International food on the move: St. John's Andaluzia Market delivers via DRL bus across Newfoundland
'I grew up in a family that owns a supermarket, and I learned a lot from my father,' says owner Mohamed Kasmi
Mohamed Kasmi, the owner of Andaluzia Market, an international food market in St. John's, started to hear from people outside the capital city that there was demand for products right across the island.
Now, twice a week, orders are loaded onto a DRL bus and delivered to about 15 different families and customers to 25 locations in Newfoundland.
Kasmi, 34, a married father of two originally from Morocco, arrived in Canada in 2013 as an international graduate student and completed a master's degree in education.
He started his business in 2020.
"I grew up in a family that owns a supermarket and I learned a lot from my father," he said.
The idea of opening a market in St. John's came to Kasmi from his friends and newcomers' families as there was a shortage of their own home country products.
He said he has customers who hail from a dozen countries or more, including Syria, Iran, Morocco, Algeria.
Kasmi said he just called DRL Coachlines up one day, and negotiated "a reasonable price." He said the timing is good, given the price of shipping food to the province has become more expensive.
Demand was there
Marwa Al-Maidani, a wife and mother of two children, came to Corner Brook from Jordan in 2016, after having previously fled Syria in 2012 when war broke out.
Al-Maidani studies business at Memorial University's Grenfell Campus, and her husband, Mo, works as a barber.
"Some [Arab] families came and left because they did not adapt, because there was no Arab community. For my family and me, we are happy with our presence and my husband's work is good," she said.
Al-Maidani says she used to ask her friends from Corner Brook when they visited St. John's to bring back some ingredients for Arabic food.
"There is a seven-hour drive between us and St. John's, so it was not easy to bring Arabic products, especially halal ones, and she tried to convince the shops that sell Arabic food to deliver from St. John's to Corner Brook."
But the idea didn't catch on — until Kasmi was convinced that there was a market for ingredients to be delivered by bus.
Al-Maidani now buys many of the ingredients for her traditional Syrian dishes, which she can cook for her children who may taste them for the first time.
Al-Maidani said it was because of the delivery option that she could stock up for Ramadan. That included such items like drinks that are consumed for Ifatr — a breakfast meal — such as tamarind, qamar al-din and bulgur, which is one of the main ingredients in Syrian and Arabic food.
'It was exhausting' getting Arabic products before
Omar Al-Sayed Ali, 40, came to Canada from Lebanon eight years ago. Originally from Syria, Ali lives in Gander with his wife and four children and works in a fast-food restaurant.
Getting ingredients used to be a big ordeal.
"We used to visit St. John's about six times a year so that we could buy Arabic products. We used to travel, for example, by car and rent a night or two at a hotel in St. John's. It was exhausting," said Ali.
But now that Andaluzia delivers, Ali's family can cook traditional meals much easier.
Souad Al-Masri, Ali's wife, said she found the first year in Gander difficult, due to the weather and language barrier.
But the people, she said, could not have been more welcoming.
"Some of the Canadians, who have become our friends now, were looking for our customs and occasions, such as the month of Ramadan, [how] to make our adaptation easier," Al-Masri said, adding the delivery of Arab products will make the sharing of cultures even more accessible.
As for the actual transport of the products, Jason Roberts, owner of DRL Coachlines, said it's a business venture that works on several levels.
"We are delighted to be a part of food sustainability solutions in Newfoundland and Labrador, by being a daily shipper, along with our daily passenger service across the province," he said.
"It is a great partnership with Anadaluzia, and we will support them any way we can."
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