A group of migrant women from Syria, Libya and Morocco attending a vegetarian and gluten cooking workshop organised by Friends of the Earth Malta and the Mediterranean Culinary Academy.

Local voluntary organisation the Migrant Women Association Malta (MWAM) has launched a campaign on Maltese crowdfunding platform ZAAR to raise funds for a new food truck initiative, which seeks to bring world food closer to Malta and empower migrant women.

The SAHA! Migrant Women Food Truck will bring mobile access to Syrian, Moroccan or Lebanese cuisine on the island, while also giving an opportunity to marginalised communities that have difficulty in accessing employment, such as migrant women. The initiative aims to bring people together from countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Morocco, Libya, Syria, Spain, Portugal, France and Romania, unifying them through their shared love of cooking great food.

“With over 85 per cent of female asylum seekers in Malta and many women suffering from discrimination and gender-based violence, migrant women are left behind and lack opportunities that create a better future for themselves and their families,” says Steven Frigerio of the MWAM.

“However, they are also hugely talented cooks, who put together mouth-watering menus that will transport your palate around the world without ever having to step outside Malta. The SAHA! Food Truck will be a great way of offering these women the opportunity of dignified employment, while serving incredible food and connecting different cultures together, including the Maltese.”

While the funds to purchase the food truck itself are already in place, extra funding is still required to refurbish it and begin operations, which the MWAM hopes will be raised via the crowdfunding campaign on ZAAR.

The campaign’s €26,000 total funding goal will cover the costs of adding new cooking hobs and appliances to the truck’s kitchen, purchasing cooking utensils, buying uniforms and kits, painting and designing the truck and buying the supplies necessary for the initial operation including ingredients and beverages.

Having crowdfunded for the initial operations, MWAM forecasts that the revenues made from catering events will cover the long-term costs of running all future food stalls and festivals and the maintenance of the food truck, as well as providing a steady income to the women cooking and selling the food.

Visitors are invited to go to www.zaar.com.mt for more information.