‘Every meal has a story.’ Fatema’s Kitchen food truck offers Persian flavors

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories this summer highlighting food trucks across Centre County. What should we try next? Email jmichael@centredaily.com to give suggestions.

Fatema Mosawi and Mohammad Hashami are bringing Centre County residents a taste of something different with their food truck, just as they’ve been doing with the restaurant they opened last year.

For the husband and wife duo who ended up in the area in 2023 after fleeing from Afghanistan, Fatema’s Kitchen started out in early 2025 out as a restaurant inside the C3 Complex in College Township.

Theirs was the first eatery in Centre County to offer Persian cuisine, which is characterized by delicate flavors and places a heavy emphasis on rice and slow-cooking style.

Shortly after opening their restaurant, Mosawi and Hashami debuted a food truck, which can be found at events around the area like local farmers markets and First in the Fonte Saturdays, along with other stops like Boal City Brewing and more.

The Centre Daily Times recently stopped by the food truck at the Boalsburg Farmers Market, which runs from 2-6 p.m. every Tuesday, where we caught up with Hashami as he prepared kebabs and other dishes on the menu.

“Honestly, this food is not just food, it’s like a culture that comes from the Middle East, and every meal has a unique story,” Hashami said. “Most of the people around Centre County didn’t know about this kind of food, and so we wanted to take some time to tell people about it, and to help them try it.

“It’s fresh food, it’s a unique meal in the Centre County and people have liked it so far.”

Foods rich in history and flavor

Many of the foods that Hashami serves have their own cultural history behind them, including the chicken and koobideh kebabs, which can be ordered together as a “mixed kebab” menu item, plated atop a pile of steaming saffron rice, sprinkled with a ground sumac seasoning.

In the ancient Middle East, Hashami said soldiers at war would cook the animals they hunted by skewering them on their swords and cooking them over an open flame — not dissimilar to how Hashami cooks his own kebabs.

Over time, the food became more than a wartime meal, and evolved into something that royals would enjoy due to their rich flavors and seasonings, and tender meat. Fast-forward to today, and what was once a meal for soldiers and royalty has become a tasty, flavorful one that Hashami can quickly crank out dozens of every time he opens up the food truck.

“With the chicken kebabs, we like to soak the chicken for a day in a special marinade, and then bring them to the food truck for cooking and serving,” Hashami said.

He continued, “We skewer maybe four or five of them and cook them over a grill here in the truck. They take about 10 minutes to cook, and end up being very juicy and very flavorful.”

A closer look at menu items

The koobideh kebabs, which are made from a combination of ground beef, ground lamb and various seasonings, are prepared similarly — the meat is stuck on a skewer, shaped into a kebab, and grilled over a flame for around 10 minutes before being removed from the skewer and plated over rice, with two grilled tomatoes on the side.

“Sometimes it takes a little while to prepare all of the food for people, but this is not fast food, of course,” Hashami said. “It’s a unique cuisine, and sometimes great food takes a bit longer to prepare, but it is worth it.”

Another popular item on the Fatema’s Kitchen menu is the lamb shank, which is large enough on its own to feed a hungry couple.

The shank is pre-prepared and served over a bed of saffron dill rice. While Hashami provides his customers with utensils for the shank, some may find it easier to dig in with their hands and bite the extremely tender and juicy meat right off the bone.

The food truck also offers a chicken stew known as “zereshk polo,” which includes tender braised chicken doused in a tomato sauce, served over barberry-seasoned saffron rice.

If the many meat-based items on the food truck’s menu aren’t for you, no need to worry — Hashami also serves a pre-prepared vegan eggplant stew, which includes braised eggplant with tomato and garlic served over saffron rice.

“It’s important to us that we’re able to serve everybody here, which is why the eggplant stew is on the menu,” Hashami said. “The eggplant stew is very, very good. When some people ask about a vegan option, especially at larger events, because other food traders or food trucks don’t have an option like that, we’re then able to serve them.”

Hashami said that opening the truck has been a successful endeavor that he’s looking forward to continuing.

Someday, the combined revenue of the food truck and C3 Complex eatery may even help Hashami and Mosawi open up a standalone brick and mortar restaurant, but for now, they’re just happy serving sharing their food and culture with Happy Valley.

“This is a lot of effort, but I think it’s worth it for us to get to serve this community, which deserves good Persian food,” Hashami said. “I think it’s a good experience for our customers, as they’re happy with this food, and it’s also a very good experience for us, as we are happy because the customer is happy.”

Visiting Fatema’s Kitchen food truck

Cuisine: Persian/Middle Eastern

Where to find them: Boalsburg Farmer’s Market, First in the Fonte, local breweries like Boal City Brewing and other festivals/events across Centre County

How to track them: Their Facebook and Instagram pages