Thread by @jrezaian

If you live in Washington DC you may have heard about Sharbat Cafe, a sensational Azerbaijani bakery that opened during the pandemic. It's owner, Ilhama Safarova, is struggling with stage 4 gastric cancer and needs support. gofundme.com/f/w9f8hw-donat…

For me this is intensely personal, because although I met her just 4 years ago and I've never been to #Azerbaijan, Ilhama is family to me.

In fact, if I've visited you at all in the last 3 years there's a good chance I brought you one of Ilhama's honey cakes, or a "medovik," as my pal @juliaioffe informed me they're called in Russian.

I've become Sharbat's biggest evangelist first, because their baked creations are that good, but even more due to my personal connection with Ilhama and her daughter, Shukrana.

You see, Ilhama's brother Mirsani, was my cellmate in Evin prison in Iran for over a year. He and I were released from solitary confinement on the same night-- Septemeber 11, 2014 -- and we spent much of the next 16 months together 24 hours a day in a single room.

He didn't speak any English or Persian. And I don't speak any Azeri or Russian. But we learned to communicate. You figure these things out if you have to. And we bonded over poorly subtitled, highly censored versions of holiday movies on Iran's state TV & our shared love of food.

Every couple of months his mother and son were allowed to visit him and depending which guards were on duty, sometimes we would feast on the many delights they brought from home 1000 km away. I grew a special fondness for the treats his wife and sisters would make.

Don't believe me? Ask @FreeNizarZakka who inherited my bed when I was finally freed. He once smuggled a letter out of prison, part of which was written to me. In it he told me how he wanted to go on hunger strike, but couldn't because of the stuff Mirsani's family would bring.

When Mirsani was released a couple of months after me, we reconnected and have stayed in touch. When he told me his niece would be coming to study in DC in seemed like the kind of full circle ending that you read in fiction, not something that happens in real life.

But sure enough, a few weeks later his sister and niece arrived in DC and have been fixtures in our lives ever since. The first time we tasted one of Ilhama's honey cake was on Nowruz. She brought to a celebration of the Persian New Year that we had in our home.

That night @YeganehSalehi told her that she should open a bakery. Ilhama said that it had always been her dream. A few months later, in the middle of the first pandemic summer, she texted me a photo of her shopfront. We've been regular regulars ever since.

And Sharbat made it's mark in DC immediately. Check out this review by my @washingtonpost colleague and friend, @tomsietsema. washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food…

Support these wonderful folks if you can. If you're not into the @gofundme route, order up some honey cake. You won't regret it, and you'll be helping an immigrant women run business that represents the best aspects of this city and country in 2023.