A married couple who fled Haiti for Virginia achieved their American dream when they opened a variety market on the Eastern Shore, selling hard-to-find spices, sodas and rice to the region’s growing Haitian community.

When they added a Haitian food truck, people drove from an hour away for freshly cooked oxtail, fried plantains and marinated pork.

But Clemene Bastien and Theslet Benoir are now suing the town of Parksley, alleging that it forced their food truck to close. The couple also say a town council member cut the mobile kitchen’s water line and screamed, “Go back to your own country!”

“When we first opened, there were a lot of people” ordering food, Bastien said, speaking through an interpreter. “And the day after, there were a lot of people. And then … they started harassing us.”

  • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    That’s the sort of thing we eat down here all the time. What’s wrong with fried plantains? Oxtail is kind of hit or miss, but if you know someone who can cook it well… 👩‍🍳😘 Truly divine. And who hates marinated pork? It makes the best tacos.