Support for Refugee Start-Up

A step towards independence: our own food truck

We are Khatere and Kira. Our journey together started two years ago as part of Kira’s high school thesis. With the aim of building an intercultural bridge through cooking, Kira wrote a cookbook together with Khatere and two other refugee women. In addition to traditional recipes, the book also shared the personal stories of the three women.

Together we spent countless hours in the kitchen, creating a deep friendship despite our different ages and backgrounds. Inspired by this, we founded Afghan Laziz in 2021. The idea behind Afghan Laziz is based on the same idea as the cook book: cooking and sharing culinary treasures as a connection between people from different cultural. At the same time, it gives Khatere and her family an opportunity to achieve independence and integrate into the Swiss labor market.

We were supported by Capacity Zurich, talent & startup incubator for persons with a refugee or migrant background. A lot has happened since then: We now offer online cooking courses and have set up a catering service. Now we are planning our next step: a food truck to bring the Afghan cuisine to the streets of Switzerland.

Culinary talent, a strong work ethic and a lot of warmth and social commitment have already brought Afghan Laziz quite far, but we need your support so that our start-up can develop its full potential.

Afghan Laziz is...

◆ … a company that offers delicious Afghan cuisine with an emphasis on sustainable, organic ingredients.

◆ …a project with an extraordinary history.

◆ …a company that wants to draw attention to the plight of refugees and give them a voice.

◆ …a company that offers vegetarian or vegan options and makes an effort to minimise plastic use.

«Laziz» translated from Persian means «delicious». Behind Khatere’s exquisite food, however, much more meaning can be found: an incredible amount of love, joie de vivre and courage to start over in a new home.

Although refugees usually cannot carry many possessions with them when they cross deserts, mountains, and oceans, they nonetheless bring so much through their rich cultural heritage. Through Afghan Laziz Khatere shares the culinary treasures of her homeland with us.

We cannot do this without you!

When refugees flee from war, violence and hunger, it often has to happen within a few hours. Truly arriving in a new, foreign country takes many years and brings numerous challenges due to language and cultural barriers. Integration requires efforts from both sides. But the fruits of this labour are also shared by all of us.

We have received a lot of support from Capacity Zürich to bring Afghan Laziz to this point. We have also already held online cooking classes at staff events from companies like Credit Suisse, Generali, Dow and Corning Switzerland and presented our project to them.

Help us take the next step. We need CHF 25,000 to cover the initial costs of the food truck and to start the conversion. We will be financing the remaining CHF 10’000 ourselves. The purchase of the food truck will provide a livelihood for Khatere and her family and allow her to share her greatest passion with us: The cuisine of her home country.

With your contribution to Afghan Laziz you…

◆ …help to finance part of our food truck so that we can gain a foothold in the Swiss street food scene.

◆ …support a refugee family on their way to financial independence.

◆ …support sustainability and diversity in Swiss gastronomy.

◆ …support a company founded by women.

And last but not least, you will soon be able to taste delicious Afghan street food!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION!