The Tamesis
Several pairs of hands help scrape the steaming couscous into a large bowl, while others peel the potatoes, carrots and onions. The small kitchen was crowded with more than 10 women, chatting and laughing loudly with each other. “It’s like a wedding in Tunisia! There, all the women always make couscous together,” said Salha Zaouali, a female worker at the Al Ciliegio restaurant, located in the Sicilian town of Salemi, about an hour’s drive from Palermo, on a property confiscated by the Mafia. Here, immigrant women from North Africa cook alongside women from Sicily, sharing recipes and learning Italian along the way, giving them the opportunity to fully integrate into the local community.
Al Ciliegio’s Progetto Donna (“Women’s Project”) is now in its tenth year. For decades, Tunisian men have come to Sicily to work as fishermen, often spending months at sea. Most of their families remained in Tunisia, but over the years more and more women came to Sicily to join their husbands. Currently, about 20 women are involved in the project. “Over time, we have more than 100 women here. They acquire skills here and then apply these skills in their daily lives,” Giusy Agueli said of the concept of the project. She provides support to women who come here, helping them overcome the many difficulties that come with settling in a new country. Aquili added that initially, some women needed their husband’s permission to participate in the project. “That’s changing now. Women who have been here longer are teaching newcomers, they don’t need to ask. You can decide for yourself.”
Cooking and coming together through food are at the heart of Progetto Donna. “Traditionally, these women knew how to cook, and they could express themselves through cooking and share their creations with others. That’s very empowering,” explains Aquili. “That’s the starting point for a project like this: the realization that ‘I can do something myself.'” So cooking became a way to help each other bring out the best in each other. “At a time when immigration is under attack across the globe, Al Ciliegio and its women’s projects stand as a shining example of integration and cultural exchange.
