Evelyn Harford, Ottawa Citizen
Ahmad Altaouil was a successful chef in Syria before his family was uprooted by the civil war four years ago. He lost his restaurant and stability.
In February, Altaouil, his wife and their three children flew to Montreal where they met their refugee partner from Wakefield for Refugees, Ramez Chalhoub.
Now as a Syrian refugee recently resettled in Canada, Altaouil is looking to make a comeback. The 31-year-old chef is set to be one of 11 vendors at the first Fairbairn Food Festival in Wakefield on Saturday.
Chalhoub said that both he and Altaouil will be working to pump out the Syrian pizzas and hope the food festival will help launch their profile in the local culinary landscape.
Altaouil had asked Chalhoub if they could do something together and Chalhoub, who had been thinking about doing something with food, thought the food festival would be a good start.