eating in a diverse place , rather than hewing to an amber-glazed idea of authenticity . In their kitchens , food is a storytelling medium , a memoir about growing up at the crossroads of culture . Some are also using their platforms to allow other chefs to share their own stories and get started as entrepreneurs .
Food for blended people
If any business exemplifies Khan ’ s “ food for blended people in borrowed spaces ” motto more than A Part itself , it ’ s Hapa Wood- Fired Pizza . The mobile pizzeria has been turning out pies for three years without a permanent home . Its wheelbound oven is an Italian-made Valoriani , one of the brands approved by the Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletana — the True Neapolitan Pizza Association , a trade association that enforces a strict interpretation of the 200-year-old street food . But the pizzas that emerge from its mouth , crisp-crusted and edged with char , are unlikely to win AVPN ’ s seal of approval .
One popular option is the banh mi pizza : lemongrass-scented chicken , cilantro , pickled carrot and daikon . Other Hapa pizzas come topped with Lao sausage , Korean bulgogi , or Mexican carnitas and salsa verde . Though nontraditional , there is nothing haphazard about these combinations . In each , acidity and verdure counterpoise the richness of the cheese and meat , just as tomato and basil are in equilibrium with mozzarella in a perfect pizza margherita .
“ The name Hapa gives me an edge , where I ’ m not pigeonholed in an Italian agenda ,” says owner Jacob Fenkell , who is Filipino , white and a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma . Fenkell says he has always identified as hapa , a Hawaiian term for people of mixed race that is also in common parlance in California . His ancestors include a great-grandfather who walked the Trail of Tears , a maternal grandfather who emigrated from the Philippines as a migrant farm worker , and a paternal grandfather who wandered from Utah to California in the waning years of the Wild West .
Fenkell is among the hundreds of thousands of Capital Region residents who identify with more than one race ; according
“ There ’ s so much pressure on food to be authentic , but none of us really are .”
Areej Khan , co-owner , A Part of Roseville
to the 2020 census , mixed-race people are the fastest-growing ethnic group in Sacramento . As more members of this group become restaurateurs , concepts like Hapa Wood-Fired Pizza are likely to become more common . “ My style is like an open , blank canvas , where I put all the cultures that I have , that I represent or that I am , and the experiences that I ’ ve had ,” Fenkell says .
Reclaiming fusion
Coined in the late 1980s , the culinary term “ fusion ” was first popularized by European chefs like Wolfgang Puck and applied to Asian dilutions designed to appeal to Western audiences — think 1990s conceits like wasabi mashed potatoes and Chinese chicken salad with wonton strips in place of croutons . But some young restaurateurs are reclaiming
The krispy chicken sandwich is one of Roshan ’ s favorite items on Madar ’ s menu .
the word to describe their interpretations of the cuisines they grew up with .
Until recently , a sandwich board outside A Part advertised shwacos , pitatillas and shakshouka-stuffed pocket pies as “ Middle Eastern Fusion .” “ There ’ s so much pressure on food to be authentic , but none of us really are ,” Khan says . “ So I don ’ t mind the word ( fusion ) at all . I celebrate it . I will scream it from the top of my lungs .” Madar , a fast-casual restaurant in Arden Arcade , has also co-opted the word . The decal on its window , facing the strip mall parking lot , reads “ Afghani-Fusion Street Food ,” the words ringing the head of a woman in hijab like a halo . That woman is Munira Inon , the mother of co-owners Naseer and Farhad Roshan and the namesake of the restaurant . ( Madar means mother in Persian .)
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