Catering business aims to introduce Centre County to ‘the real taste of Afghanistan’

When Storai Jalali and her husband Murtaza moved to State College in 2022 as refugees from Kabul, Afghanistan, the first thing they missed was Afghan food.

“Our culture doesn’t exist in this area,” said Storai Jalali, chef and founder of Kabul Plate.

She and Murtaza previously worked as an assistant director for a nonprofit and a journalist, respectively. Within the first few months of moving to Centre County, Jalali tossed about the idea of starting a food business.

Cooking was her hobby since she was a child.

“Culturally, in Afghanistan, almost everyone knows how to cook. ... Each time you have guests in your house, it’s like at least 30-40 people you’ll have over for dinner. They’ll just come knock on your door, enter and you have to make food for them,” she laughed, “so you’re already trained as a chef.”

Jalali initially learned to cook by watching her mother, and has since developed her own cooking style by pulling inspiration from the multiple cultures represented within her family tree, as well as the diverse food culture found within and around Afghanistan.

However, soon, Jalali began working at the Penn State Alumni Association, while Murtaza currently studies at the university full time, and the possibility of opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant seemed out of reach.

“I started brainstorming with friends,” Jalali said. “I know it would be hard for me to run a restaurant because I have another full-time job and I don’t want to lose it. I love my job — but I really want this as well. .... a few friends said, ‘Why don’t you just start, instead of a restaurant, a catering business, so you can introduce your food and culture to [Centre County], and also have flexibility?’”

Kabul Plate opened for business earlier this year, providing catering for groups of 10-200 (including options like live kabab stations at events, and live kitchen cooking for in-home gatherings), plus take-out meals for individuals and families. Take-out meal menus, which post to the business’s social media channels early in the week, for weekend pick-up, are almost constantly changing, so that Jalali can introduce her growing customer base to as many different Afghan dishes as possible.

“Afghan cuisine is huge. It would be hard to do it all [at once],” she said. “I try to offer different kinds of food so the State College community can [get] the real taste of Afghanistan.”

Jalali makes everything from scrach, noting that when she initially moved to the United States, she wasn’t accustomed to the amount of canned and processed foods in the average American’s diet.

“I was raised having fresh meals, three times a day,” she said.

For consumers brand-new to the Afghan cuisine, she offered a suggestion as to what to order: qabuli palaw, one of the country’s signatures, a rice dish that incorporates lamb or beef, carrots, raisins and nuts. Other favorites, she said, include kabab teka (a marinated beef kabab) and manto (steamed dumplings filled with beef, lamb, chicken or vegetables).

While Kabul Plate has been successful thus far, Jalali still hasn’t given up on the idea of opening a physical restaurant, and plans to revisit that initial dream once Murtaza graduates from Penn State. Throughout her endeavors, though, her main goals remains the same: introducing the community to the rich culture of Afghan cuisine.

“There’s a huge difference between American culture and Afghan culture,” she said. “I had no idea before coming to the United States that American people would appreciate, so much, Afghan food.”

For more information regarding Kabul Plate’s catering options, visit sites.google.com/view/kabulplatecatering. To stay up to date on upcoming take-out menus, follow Kabul Plate on Instagram, at instagram.com/kabul_plate_state_college_pa.

Holly Riddle is a freelance food, travel and lifestyle writer. She can be reached at holly.ridd@gmail.com.