Coronavirus Shatters One Chef’s Dream of Helping Immigrant Women
Asma Khan has attracted worldwide attention at Darjeeling Express
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Asma Khan spent years working to create a restaurant business staffed by home-taught female chefs that would celebrate the food of her native Kolkata and provide support to immigrant women and their extended families back home. The last thing she expected was for a deadly virus to bring all of her efforts to a shuddering halt.
Asma started with dinner parties in 2012, progressed to supperclubs, hosted a residency in a London pub, and finally in 2017 she fulfilled her dream and opened the Darjeeling Express restaurant. She and her staff of 22 (21 of them women) served lunch as usual on Monday before Prime Minister Boris Johnson said people should stay away from public gatherings at places such as bars, cafes and restaurants. (Last night, he ordered a shutdown.)