Three strong and resilient women are dreaming big as they start over in a new country.
From behind the counter, Lora Elias waves to two women walking by her booth for “Everything Za’atar” at Granville Island Public Market and asks, “Would you like to try our za’atar?” Curious, the two women lean in to learn more.
Bushra Elias, Lora’s mother, who’s busy making saj, a Syrian flatbread, next to her daughter, hands them a small sample of the warm bread topped with the fragrant herbaceous spread.
“Za’atar is a Middle Eastern spice blend that we make ourselves based on an old family recipe using wild thyme, sumac, toasted sesame seeds, cumin and salt,” Lora says, and explains that for this sample, they have mixed their za’atar with olive oil to create a thick savoury paste.
Bushra, smiling as she flips and stretches the dough, carefully places it on the griddle. Once lightly brown on both sides, she spreads the za’atar oil mixture onto the flatbread, topping it with fresh mint leaves, tomatoes and cucumber.
“This is how we often eat za’atar; it’s a staple for us,” says Lora, who also mentions that her mother grew the mint herself. “We also serve freshly made croissants with za’atar at local farmers’ markets.”
Handing them one of the opened sample bottles, Lora encourages the two women to take a moment to appreciate the fragrant earthy aroma. “That’s the wild thyme, which is also called za’atar. It comes from the Middle East and is quite different from the thyme that grows here.”
The two women buy a bottle, and then as Lora and Bushra thank them, other potential customers lean in to learn more.
Bushra Elias and her daughter, Lora, share their family’s handmade za’atar — a fragrant blend of wild thyme, sumac, toasted sesame seeds, cumin and salt — a recipe passed down through generations in Syria.
Enter the Dream Cuisines program
Bushra appreciates having the opportunity to sell her custom za’atar spice blend at Granville Island, especially with her daughter by her side. And they’ve had help along the way. Since arriving in Canada, cooking became a way for Bushra to connect with her community. Everyone who tasted her food encouraged her to start her own food business. During their research, Bushra and her daughters discovered Flavours of Hope’s Dream Cuisines, a nine-month immersive program designed for newcomer refugee and immigrant women who wish to start their own food-based businesses. Bushra, encouraged and supported by Lora and her other daughter, Loujein, signed up to be a part of the 2024 cohort.
“This was the best thing that we could have ever done,” Lora says, who credits the program for guiding and preparing them to sell at Granville Island, local farmers’ markets and in retail locations. And through the process, they also learned to dream bigger. “We would like to have our za’atar in hotels and restaurants across Canada,” Bushra says, smiling.
Through Dream Cuisines, they learned everything they needed to know about starting and growing their own business and are grateful for the ongoing support from Trixie Ling, the founder and executive director.
“I want to create a sense of community, belonging and purpose,” says Ling, who believes this can all be achieved through the program and the power of food entrepreneurship. “I want the women to feel a connection to their roots and cultural and ethnic identity, to be proud of who they are and where they come from. I want them to have a voice, to tell their story and to also have a sense of reciprocity, of giving back.”
Bushra’s path
Bushra arrived in Vancouver as a refugee from Damascus, Syria. Lora and her sister Loujein had arrived on student visas four years earlier and spent much of their time trying to get their mother safely to Canada so they could all be reunited.
As a teacher for more than 25 years in Syria, Bushra arrived speaking very little English, but eager to become a contributing member of her new community. She would often cook for her daughters and their friends, as well as for their local neighbourhood organizations, proudly sharing her family’s recipes, making everything from scratch, including the za’atar, a key ingredient in most dishes.
“Za’atar is very important and very healthy,” Bushra says. “When I prepare breakfast for my daughters, it’s yogurt, cheese, za’atar and eggs. My daughter bought me a small box of za’atar from the store, but I didn’t like it because it has a different taste. So, I started to make my za’atar, the same recipe as my mom and grandmom.”
Some locally available za’atar blends incorporate additional ingredients, such as chickpea flour, to serve as a bulking agent, as sourcing authentic wild thyme can be expensive. These additives alter the taste and texture.
“When you make food from the heart, people know,” says Bushra, who learned to cook with her mother and grandmother. Both remain in Syria, and because Bushra is a refugee, she has not been able to return to visit them. Although she misses them deeply, she has found a way to stay connected to them by cooking and sharing their food. “I want to bring something from my home to the people here.”
Through her business, Dar Darak Samira Kitchen, Samira Mohammed, top left, brings the flavours of Palestine and Saudi Arabia to Vancouver, offering falafels, hummus and desserts like kanafa — a syrup-soaked pastry layered with sweet cheese.
A program of hope
Since 2020, Flavours of Hope’s Dream Cuisines has launched 15 women-owned businesses, with five more women currently in the program. All from different backgrounds, participants acquire the skills, tools and knowledge to support their families as entrepreneurs while breaking down systemic barriers in the local food system and building community connections. The non-profit program offers educational workshops, business planning, peer support, access to commissary kitchen space and farmers’ market vendor stalls as well as mentorship and a network of supportive relationships while navigating licensing and permitting requirements.
Samira Mohammed, another Dream Cuisines alumna, has also successfully launched her business, Dar Darak Samira Kitchen, which offers traditional Palestinian and Saudi Arabian dishes. She currently sells falafels, hummus and desserts, all inspired by her Palestinian mother and grandmother’s traditional recipes.
“My baklava is special, but people also get excited when they see my kanafa,” Mohammed says. She describes the beloved Palestinian dessert that features shredded phyllo dough baked with a layer of creamy sweet cheese and then drenched in rosewater syrup.
“I felt lost and alone when we first arrived,” says Mohammed, who also came to Canada as a refugee with her husband and children. “I didn’t know how to connect. But it’s so easy through food. I feel happy when I see people enjoying my food. It’s also a way to connect with my family and to teach my kids about our culture.”
Mohammed began selling food to friends two years ago. Around the same time, the manager of her building, who hosted a dinner every Tuesday night, asked her to cook one of the meals. It was at one of these dinners that she met Ling, who told her about Dream Cuisines.
She now sells her food at local farmers’ markets and Granville Island as she grows her business. Her dream is to one day have her own restaurant, where she can work side by side with her husband and children. She would also like to expand her business to sell her desserts to cafés and restaurants.
Mohammed is grateful for the support and guidance she received through the program and encourages other immigrant women with aspirations of starting their own food business to believe in themselves and to never give up.“If you have a dream, keep working and follow your [it],” Mohammed says. “Even if you fall down, we all learn and need to continue.”
Zahra Babajanipour, founder of Fariya Bakery, specializes in traditional Persian breads such as simit, barbari and poacha — a craft she began after missing the breads of her home in Iran and learning to bake them in her Vancouver kitchen.
Another Dream Cuisines alumna
Zahra Babajanipour launched her business, Fariya Bakery (named after her daughter), in 2024 after completing the Dream Cuisines program. Although she holds a master’s degree in international relations and an MBA from one of Iran’s top universities, she didn’t initially plan to start her own business when she came to Canada. But when she and her family settled in Mount Pleasant, she found there were few places in her neighbourhood that sold traditional Persian breads.
“In my country, you would just go to the shop to buy the bread. I never tried to make the bread,” Babajanipour says. “But here, I missed my bread. And I thought I could maybe make something. I went to YouTube to see how I could make it. After some tries, I found a good recipe. And the bread was getting so good. It was my husband who encouraged me to start a business.”
Through friends, she met Ling, and soon found herself in the same cohort as Elias and Mohammed at Dream Cuisines. She now sees herself as an artisanal baker specializing in making and selling traditional Persian breads, including her signature simit (round-braided bread with sesame seeds, similar to a bagel), barbari (classic Persian flatbread), poacha (a traditional cardamon bread served plain or stuffed), firinda (savoury flat- bread served with different toppings) and Persian-style garlic bread.
She sells her breads at local farmers’ markets, Granville Island and through her website. She also offers catering services and plans to eventually sell sweet breads, halva, baklava cake and even Persian pickles. However, she also has bigger aspirations.
“I want to also sell my food wholesale and do more catering, but my dream is to have a coffee shop,” Babajanipour says, “where I serve my bread and make it fresh.”
Flavours of Hope
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