ASAM Co-Director Dr. Fariha Khan's course on Asian American food has been featured in Penn Today! The article highlights how the class connects students with Philadelphia’s immigrant Asian communities through the powerful lens of food.
Rahim Ullah’s halal food truck is a lunchtime staple for Penn students along Spruce Street, where they line up every day for the meat, rice, and vegetables he prepares from the bright red cart. Shawarma and crispy falafel are all served with energy and enthusiasm.
Ullah’s journey from Pakistan to Penn was an arduous one, taking him through 10 countries, a harrowing experience in the Panamanian jungle, and years of cooking and saving to buy his own cart.
While it began with a dream to become a cricket superstar—he still plays, on his lone day off—he loves his life and the business he has built, he said, speaking recently to students in Penn’s Asian American Food class. He is one of many guest speakers who have shared their experience with the students there.
Fariha Khan, a folklorist who is co-director of the Asian American Studies (ASAM) program, says she chose food as a path to study the broader immigrant community because food is a universal attribute. “It’s perhaps one of the best expressions of identity, when we share food, when we cook food, when we talk about our food habits,” she says. “It’s really about who we are.”