"Who feeds the District?" is an installment in the DC History Center’s Context for Today series of online conversations with thoughtful and thought-provoking historians, activists, journalists, and community members.
Immigrants have long played a critical role in DC's food system. Mamma Desta (1978-1983) first introduced Washingtonians to Ethiopian food. El Tamarindo (opened in 1982) introduced the pupusa and serves as a community anchor, offering stability through successive waves of neighborhood development. With co-producer Marianne Tshihamba, we gather local restaurateurs to discuss the history of food as a form of cultural diplomacy, activism, and economic stability in the city over the years.
Sileshi Alifom, owner of DAS Ethiopian Cuisine; Ana Reyes, owner of El Tamarindo; and Andy Shallal, CEO of Busboys and Poets, reflect on their own experiences as immigrants and owners of restaurants in the nation’s capital. They offer insight into the development of DC’s food scene and answer the questions: who makes a living in the food industry, and how do immigrant foodways shape an international city?
Sileshi Alifom is the innovative owner and operator of DAS Ethiopian Cuisine in Georgetown, opened in 2011 at the same location as the former Zed’s Ethiopian Restaurant. With over thirty years of leadership experience in the hospitality and food and beverage industry, Sileshi was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but moved to the United States in the early 1970s to finish high school and attend college. Unable to return home after the civil war, he worked his way up in Marriott Hotels in New York and then in DC. Sileshi pulls from a satchel of recipes and traditional cooking techniques when sharing his culture through food.
Ana Reyes is the manager of El Tamarindo in Adams Morgan, opened in 1982. Credited with popularizing the pupusa in Washington, DC, El Tamarindo is a staple of the neighborhood. Ana herself grew up in the restaurant, which her parents opened after immigrating from El Salvador. Ana is a first-generation Salvadoran-American and also organizes projects to support Salvadoran artisans.
Andy Shallall is an artist, social entrepreneur, and founder/CEO of Busboys and Poets, a restaurant group in the Washington Metropolitan area where art, culture and politics intentionally collide over mindfully sourced food, drinks, books and event programming. With six, soon to be seven locations in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia, Busboys and Poets is a home for progressives, artists, creatives and intellectuals. Born in Iraq and immigrating to the United States at the age of ten, Andy received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Catholic University of American and attended Howard Medical School and Robert Smith’s University of Maryland School of Business. He is a husband and father of four.
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Amy Riolo is an award – winning, best-selling, author of 11 books, chef, television personality, and educator, Amy is one of the world’s foremost authorities on culinary culture. She is known for sharing history, culture, and nutrition through global cuisine. A graduate of Cornell University, Amy makes frequent appearances on numerous television and radio programs both in the United States and abroad. Amy is the brand ambassador for the Maryland University of Integrative Health and the Pizza University and Culinary Arts Center. In 2019 she launched her private label collection of premium Italian imported culinary ingredients called Amy Riolo Selections.
This Context for Today: Salvadorans in the DMV web page focuses on contextual resources relating to the largest Latino/a/x group in DC, including a video of the March 18, 2021 DC History Center program with Ana Patricia Rodríguez, PhD, José A. Centeno-Meléndez, and Abel Nuñez. The page also features a reading list developed by Rodríguez and Centeno-Meléndez further exploring Salvadoran and other specific DC-area Latino/a/x communities, including Afro-Latino Washingtonians.
For pushing D.C. into its current status as a world-class foodie destination, and for his socially responsible contributions to his adopted community, José Andrés is the 2017 recipient of the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.'s (now DC History Center) Making D.C. History Award for Distinction in Corporate Achievement.
José Andrés is known as a culinary innovator, author, educator, TV personality, and humanitarian ―and as the man who brought tapas to D.C. Born in Mieres, Spain, Andrés emigrated to the United States in 1990 and three years later launched his groundbreaking restaurant Jaleo at Seventh and E Streets, NW. There Washingtonians discovered the delights of small plates. And just as the small-plate trend has spread, so has José Andrés’s influence. As the chef and owner of ThinkFoodGroup, Andrés routinely wins accolades for his D.C.-area restaurants―including Minibar by José Andrés, Beefsteak, China Chilcano, Jaleo, Oyamel, and Zaytinya―and those in several other cities. But feeding the well-off is not Andrés’s only concern. This visionary thinker has championed the role of chefs in the national debate on food policy. In 2012 he formed World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit whose mission is to end hunger and poverty by empowering communities and strengthening economies. In 2013 he began teaching a course at George Washington University on how food shapes civilization.
Food for the People: Eating and Activism in Greater Washington is an exhibit produced by the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, April 17, 2021 – September 17, 2022. Among the issues the exhibit explores is the role immigrants play in DC foodways.
NBC Washington, November 19, 2019: Dive into how pupusas, El Salvador's national dish, made their way from El Salvador to Washington D.C. and what makes this dish special to the District's culinary scene.
A map of selected closed and extant Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants in NW DC, created for Context for Today, Who Feeds the District? Is your favorite haunt of yore missing? Send additional resources and/or edits to library@dchistory.org. We appreciate your efforts and contributions!
Washington odyssey : a multicultural history of the nation's capital
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Historic restaurants of Washington, D.C. : capital eats
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Recognizing that our current collections do not significantly reflect the Latina/o/x communities of Washington, DC, in 2021 the DC History Center launched an initiative to compile a resource guide to amplify the holdings of local repositories and identify records in private hands. The goal is to help researchers of all stripes gain a fuller understanding of the state of records created by, for, and about local Latina/o/x communities.
Our current collections do not significantly reflect the Ethiopian communities of Washington, DC.
Our current collections do not significantly reflect the Iraqi communities of Washington, DC.
Help us keep the DC History Center's guide up-to-date. Send additional resources and/or edits to library@dchistory.org. We appreciate your efforts and contributions!
