ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish pizza chef Zeynel Ari invited 20 international students to a free meal in Toronto, Canada on Saturday. He’s hoping to set a precedent for generosity among other local businessmen towards those far from home.
Ari, known as Dino Dersim, migrated to Canada from the Kurdish city of Dersim, Turkey 20 years ago.
He owns Dino’s Wood Burning Pizza in Etobicoke, Toronto, an independent pizzeria that has attracted illustrious guests from all over the world, including Madonna and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
He told Rudaw on Monday he wanted to cater for “those students who were away from their families.”
“We brought joy to our guests. This could motivate other businessmen to do the same,” he said.
The Kurdish chief posted a video of the free pizza party on Dino Pizza’s Twitter account on Sunday.
The students, from as far afield as Turkey, China, and Japan, were joined by Christine Hogarth, parliamentary assistant to the minister of municipal affairs and housing.
“Thumbs up for Dino! Thanks for supporting our international students,” Hogarth said in a tweet.
This is not the first time Ari has shown such generosity. In a July 2018 trip to the Kurdish towns of Dersim and Diyarbakir in Turkey, he partnered with local restaurateurs to make pizza for more than 300 local orphans.
Some 11,685 Kurds live in Canada, according to the 2011 national census, the majority of which live in and around Canada’s biggest and most ethnically diverse city of Toronto.
Ari, known as Dino Dersim, migrated to Canada from the Kurdish city of Dersim, Turkey 20 years ago.
He owns Dino’s Wood Burning Pizza in Etobicoke, Toronto, an independent pizzeria that has attracted illustrious guests from all over the world, including Madonna and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
He told Rudaw on Monday he wanted to cater for “those students who were away from their families.”
“We brought joy to our guests. This could motivate other businessmen to do the same,” he said.
The Kurdish chief posted a video of the free pizza party on Dino Pizza’s Twitter account on Sunday.
The students, from as far afield as Turkey, China, and Japan, were joined by Christine Hogarth, parliamentary assistant to the minister of municipal affairs and housing.
“Thumbs up for Dino! Thanks for supporting our international students,” Hogarth said in a tweet.
This is not the first time Ari has shown such generosity. In a July 2018 trip to the Kurdish towns of Dersim and Diyarbakir in Turkey, he partnered with local restaurateurs to make pizza for more than 300 local orphans.
Some 11,685 Kurds live in Canada, according to the 2011 national census, the majority of which live in and around Canada’s biggest and most ethnically diverse city of Toronto.
With reporting by Emrah Akbulak
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