strong ‹‹ HOPE & RESILIENCE
KERESHMEH KASHEFIAN W LEWISBURG, GREENBRIER COUNTY Food and Gratitude Kelly’s Persian Food appreciates its customers. my family and i have always enjoyed preparing the foods of our native country. At home, I would prepare my family’s favorite traditional food. In Lewisburg, my husband and I learned that lots of Persian spices are not normally used to prepare traditional American dishes. Spices found in Persian foods include saffron, turmeric, sumac, and cardamom. Persian herbs come in great variety and provide different flavors whether they are used fresh, cooked, roasted, or sautéed. Persian food culture has a rich history of traditional dishes, pastries, and delicious soups. I am Kereshmeh, founder of Kelly’s Persian Food. This small business was registered in the state of West Virginia in 2016. We began with a few items to explore whether we could build a customer base for our distinctive flavors. Our sales approach was part teaching, as we made personal contact with our customers through catering and through participating in local farmers markets. The reception was warm, and the business grew. In 2019, my husband joined Kelly's Persian Food full-time. We added catering and expanded to other farmers markets in Charleston and in nearby Virginia. Now we have faithful and loyal customers. We are Persians and originally from Tehran, the metropolitan city of Iran. We decided to apply for green cards when my children were very young and had the great opportunity to move to the United States after 17 years. We initially made the decision because, in the United States, people have much more freedom than Iran and also because the opportunities for individuals are almost endless! In Iran instead, people are forced to follow the strict guidelines of the government. I have lived through the times when there was war between Iran and Iraq. The war between the two countries was ugly, with bombardments happening in Tehran and lack of available food supplies for the people. Tehran also has a long history of air and noise pollution. More than eight million people live there. After all the instability and lack of personal freedom, we applied for green cards to emigrate to the United States. We had almost forgotten our application and, when we learned that we had been approved, it was a surreal feeling. We chose a more rural place, Lewisburg. It was an excellent choice. We are
Timing is Everything Small Town Market opens in Clay just in time.
Food has been less plentiful than usua l everywhere lately but, in the months before the pandemic, Clay County was a true food desert. The Clay IGA, the last grocery store in the county, closed in June 2019, and some residents had to drive an hour to get to a full- service grocery store. Clay native Sarah Williams and her husband happened to be just about to address that when the pandemic hit. They’d unveiled their plans for Small Town Market in January and renovated their space through February to the excitement of a growing Facebook following. They set an opening date of April 1. Then the stay-at-home order went into effect, and the region immediately experienced a meat shortage. Small Town Market had meat, so they opened five days early. The market did a brisk pickup business all through the stay-at-home. It may be the funnest grocery store in the state, with frequent announcements of new West Virginia-made products and giveaway drawings. The most generous market, too: On Sundays, the couple closed the store and delivered to the homebound for free.
still awed by the amazing mountains, an incredibly beautiful nature, and also nice and friendly people in the communities. Five years after moving to Lewisburg, we had the privilege of being naturalized and becoming citizens of the United States. We are so grateful for
all of the heartfelt support, feedback, and kind words from all of Kelly’s Persian Food’s customers. Our customers warm our hearts and encourage us to serve them under any circumstances. You can support your favorite locally based small businesses in numerous ways. In the state of West Virginia, we are so fortunate to have amazing local businesses, such as the Turnrow Appalachian Farm Collective. They work hard every day to receive locally grown and prepared food orders online and then distribute them at hubs across the state, where customers can enjoy their favorite products. Please stay safe, take care, and follow the special COVID-19 guidelines. These tough times, though, bring our hearts so much closer. It took us 17 years to get green cards and another five years to become naturalized citizens of the United States of America. Together, we shall all survive.
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