A brand new restaurant has just recently opened up in President Trump’s own backyard, but it’s unlikely he’ll be stopping there for lunch anytime soon.
According to CNN , the advocacy-based eatery known as “Immigrant Food” has opened its doors in Washington D.C. and is located just a block away from the White House. Its mission? To serve up delicious, international cuisine and a healthy plate of social impact.
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Restaurant co-founder Peter Schechter said “Immigrant Food’s” grand opening has been a year in the making.
The D.C.-based political activist, who is the child of immigrants from Austria and Germany, said he felt a personal responsibility to respond to the increasing anti-immigrant narrative in the country.
“This isn’t the America I recognize,” he told CNN . “Somehow it has become normal to disparage, to feel you can talk down to immigrants, like immigrants are not good for this country.”
Schechter said he decided the best way to fight back was with food.
“Immigrants are feeding America,” he explained. “All of the industries that make food, whether it is the picking or the shucking or the meatpacking or the slaughterhouses, [or] in restaurants, the servers, the bus boys, this is an industry that is dominated by immigrants, even if your restaurant is called McDonald’s.”
The menu at “Immigrant Food” features a fusion of over 40 different cuisines from all around the world.
Beyond food, the restaurant also offers an “engagement menu”, with suggestions for how diners can donate to and volunteer with various immigrant advocacy groups.
These includes teaching English, visiting detention centers, helping out at hotlines and taking part in mock ICE interviews. Additionally, local advocacy groups can use the upper floor of “Immigrant Food” for various meetings, free of charge.
There’s also a giant light-up world map where restaurant-goers can stop to take a picture.
They’re encouraged to a snap a selfie of themselves pointing to where their families are from, which will then be texted to them with a frame reading, “We are all immigrants!”
After they’ve eaten, diners have the option to add donations to their bill which will be divided among various immigrant-focused NGOs.
“Immigrant Food” officially opened on November 12, the same day as another important event for immigrants in the country.
This was the day the Supreme Court heard arguments surrounding Trump’s proposal to eliminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA).
On that day, the restaurant posted a photo to their Instagram page featuring one of their tote bags reading “Immigrants made America great again, again, and again” outside the court.
Schecter said his restaurant is meant to offer an answer for those people who are upset by what’s happening, but don’t know what to do to help.
Although “Immigrant Food” is the first eatery to offer supporters a chance to contribute to pro-immigrant causes, its founders hope other restaurants follow in their footsteps.
Co-founder Ezequiel Vazquez-Ger told CNN Washington was a natural choice, considering its blend of politics and culinary cuisines. But that doesn’t mean restaurants elsewhere in the country couldn’t make the same impact:
“It’s natural for it to emerge in DC, but we also think it’s natural for it to emerge almost anywhere in the country.”
While “Immigrant Food” is only a block away from the White House, Schecter said it’s “the one thing in DC that’s not about Trump.”
“The idea of celebrating immigrants, celebrating their food, is an idea that is valid whether or not Trump is in the White House,” he explained “I really think it goes beyond the political.”
h/t: CNN
