Nibble Kitchen debuts at Bow Market in Union Square on December 3. — Photo by Gilbert Yap

The Somerville Arts Council and Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone present Nibble Kitchen: Global Eats by Local Peeps Restaurant Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting on Tuesday, December 3, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at 1 Bow Market Way (entrance by 345 Somerville Ave.), Union Square.

The restaurant, located at Bow Market in Union Square, Somerville, will feature a wide-ranging international menu featuring chefs from Somerville’s rich immigrant communities. The menu will rotate day by day, and includes: Venezuelan arepas, Ethiopian wots, Brazilian street food, Bolivian cuisine and delicious Bengali fare.

Only in Somerville will you find such an innovative concept and a menu so adventurous and diverse. Go to nibblesomerville.com for much more information. “Nibble Kitchen supports culinary entrepreneurship in our immigrant communities and celebrates multiculturalism through food,” said Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone. “This project reflects Somerville’s steadfast commitment to supporting immigrant residents and recognizes that immigrants fuel our economy – especially the local food economy.”

Like the overall Nibble initiative, which includes tours of Union Square’s international markets and a lively website, Nibble Kitchen has a strong social justice and economic development component. Their entrepreneurs are predominantly female, and hail from their immigrant communities. Nibble Kitchen will allow them to test out restaurant concepts in a low-risk environment before launching independent businesses and share their cultures via food.

Nibble Kitchen aims to keep Union Square deliciously diverse and thus plays an important placemaking role

During the Grand Opening, each of the Nibble chefs will offer bite-size morsels. Until they run out, they’ll offer samplings of Venezuelan arepas, Brazilian acarajé, Ethiopian fir fir, and a Bengali ghugni salad. The idea is to whet your appetite so you will come back for more another day. There will be music, dancing and a Nibble tiger serving a hot Bolivian peanut drink called chicha de maní.

Because they are offering small nibbles, they also invite the public to explore all of Bow Market by sampling other restaurants’ fare.

Before the big opening day, they will be testing operations and menus and are fully open to the public. The public is invited to come and be the first customers to give them some feedback.

The Global Nibble Team Nibble chefs hail from our immigrant communities and include: Sandra Suarez, Afruza Akther, Meqdes Mesfin, Robson Lemos, Carolina Garcia, and Carolina Salinas. In addition to these chefs who are part of current restaurant rotation, other Nibble participants include Estela Calzada, Katerina Kourati, Carolina Rendon, and Nimco Muhammad Hassan; these participants play an ongoing role with special events, cooking classes, and festival vending. The chefs have gone through the Nibble Culinary Entrepreneurship training program.

Collectively, they represent Bangladesh, Brazil, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Greece, Mexico, Somalia, and Venezuela. The Kitchen Manager is Aly Lopez and the Culinary Coordinator is Judy Yao.

Nibble is the culinary arm of the Somerville Arts Council. The program celebrates cultural exchange, spurs cultural economic development, and supports immigrant communities. Nibble was launched a decade ago, as part of Somerville Arts Council’s ArtsUnion initiative, which has transformed Union Square through innovative cultural economic development work.

Nibble started with Union Square international market tours; next came a blog and then a book. They then added cooking classes, and finally a culinary entrepreneurship program, which offers real-life vending opportunities. The long-term goal has always been a brick-and-mortar Nibble restaurant and they are thrilled to now have one, right in the heart of Union Square, where the Nibble work all began.

Nibble is a Somerville Arts Council/City of Somerville program. Partners include the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development and the restaurant has been generously funded by MassDevelopment.