Stratford food truck brings a taste of Afghanistan to its menu

Tired of moving from one war-ravaged region to the next and then constantly changing jobs after coming to Canada, Sayed Mohamed is enjoying the slower pace and independence of running a food truck in Stratford.

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The 55-year-old from Afghanistan is about to spend his first summer in the city, setting up shop in the KW Surplus parking lot on Huron Street and serving a mix of traditional Canadian fare and delicacies that remind him of life in Kabul.

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“I like cooking,” he said. “I make it good, nice, and I know lots of different foods.”

Mohamed runs the truck with his wife, whom he put in Russia – then the Soviet Union – after moving there in 1987. Life in Afghanistan was difficult for Mohamed, a trained helicopter pilot. He left the country when he was still a teenager after the government pushed for its citizens to join the army and go to war.

“Everything I remember, I don’t want it again,” he said. “Everything I saw, we lost everything.

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“Every day there’s bombs and killing people for many years, every day.”

Mohamed and his wife had a child in Russia, but they joined him in Canada a few years after he moved to Toronto in 2003 in search of something better.

“Life back home is war,” he said.

Mohamed spent years working different jobs in Canada, usually moving on after the company left or downsized or went bankrupt. It was time for something different.

“We worked very hard, saved money to open this business,” he said.

Kalaras – named after his three children – started serving mostly burgers and fries in Shakespeare in 2022. After two years, Mohamed decided to move down the highway and capitalize on more traffic on one of Stratford’s busiest streets that’s also within walking distance of its high schools .

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The support has been positive, Mohamed said, with some customers making it a regular stop once or twice a week.

“The food truck is good,” he said. “I tried to keep it a good price, and I have people come in (and say) my rice is good, cheap. Everything is high quality I bring in.”

In addition to burgers, fries, fish and chips and a hotdog with poutine, Kalaras offers Afghan meals like pulao, a rice-based dish, and bolani, which is a stuffed flatbread with meat.

The truck’s menu is set to expand Monday, Mohamed said.

“Slowly I add more food because I needed support from more people,” he said. “We live in a huge, big country. Everything grows here. We support people, and people support us.”

And, for the first time in his life, Sayed Mohamed has stability.

“Now I have a good job and try to keep this space nice and organized and delicious food,” he said. “We’ll see how long we can keep that business … and make people happy and full.”

Kalaras is open seven days a week – 11 am to 9 pm Monday to Friday, 11 am to 9:30 pm Saturday and 11 am to 3:30 pm Sunday.

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