Comfort Food Pakalachian Style

What do you get when an ethnic Pakistani man runs into a young Appalachian woman on a crowded college town street? How about a new form of cooking, an environmentally friendly food-truck business, and two hard-charging millennials who are out to make the world a better place?

Mohsin and Katlin Kazmi met while attending Virginia Tech and shared many classes while pursuing the same Bachelor of Science degree. They reconnected on the streets of Blacksburg a year after graduation, and romance ensued.  

We met the Kazmis at the Barter Theater II Stage kitchen—home commissary for the Pakalachian Food Truck—where they were prepping for an appearance at the Abingdon Farmers Market. By the time we arrived, Katlin was covering pans of homestyle mashed potatoes (her grandmother’s recipe) and Mohsin was making curry. The couple talked nonstop about their venture as they worked.

“The Barter community has been amazing,” Mohsin said. “They welcomed us into this kitchen and we use it as our own. Environmental impact is a big part of how we approach all decisions – why build something new like a prep kitchen, if a place already exists?” he said.

“The Pakalachian Food Truck really just happened by chance,” Katlin said. “After we married, I would prepare the foods I grew up with and put them on the table for our friends and family. Mohsin would do the same with Pakistani food, and everyone began putting everything together.” It soon became apparent the couple had an opportunity to share their culinary capabilities with a wider audience, so the food truck adventure began with an empty 1996 step van that the couple purchased in 2016. With the help of friends and family, they built the interior of the truck from the ground up and opened for business in April 2018. 

‘Intentionally vague’

The first entree we sampled was the dish that started the food truck business, Curry Me Down South, a tomato-based chicken curry on Southern mashed potatoes with optional green chutney. Next, we tried Fried Green Tomater Pakoras. This is the Pakalachian’s take on traditional fried green tomatoes, served with a tamarind imli for dipping. Pakoras are a common Pakistani street snack, but typically do not have green tomatoes added to the mix.

We learned that a Pakistani restaurant would never put foods in compartmentalized boxes, because everything is meant to be eaten together.

We also tried Tikka My Senses, a marinated chicken breast, breaded, deep fried, and eaten with sliced pickles on a bun—similar to a familiar chicken sandwich but with the pop of a Pakistani tikka marinade. Crinkle fries with aloo bhaji seasoning were included. 

“Our menu is intentionally vague, changing seasonably depending on what is available locally,” Mohsin said. “Folks may say, ‘Well, I know what fried green tomatoes are so I can try this new food.’ We encourage discourse. We want to have conversations with our customers.”

The Kazmis see much overlap in the Appalachian and Pakistani cultures, once even creating a Venn diagram to see how the two cultures overlap.  

“We found more items in the overlapping center parts than in the outer circles,” Mohsin said. “Both groups even have things like cornbread, although they are prepared differently.”

Katlin grew up in Castlewood, Virginia; Mohsin was born in New Jersey.  Mohsin likes to joke that although he was born and spent his childhood in Jersey, he actually came of age in the Old Dominion, as that’s where he had the opportunity to explore mountains, learn about native wildlife, and experience the freedom that rural communities like Floyd and Riner provided while he was in college. “We love it in Southwest Virginia,” Mohsin said. “This is an authentic place with genuine people.”

The couple labor at multiple vocations, both emphasizing that they are out to disprove the stereotype that millennials don’t want to work hard. As well as owning and operating the food truck, Katlin is a middle school administrator in Washington County, while Mohsin is a conservation photographer and co-owner of Tamandua Expeditions, a company that promotes ecotourism and conservation in the Peruvian Amazon rain forest. 

“A food truck lets us set our own schedule and keep our other careers as well. We try to serve two to three days a week in the busy summer season,” Katlin said. “It is not unusual for me to be at my school job until 4, then join Mohsin and cook until 10 that evening. You may also find us working in our garden or taking pictures together at a local venue if we don’t have a food truck gig.”

Nothing in their dishes comes from a commercial restaurant supplier. Instead, they use purveyors like Southern Culture, Dutt and Wagner, local farmers, and their own garden. One of their near-future goals is to be 100 percent locally sourced.  

It is also important to the Kazmis to operate in a sustainable manner.  The serving containers and cutlery are all biodegradable. The Kazmis recently purchased a centrifuge with the plan to recycle their cooking oil and turn it into biodiesel to power the food truck. Another area they are exploring is the use of solar panels. All food waste is composted.

With help from family

Both Southwest Virginia and Pakistan are agriculturally-based cultures that honor hard work. Supportive extended families are the norm in both value systems. On the day we visited, Katlin’s father and grandfather were manning stations inside the truck. They are with them at every event and the couple is grateful for the opportunity to work side-by-side with family.

A major focus of The Pakalachian is to extend to the community the things they value—for Mohsin, conservation and the environment; for Katlin, education. Interacting with customers gives them an opportunity to share and build awareness of what they hold important.

Mohsin sums up how they feel.    

“We just want to leave this world a little better than it was before,” he said. “It’s about doing something meaningful. If you don’t run your business in a way that supports your community and the values you want to impart to the people that live there, is it even worth it?” 

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Other entrees sometimes on the menu include Not Your Dadi’s Beans & Bhindi (an okra dish accompanied by soup beans and cumin cornbread crumble) Born and Cornbread (chick pea choley masala, plus a cumin cornbread crumble) and Samosa Pot Pie and I Shut My Mouth (vegetarian pot pie hand wrapped and fried in a crispy samosa shell, served with dipping sauces).

For more information: thepakalachian.com