace this community of newcomers,” she said, noting that Sonoma Family Meal has played a crucial role in that welcome.

Offering advice

After the nine-week course is finished, Sonoma Family Meal works to place students in jobs at notable restaurants such as Healdsburg’s SingleThread, Santa Rosa’s The Spinster Sisters and in the kitchen at Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate & Gardens, which is where Jules Sinai, who was in a previous session of the program, now works as a prep cook.

Sinai, who immigrated from Haiti in June last year, came back to speak to the students about how the program helped him and offered advice. He spoke in Haitian Creole, which Gabriel, the former Sonoma Family Meal trainee, translated into English while Cisneros interpreted for the Spanish speakers.

“Be determined,” he told them. “Take initiative. Be an example by working hard and put God into everything you do.”

Sinai hopes to one day open a Haitian restaurant in Petaluma, which would serve dishes like pork griot, fried plantains and soup joumou, a squash soup that’s considered a national dish.

‘Issue of socioeconomic justice’

Reuling points out that working in restaurants, let alone owning one, isn’t the goal for everyone in the program. She says that for some students in this class, a home-based food business such as a microenterprise home kitchen operation, or MEHKO as it’s also known, would be ideal.

California passed a law in 2018 allowing microenterprise home kitchen operations, but counties must opt into it, something Sonoma County is yet to do. The Board of Supervisors will consider the issue again in September after a failed attempt in 2019.

Reuling sees MEHKOs as another pathway toward economic self-reliance for students, which is why she’s advocating for them.

“Given the capital requirements for starting a business, (passing MEHKO) it’s super integral. It’s an issue of socioeconomic justice,” she said.

Beyond the pop-up

For those unable to visit the pop-up on their lunch hour, some of the students’ dishes will be included in Sonoma Family Meal’s monthly meal subscription service which relaunches in August after a brief summer break.

The organization’s “Knife’s Edge” fundraiser in November will be a global showcase featuring the program’s alumni, as well as local chefs, for a gala that Rueling hopes will resonate with attendees the way it affects everyone who works and learns in the Petaluma kitchen.

“It ends up being somewhat emotional,” she said. “At the end of (the last) cohort, almost everyone said, ‘What an absolute privilege to be able to learn from each other and taste each other’s food.’ It’s a great way to build relationships and ultimately trust amongst each other.”

Haitian Pork Griot

Makes 6 servings

This dish of crisp, seasoned pork is considered one of Haiti’s national dishes and is on the menu at the Sabor pop up. It’s typically served with a vegetable slaw called pikliz.

1 habanero chile

1 onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 cup chopped Italian parsley

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

5 sprigs fresh thyme

2 garlic cloves, chopped fine

1/3 cup cider vinegar

Juice of 1 orange

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of ½ lime

1 tablespoon of Maggi (or substitute Worcestershire sauce)

3 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 1 inch chunks

2 tablespoons olive oil

In a blender add habanero, onion, bell pepper, parsley, salt, pepper, thyme and garlic. Add in vinegar, orange juice, lemon juice, lime juice and Maggi or Worcestershire sauce. Blend until smooth. Pour the marinade over pork and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, remove from the refrigerator one hour and no more than three hours before cooking. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Place the pork and its marinade in a heavy pot or a large Dutch oven. On the stove over high heat bring the liquid to a simmer; cover and put pot in the oven. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until meat is tender, about 1½ to 2 hours. Remove from oven.

Using a slotted spoon or strainer, remove meat from the pot, allowing all excess liquid to drip back into the pot. Turn a deep fryer or air fryer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If using an airfryer, toss the pork in three tablespoons of olive oil before cooking. Fry until you get a nice brown exterior about 5-10 minutes. Toss with a little of the leftover sauce in the pot and serve.

Fijian Cassava Cake

Makes 12 servings

Cassava, or yuca as it’s also called, is a starchy root that’s a staple ingredient in Fijian cuisine. It is commonly found in Asian and Latin American supermarkets. Some markets carry it already grated in the frozen section, which will save the trouble of grating it yourself.

1 ¾ pounds cassava root, peeled, fibrous core removed and grated (see note)

1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ cup coconut milk

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 ounces (1 stick) butter, melted

For the topping

2 egg yolks

½ cup condensed milk

½ cup coconut cream

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan.

In a large bowl, add cassava, coconut, cornstarch, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

In a separate mixing bowl add coconut milk, eggs, sugar, water and vanilla. Add melted butter and whisk thoroughly. Pour the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl with the cassava and stir to combine. Pour batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 40 minutes and remove from the oven, leaving the cake in the pan while you make the topping.

In a medium bowl or measuring cup, add egg yolk, condensed milk and coconut cream and whisk well. Using a skewer, fork, or chopstick, evenly prick holes in the cake then pour the topping over it to ensure the topping soaks in. Return cake to the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then slice and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Note: To prepare cassava, cut off the ends then cut the root into about 3 manageable sections. Use a sharp knife to carefully slice off the peel. Cut into quarters lengthwise and remove the fibrous part of the core. Place the pieces in a bowl of cold water, then using the fine shredding holes on a box grater, grate the cassava. To use a food processor, run the cassava through the shredding attachment, then put in the sharp S-blade and blitz it again for a few seconds to create finer shreds.

You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Graue at 707-521-5262 or jennifer.graue@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @JenInOz.