“There are 7 billion people in this world and we are all connected by one thing – gathering around food”

“In FireLab we cook to strengthen community, connect cultures, and celebrate creativity. We love sharing food and stories from our country (Venezuela) and elsewhere, building bridges between people and cultures using food as a universal language”

“I worked a lot, almost two days, with all my love put there to get the satisfaction of seeing smiling and pleased faces after tasting the food made by me”

“Cooking is an act of love and generosity. For me, it is very gratifying to be able to create and feed people the nourishing food that I grew up eating”

Azzezah Ali hails from Baghdad, Iraq, where she worked in education for nearly 25 years. She served as both a mentor and a supervisor, until she fled Iraq in 2015. She came to Cincinnati because of the excellent education services for her special needs son, and started a small business baking Iraqi-style pita bread in a tandoor oven.

“We like to share our food, our country, and our culture with everybody”

“I enjoy cooking because cooking always brings people together”

Maria Bhen left her homeland of Cambodia 10 years ago and settled in the United States. She just recently graduated from a local culinary program here in Cincinnati and if tastebuds are any measure, look for her and her Cambodian cuisine to stick around.