Fuji at Assembly is one of the four local restaurants that will be participating in the Taste of Somerville passport addition.

By Bella Levavi

Food festivals can be fun for all in attendance, but while restaurants are extremely short staffed this summer it is unreasonable to bring restaurants to the street for Taste of Somerville and Cambridge. Welcome to: Taste of Somerville passport addition.

This year, Taste of Somerville and Cambridge will help restaurants as well as allow people to try food from across the area. To sign up for the passport one must go on their website (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-taste-of-cambridge-somerville-21-tickets-157845422909?aff=CambridgeWebsite) and donate $30 to the passport program.

This money goes directly to local restaurant workers and non-profits.

The passport holders will dine at four participating restaurants from July 1 to August 15 and receive stamps in their passports from the restaurants. Once they have all four stamps, the diners will win four $25 dining vouchers for future visits.

 “We’ve had very successful outdoor taste events that have benefited the community and promoted restaurants,” Stephen Mackey, President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce Somerville, said. “That was interrupted last year, so this year we thought we would try something different.”

Mackey explained that the state was interested in seeing the community collaborate in recovery programs, so the Chamber of Commerce for Somerville and Cambridge came together to create this event. The two Chambers also brought in the local universities to participate in Taste this year.

Restaurants and nightlife in Somerville experienced hard losses from the past 15 months due to the pandemic, so this event is attempting to make up for some of the lost revenue from that time. With many Somerville restaurants closing these past months, the community and Somerville groups are working to help the restaurants that have sustained themselves bounce back.

“Our business can’t make back up the losses we incurred,” Jimmy Liang, CEO of JP Fuji Group and owner of Fuji at Assembly, who is participating in the passport program, said. “Hopefully, our business will survive and thrive. Beyond putting in a hard day’s work there isn’t much else we could do.”

“We love supporting anything that the Chamber of Commerce is doing and the Taste of Somerville is a great way to welcome back customers to the restaurant and also support our local small businesses,” Greg Coughlin, Owner of Olde Magoun’s Saloon, who is also participating in Taste, said. “Especially since the pandemic, we’re so grateful to the city and neighbors for keeping it local.”