The Global Table

Amid a worsening crisis, refugees have found an enthusiastic welcome in the food world. Tamar Adler reports on a feel-good (and delicious) culinary trend.

“AT HOME, THEY USED to call me ‘the one who stops the rains.’ ”

I’m speaking to Tatenda Ngwaru, a very tall, very beautiful 30-year-old from southern Zimbabwe, who is gently stirring a pot of fragrant chicken stew. She is at once exuberant and composed, and casually stylish in stone-washed black jeans, black Vans, and a black caftan.

She’s also in the midst of cooking for 28: tonight’s by-invitation-only Displaced Kitchens dinner, an installment of a popular series by the food-event start-up Komeeda. I’ve volunteered to be Tatenda’s sous-chef—which so far largely involves staying out of her way as she measures curry powder, soy sauce, and salt and gets her stew to a proper simmer. This is a high-stakes night for Tatenda, the first time she’s brought the flavors she grew up with to a fickle New York dining crowd. I fetch her mixing bowls—to be filled with sweet boiled butternut squash and sautéed spinach—and ferry cutting boards to the dishwasher, easy assignments that don’t make her anxious. “I speak my mind,” Tatenda warns me. “That’s what got me here!”