We recently connected with Shereen Gomaa and have shared our conversation below.

Shereen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I began hosting dinner parties at my home about ten years ago, and people really liked my food! A few different people told me I should open a restaurant, so I started thinking about the idea. Around the same time, refugees started arriving in this part of North Carolina from Syria and other Middle Eastern countries. I met several refugee families shortly after their arrival, and wanted to do whatever I could to help them. I decided to combine the ideas and started a nonprofit catering company that would introduce our neighbors to the Delicious cuisine of the region. I think it is so very important for people to share a meal and get to know one another. We have more in common than we realize!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

In recent years, the North Carolina Triad (Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point area) has become the new home for scores of immigrant and refugee families from all over the world. I am a native of Egypt who loves to encourage women, and have tried to help soften the landing for many of these families, introducing them and helping them get settled in the community.

Like most of us, immigrants and refugees find comfort in the taste of their homeland. The aromatic recipes of the Middle East are particularly powerful in this regard. Even through language barriers, my new friends have bonded over homecooked meals from their native lands. What began as a delicious food swap evolved into an idea: Could these women support their families with dignity while sharing their culture through the gift of cooking?

Beginning with a series of small dinner parties, word spread about my cooking and hospitality. As more people began asking her to cater their events, I began thinking about how she could help the newly resettled refugee women arriving in the Winston Salem area.

In 2017, I formed a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization called ‘Delicious by Shereen’. The organization’s mission is to empower the immigrant and refugee community to use their cooking skills to support their families and affirm their dignity through work in order to achieve economic stability and integrate into their community.

Delicious quickly developed a loyal following around Winston-Salem, North Carolina as neighbors sought to welcome immigrant and refugee families and help them get settled into the community. I prefer not to take the credit for her friends’ work. So, she dropped her name from the brand, preferring just “Delicious” to describe the cultural culinary experiences crafted by this diverse group of resilient women.

The goals of the organization are to provide financial stability, career development, and a positive family impact by assisting economically disadvantaged, under-served immigrant and refugee women in the Triad.

Our business model is built upon social benefit for those in need. We’re interested primarily in helping people help themselves by becoming productive members of society. As the adage goes, Delicious provides a hand up instead of a handout.

While providing valuable economic opportunities to under/unemployed women in the immigrant and refugee community, Delicious also aims to foster understanding between the local resident community and newly resettled refugees by providing a forum for shared purpose (love of food) and an opportunity for learning about one another and engaging in dialogue. When people interact one on one and get to know one another’s names and personalities, true communities are born.

Today the Delicious business model remains focused on affirming dignity through a shared love of cooking. Delicious team members are contractors, so they are able to choose their hours while tending to their other obligations as parents, neighbors, volunteers, and more. Most would say that they no longer consider “refugee” as a noteworthy part of their identity; instead, they are proud to call Winston-Salem home. Their gratitude can be seen through many acts of kindness — like meals donated to the Ronald McDonald House, homeless shelters, and other services supporting families in need.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When COVID hit, our catering business disappeared overnight, I had the idea to pivot to weekly pickup meals in order to continue supporting the women that we work with. We first began in April of 2020 at a local business called Cafe Gelato in the West End of Winston Salem. Ciska Weber (the owner) was so kind and generous to let us share her space and it was such a success that we had lines going out the door! When we started looking for a bigger space, one of my friends connected me with a local market called Buie’s and we started offering weekly family pickup meals in October of 2020. We now have a selection of our products on the shelves at Buie’s in addition to offering weekly meals for 1, 2, and 4 people as well as sides, salads,and desserts for pickup every Monday afternoon at Buie’s Market. They have been fantastic to work with and we thank everyone for their support! (https://deliciousbyshereen.com/collections/this-week) We also post weekly on Facebook (@deliciousbyshereen) and Instagram (@deliciousbyshereen).

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Due to mask mandates and social distancing requirements, we had to pause our skills development classes for the refugee women, but fortunately have been able to continue with economic support through our weekly pickup meals as well as catering which has only recently started to pick back up. We are proud of the fact that we continued to work even harder during the pandemic because of the people that we support. They are amazing, hardworking women who are a credit to their community and to the Triad! Because of our work, we are fortunate to have been featured in Forbes magazine, and recongized by the UN High Council on Refugees which are amazing accomplishments for our humble organization.

It was our dream to continue to grow and support more refugee women, unfortunately there was a long pause where no new refugees were being resettled in the area. We are hopeful that we can begin working with some of the Afghan refugees who have just recently started resettlement in the area and welcome any inquiries to help them soon!

Contact Info:

• Website: deliciousbyshereen.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deliciousbyshereen/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deliciousbyshereen
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deliciousbyshereen/

Image Credits
Image Credits Mod Society Photos Aura Marzouk Dhanraj Emanuel Liz Nemeth Leslie Gauder Christine Rucker