Gastroadvocacy

At this time of deep division, we all wake up every morning wondering what we can do to act, help and change things. We’ve decided to engage in the fight against a new intolerance in America; we’re convinced that you too are looking for ways to help immigrant communities at this moment.

Immigrant Food is a restaurant company of advocacy, change, and community. We serve World Flavors with a Mission. Why a restaurant? Because restaurants have always been the place where immigrants made a living, created community and showed off the cooking of their heritage. We’re taking it a step further and also making this restaurant a place to advocate.  Call it gastroadvocacy.

When you scroll through your newsfeed, you might think immigration is contentious and divisive. It’s not! Americans still overwhelmingly believe immigration benefits our country. Three out of four Americans say they think immigration is a “good thing” for the U.S., according to a recent 2021 Gallup poll. Significantly, this year’s poll is the highest number of Americans reporting a positive view of immigration since Gallup began conducting the poll in 2001!

The story of America is intertwined with the stories of countless immigrants. “America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions,” George Washington told newly arrived Irishmen in 1783. Immigration reflects our faith in the American ideal. Immigrants represent who we are. Unless you’re Native American, you have come from somewhere else and created a life in this country.

Immigrants and their children are a huge economic driving force. They built many of the cutting-edge companies that transform our lives, employ thousands of U.S. workers and make Americans proud. Did you know that 55% of America’s billion- dollar startups have an immigrant founder? The current CEOs of Microsoft, Google, Tesla, Uber, and Oracle were all born overseas. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, America’s largest company, was the son of a Syrian immigrant. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos was raised by an immigrant father from Cuba. Immigrants comprise 40% of U.S. science Nobel prizes since 2000 and make up around 25% of all U.S. science and technology workers. In sports, immigrants are America’s star athletes. In the NBA, about 20% of players were born outside the United States. In baseball, that number is close to 30%.

Let’s ask ourselves: Do we really want to stop America from being a hub for leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship in so many different fields and industries?

Immigration is a bedrock of our national strength. And that special mix of people and cultures make America great…again and again.