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By Joseph A. Curtatone

This week we celebrate a national holiday where people across the country will be coming together to share a meal. At the heart of this for many will be family, friends, hospitality and gratitude. There is a power in food. Food brings people together. It can also knock down barriers. We may not all speak the same language or share the same customs, but everybody eats. When people gather around a table to taste something new to them but deeply familiar for others, it draws us together.

In Somerville, we’re taking that intersection of food, community, and culture to the next level with the grand opening of Nibble Kitchen at Bow Market, a new restaurant and culinary space for classes and demos. It is the brick-and-mortar realization of a program started by our Somerville Arts Council. We saw how cultural economic development was playing a vital role in our city squares, giving us a robust, diverse, and citywide restaurant scene. Since immigrant-owned eateries have been helping to fuel our city’s economy, it made all the sense in the world to foster those local businesses and give even more people a way to become a part of it.

The Nibble program started with international market tours in Union Square. Nibble then kicked off a blog and put out a book. After that, it added cooking classes, and finally a culinary entrepreneurship program, which offers real-life vending opportunities at events and pop-ups. Two members of the entrepreneurship program, Carolina Garcia and Carolina Salinas, have also opened the new Carolicious restaurant inside the Aeronaut Brewery facility.

With the Dec. 3 grand opening of Nibble Kitchen, people will get to taste the food of what we hope will become a whole new generation of eateries in our city. It’s located right in the heart of Union Square and it’s already had a soft opening that’s drawn rave reviews. The Eater Boston website recently named chef Meqdes Mesfin’s Ethiopian brunch as a must-have. Nibble has involved chefs from Bangladesh, Brazil, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Greece, Mexico, Somalia, Venezuela, and more.

The grand opening itself is going to be quite an event, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, with samples of Nibble’s eclectic menu along with dancing and music. Yet we expect the restaurant to quickly become a local institution, featuring an ever-changing array of crave-worthy food. I’ve often said that if you want to eat your way around the world, all you have to do is come to Somerville.

And I want to circle back to how this fits into the larger theme of bringing people together. Somerville has always attracted immigrants, waves of people who came here in search of a better life and who then put their stamp on our community. It is at the very core of what makes our city such a unique place to live. Making sure the current wave of immigrants can continue that tradition, and that future waves can follow in their footsteps, is essential to maintaining the diversity on which we thrive.

We’re not taking it for granted that newcomers to our city will find it easy to plant their roots here. Nibble Kitchen is an effort to give people an authentic opportunity to find a seat at our communal table. It all starts with a simple meal, but it hopefully ends with a broader appreciation for the amazing diversity of our city. We’re a model for how cultures can collide in the best of ways, of how a city can be a place full of friends you haven’t met yet.

Our “culture” should be an ever-evolving thing. That’s why we have an arts council that decided it should start a restaurant that supports the culinary arts. When we get together, even around the simplest of things, we emerge richer for the experience. I also like to think it breathes some hope into us.

So, when you’re feeling hungry and you want a taste of something that’s authentic and delicious, Nibble Kitchen will be there for you. The food is amazing, it makes Union Square an even cooler place, and it’s the next great place to grab a meal to share in Somerville. It’s also another reminder that we’re a city with so much to offer, so much to share, so much to be thankful for … and so much to eat.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.