The Eternal Supper
An Invitation to Share the Journey….
On International Woman’s Day we launched a series of posts on Instagram inspired by a collaborative project with Tashina Suzuki. We commissioned a painting named The Eternal Supper that highlights our family’s indigenous heritage. The process was transformative. We saw Villa Jerada's (VJ) brand heart anchored in the roots of our native values. Honoring women & our ancestor’s, embracing our culinary heritage, emphasizing relational interactions, reciprocity, & interconnection stand as core values that influence everything we do. Having women seated at the table confirmed our core belief that sharing food creates community when done at a table of belonging. We have committed to nurturing these values by implementing a program that advances the skills & aspirations of our female staff & continuing to align our business practices with social impact.
Prints can be purchased through the artist at: Tashina Suzuki
Meet the family: Leander, Ninona, Mehdi & Asher Boujrada
Join us at a table of belonging
We share these values by inviting you to join us at The Eternal Supper. It is an informal gathering that entails making a dish using VJ ingredients & posting a picture of ingredients and dish with #villafoodways, & or #theeternalsupper hashtags.
Get Your Social Impact & Your Win On!!!
All pictures of dishes with the VJ ingredients used posted using #villafoodways & #theeternalsupper hashtags will result in $1 donated (up to $5 K) to the I-Collective, an Indigenous Food Collaborative. During the same period we will also run a competition called The Best Recipe Wins. When you post an additional picture holding your dish made with Villa Jerada ingredients & share the final recipe you will automatically be entered into a monthly contest for a chance to win our “Le Classique” box worth over $70.00 and a print of The Eternal Supper.
Follow our campaign on Instagram: @villajerada
Celebrating Women & Community Everyday
The Women Behind Villa Jerada
Her story is our story. The last supper becomes The Eternal Supper where ancestors and women are celebrated not for what they were given but for what they made, make and contribute in the midst of isms that aim to deny them the platform they deserve. The world is a better place when women sit at those tables where decisions are made not only as thought partners but as leaders that inspire, “transforming themselves to transform the world”. In honor of International Woman’s Day we make visible the invisible by sharing stories of the women behind the Villa Jerada brand. We put our words to action by making a commitment to create and implement a program that advances the skills and aspirations of our female staff by funding their professional development. We want to acknowledge their contribution to growing the Villa Jerada vision. We could not do this without them. Stories of their awesomeness coming in the month of March. All are welcome at her table. Belonging is at the heart of everything we do.
Fouzia Boujrada
Villa Jerada was an idea born and nurtured by Fouzia Boujrada’s feeding heart. Her ancestral foodways was the medicine that planted the seeds of change, forever transforming my relationship to food. I weep tears of joy remembering that magical month in our Moroccan home. The intuitive and methodical dance invoking the ancestors, bringing in the sacred. A Tagine passed down from her Mwi, the mother of her mother. The meal was cooked entirely by memory for digital archives are not needed when you cook from the heart. I watched in awe as she measured with only hands and eyes. A pinch of this and a touch of that calmly taking a deep breath in, pleasure rising up from the aromatic spices. Finishing it off with a final taste, smiling from ear to ear. I reflected on the dichotomy of the modern woman cooking before me. She always emphasized the importance of having a job and your own money in a time and place where women were valued for their domesticity. Yet, she was no hostage there. Instead she had reclaimed that kitchen space, cooking becoming one of her many super powers. She honors her ancestors by welcoming guests and daughter into her home with open arms, and a loving heart while continuing to feed us at a table of belonging.
Ninona Boujrada
Behind every business lives a story. An instinctive idea brought forth, nurtured and developed into an established tree. Meet Ninona Boujrada, a Villa Jerada founder who prefers to work behind the scenes as a visionary that supports and inspires the team. Her involvement in the business goes back to the beginning and likely long before that for every established idea takes time to evolve.
She always found great joy in feeding people. Detailed in her methods. Painstakingly laying out every measured ingredient, ordered by recipe steps. That changed 19 years ago when Mehdi our front facing founder came into the picture. A young couple from entirely different cultures & upbringings.
They were quite the kitchen pair. He with his strong food memories but no skills because he had never prepared a meal, & her with strong motivation to feed & connect, yet no intuitive sense for cooking. Many years & dinner parties came & went, & before they knew it, the line cook became the chef preparing every meal, nourishing their bodies, friendships & their dreams.
He encouraged & supported her in finishing her Law, Societies, Justice & Human Rights degrees, & always cheered & praised her for tackling home construction projects. It was inevitable that she would say, “go for it” when he asked to use their savings to start a food business that honored his culinary traditions.
She supported him by creating spreadsheets, helping him land his first customers, doing all the administrative & fiscal tasks, working on products & story concepts, strategic planning, campaign development & support in navigating the course. They have grown so much in their person, marriage & the business despite the odds & expectations that said they would fail. Concerns over cultural differences, & speed of the union in a backdrop of anti-Muslim sentiment were discounted by following her heart & transforming perspectives in the process.
Our trunk anchored to survive the dramatically shifting landscape. A dream still standing, enduring the impossible because of the parts not seen. Roots dig in & out reinforcing values, strengthening systems of support while feeding the Villa Jerada vision.
Alicia Pollett
It takes a community to grow a business and giving back to make it thrive. @aliciapollett has been part of the Villa Jerada team since 2017, yet we adopted her into the Boujrada family 17 years ago after our paths crossed serving tables at Wasabi Bistro. It was there a diverse group of like-minded women found our forever tribe. A natural caregiver, nurturing the business in the same way that she cultivates friendships, always with intentional connection and care. She says that food heals. The very act of feeding an expression of love, and in her family doing what words could not say. An extra serving or a prompt to “eat, eat” was her Chinese mother’s way of showing affection. Garden parties galore, a camera in hand capturing a lifetime of memories. Our food stories forever intertwined. A moment frozen, expressive in its stillness. Her photography blanketing all facets of the business. Dynamic in her skills, with expertise in project management, e-commerce, social media, marketing and website design. A builder, branching out in various directions providing the structural support to grow and bring ideas to the surface in service of the Villa Jerada vision. We have so much love and gratitude for her important contributions and have committed to funding classes for obtaining a project management certificate and building her skills in video design so that she too can thrive.
Tashina Suzuki
A North Star anchored but not visible. A business battered but not broken. She illuminates the path to Polaris, our sails catch the wind as we make the journey home. @tashina_suzuki_art , a prolific fine art painter & my old school dancing friend creates from a divine metaphysical source. Her mark made on Villa Jerada coincides with the food making part of our business. From the goats on our Amlou, to the botanical drawings on our spices, the harissa & the shakshuka shirt or even the Villa Jerada truck that roams the city delivering goodies to our family and friends. No project is ever too big.
We bring forth the ideas & she nourishes & germinates those seeds. Forever emerging to the surface, reaching towards the light, a flower buds, & a cycle repeats, feeding people in the process. Whether directing light to tell a story with her paintbrush on canvas or her feet on a dance floor, her creations will take you on a winding journey of transformation.
So much gratitude to my sister for bringing her feminine intuition to the table when collaborating on making the invisible visible by getting rid of the men and knocking off the roof to create The Eternal Supper. Profound & symbolic, given the emphasis on honoring our women & our families Tlingit, Mexican and Amazigh indigenous roots. Our native cultures were matriarchal & a woman’s place at the table was one of empowerment and balance between her male counterparts. Patriarchy & the privilege & imbalance it creates does not reflect our Indigenous ways.
Tashina connected us to the infinite universe, weaving the people and ideas of the past into the present while simultaneously helping us to envision a transformative future that reestablishes the balance by challenging the status quo. Villa Jerada was transformed by her ability to guide us back to our heart story & our ancestral roots.
Meet the Chefs
Yasmina Ksikes
Yasmina Ksikes is the creator of Lalla Mina, a culinary dream that manifests itself through this Morocco-born chef’s loving desire to share with others. The mother to 2 beautiful children. Yasmina loves bringing people together around celebrations where traditional ingredients, local produce, textures and nomadic stories create a culinary experience beyond a simple symphony of flavors.
Sabrina Tinsley
Sabrina Tinsley founder, chef and owner of Seattle’s beloved La Spiga restaurant, iron chef contender and respected community mentor. Her love of fresh and seasonal foods was ignited in her family home in Alaska where she grew up cooking with her mother using fresh herbs and vegetables from the family garden and wild fish from Alaska’s bounty. Her food pays homage to Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region at their welcoming neighborhood spot.
Renee Erickson
Renee Erickson, a Seattle native, James Beard award winning chef, critically acclaimed book author and co-owner of Walrus & the Carpenter, The Whale Wins, Barnacle, Bar Melusine, Bateau, Westward, & General Porpoise Doughnuts coffee shops, highlights in her beautifully designed spaces the bounty of the Pacific Northwest with a European sensibility. Her food, casual style & appreciation of simple beauty inspires locals and food lovers from afar.
Emily Crawford Dann
Emily Crawford Dann the chef and co-owner of the beautiful and revered Corson Building serves a menu anchored in a deep respect and connection for the Pacific Northwest and the fresh ingredients the region provides. She is a salad aficionado who values relationships and sourcing from farmers, wine makers, importers, foragers and artisans that her team loves, honors and respects.
Zarah Khan
Zarah Khan, was previously the chef at London Plane and has officially traded the rain for the sun to become a chef at Botanica Restaurant and Market. Her strong connection to the land was nurtured by her background in environmental studies and forestry. Hardworking farmers inspire her food story on the daily. Relational values abound with the community she has built through food and place.