Free food offer at Middle Eastern restaurant in Montreal goes viral

The idea was a spontaneous one, according to Ala Amiry.

“We didn’t plan it,” the co-owner of Marche Ferdous, a Middle Eastern restaurant in downtown Montreal, told Middle East Eye over the phone on Thursday morning.

But while the sign advertising the restaurant’s goodwill offer may be easy to miss, the initiative has helped warm hearts and fill stomachs in the Canadian city this week.

“We saw that some people are shy and embarrassed to ask for food,” said Amiry, who is originally from Iraq.

“We believe in giving to the poor and to the needy. It’s breaking our heart to see some hungry people [that] don’t have money to eat. Hunger is something that touches the dignity of humanity,” Amiry said.

Marche Ferdous is in downtown Montreal, just down the street from Concordia University and not far from an Anglican Church where many homeless and itinerant Montrealers hang out.

The modest restaurant offers Middle Eastern dishes like chicken shawarma and falafel sandwiches, kofta, hummus, rice and salads, and desserts like baklava.

A sign written in both English and French and posted on the front door by Amiry’s daughter, Ramine, invites anyone without the means to pay for a meal to come into Marche Ferdous and eat anyway – on the house.

“People with no money welcome to eat free,” it reads.

"We don't think about how much it will cost us," the restaurant’s other co-owner, Yahya Hashemi, who is originally from Iran, told CBC News this week.

“We never thought there’d be any reaction,” Hashemi also told local newspaper The Montreal Gazette. “To us, this is very normal. It’s a value we were raised with.”

The restaurant first gained widespread attention earlier this week after Montreal resident Sean Jalbert posted about his experience there on Facebook.

Curious about the sign on the door, Jalbert said he pretended to have no money and asked for food. An employee at the store told him he was welcome to choose anything he wanted to eat and drink, he said in his post. He later paid for his meal because he could afford it.

“Made me smile and warm inside,” Jalbert wrote. “I paid for my food and told them they were awesome for doing this. They said it wasn't for the holiday season, but all the time they want to encourage helping each other through tough times. Absolutely incredible.”

By Thursday morning, his Facebook post had been shared more than 5,700 times and garnered over 3,500 likes.

Amiry said before all the media attention, four or five people would come to the restaurant every day for a free meal. This week, that number has gone up. “Some people are calling us and saying, ‘You really offer food?’” he said.

Some Montrealers have even come in to donate money – some will donate $20, $30 or $50, he said – to help the restaurant keep serving free meals.

“A wonderful lady came with an envelope over the holidays and she gave us $80,” Amiry added.

“We love this city [so] much and we love this great country, Canada, and its values,” he added. “We thought of participating in this and giving back to Canada, which gave us so much and to be part of the social tissue of this society.”