Free food at FeastFest: Nonprofit offers complimentary global plates prepared by migrant chefs

The street outside Feast World Kitchen became a bustling international cafeteria Sunday afternoon, where over a thousand hungry passers-by filled their stomachs without spending a dime.

The nonprofit restaurant hosted its annual FeastFest Sunday, featuring a dozen chefs from around the world offering generous samplings of cultural cuisine for free to anyone who stopped by.

“We wanted to create a way to, at some point throughout the year, have free food, mostly because we want to say thank you to the community,” said Feast co-founder Ross Carper. “And we want to have opportunities for people to enjoy Feast who can’t afford to eat at restaurants and pay market prices.”

The chefs lined the street in tents serving portions of food like pork tacos from Mexico, a wheat-based soup called freekeh from Jordan and Ethiopian doro wat, a fragrant chicken stew served over rice. Patrons lined up to fill trays with one dish from each tent, creating a diverse plate that could more than fill their stomachs.

“It’s different people, different countries,” said chef Hibra Tsegay, originally from Ethiopia. “There’s Morocco, there’s Syria, Ethiopia – people around the globe, but connected through food.”

Feast World Kitchen, situated downtown at 1321 W. Third Ave., has been in business since 2019, partnering with migrants and refugees who run their business from Feast for a day. Each day, a different chef helms the kitchen and serves a menu of cultural dishes from their home country, keeping profits from food sales.

In doing so, Ross said they not only earn a paycheck, but learn first-hand skills, from practical knowledge like financial literacy or language practice to tactics like running a business, with many opening restaurants of their own.

“It’s a holistic development for them that just meets people where they’re at,” Carper said. “Then a big part of it is they have these opportunities to sell food from their home culture, so the money from food sales goes to the chef partner and their family.”

The kitchen launched the FeastFest event in 2022, as soon as COVID restrictions on large gatherings were lifted.

Since its inception in 2019, 120 chef partners from around the globe have rotated through Feast’s kitchen. Some, like Tsegay, use the experience to fulfill a lifelong dream and open an Ethiopian eatery of her own.

Tsegay began catering with Feast during the pandemic, relishing the opportunity to earn money for her cooking.

“Food is a universal language. You connect, whether you sit down in the restaurant or you open your door to somebody else or have a cup of coffee, there is only something to say about food,” Tsegay said.

“It just gives me joy to just feed people, serving good food, and bring the smiles onto people’s faces.”

Tsegay served generous samples of her handmade doro wat to eventgoers Sunday, scooping the aromatic red stew from vats onto basmati rice. Tender pieces of chicken swam in the thick curry-like sauce, seasoned with paprika berbere spices that one could smell down the street.

“This is the stuff I like,” a man said as he approached her tent, rubbing his hands together as Tsegay scooped him a plate. “I remember you from last year.”

Though she still lends a hand to other chefs at Feast World Kitchen and will be serving her menu there Wednesday, Tsegay is proud to have opened her own business. She works daily at her Amen Ethiopian Cafe in the Spokane Valley Mall at 14700 E Indiana Ave.

Though business has been slow her first four months and she keeps it open daily for not wanting to miss customers, she appreciates the patronage that allows her to live her dream speaking a universal language.

“It’s like giving birth to my dream. Honestly, it’s been so many journeys, so many fears, so many disappointments, but finally, here I am,” Tsegay said. “I don’t know the end, but the start looks good.”

The event represents the nonprofit’s mission of “mutual hospitality,” Carper said: a symbiotic relationship wherein patrons get a global tastebud experience without leaving downtown Spokane and chefs get a space to show off their culinary talents and practice business ownership.

“Spokane, we want it to be the most welcoming place in the U.S. for immigrants and refugees. This is not a very diverse city as is obvious, but that’s changing in some ways, and it’s very vibrant to have all these different cultures exist in Spokane,” Carper said. “Feast is a place to showcase that in the way that people love the most, which is food.”

The event also featured a dozen performances and child-centered activities like a bouncy castle, cotton candy machine and a henna artist. All were free of charge, though the nonprofit accepted donations through the event.

Through corporate sponsors, each chef was paid for their presence at the event, and hundreds of volunteers helped serve plates and coordinate.

“We want to have something that’s really not about money,” Carper said, “it’s about culture.”