LAUREN IBAÑEZ / NEXTGENRADIO
What is the meaning of
home?
Jacob Wiegand speaks with Elvira Ahmetspahic, who fled Bosnia in 1992 after war broke out. She didn’t know at the time she’d never go back. Today, she’s pursuing her passion for cooking and sharing the food of her home country at her restaurant in St. Louis.
Refugee’s St. Louis restaurant offers taste of Bosnia
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ELVIRA AHMETSPAHIC: So even as a child, I loved cooking. That was just my passion, and I knew I wanted to be a chef. I wanted to go to culinary school.
My name is Elvira Ahmetspahic. I’m 50 years old. I’m originally from Bosnia, and currently, I live in St. Louis, Missouri, in Mehlville, and I’m the owner of Taste of Bosnia.
As soon as I finished middle school, I started culinary school in Bosnia, and I didn’t finish my last year because, again, because of the war.
I left Bosnia when I was 17 years old. Since the war started in 1992 we went to Germany as refugees, lived there for about five years, and since we, the war was over, we were supposed to go back. But, we decided that there was no really good life right after the war. We came through to United States.
We originally ended up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but there were no other Bosnians there, and we were placed in a kind of rough area. We heard that St. Louis had already big Bosnian population, and we decided to come here to St. Louis.
I came together with my husband, his parents, his brother and sister, and also, I was eight months pregnant when we arrived to United States.
Family is here, so that makes it home.
Always, in my mind, I had that, at one point, I will have my own restaurant that I will run the place — that I will be cooking all day long.
We opened the restaurant in June of 2021.
Our menu is basically authentic Bosnian food. Most of the items are the traditional items, something that our moms and grandmas would make at home. I do make everything from scratch.
I honestly love food. So I could never decide which one, but probably pitas. They are hand-stretched, filled dough that have different fillings in there. My favorite one is potato filling. We make them with meat, spinach and cheese. They’re just, like, flaky, crunchy and lots of carbs.
My joy comes in the cooking, like when I am in the kitchen, I’m happy. I’m in my own world.
I feel like I’m bringing them piece of Bosnian.
We do have a lot of different, I would say, nationalities coming here. There is a lot of Americans, there’s a lot of Asian people, there’s a lot of Indian people. It makes me happy to see everybody coming and trying our food.
Concept of home really means that it doesn’t matter where it is as long as you have family, and your immediate family — your kids, your parents, husband, siblings — close. That is, that is family. That is home.
Bosnian refugee Elvira Ahmetspahic always wanted to be a chef, but life and war got in the way.
After moving to St. Louis, she’s now cooking up a “Taste of Bosnia” for her new home.
“Even as a child, I loved cooking. That was just my passion, and I knew I wanted to be a chef,” Ahmetspahic said.
At 17, Ahmetspahic left her home in Bosnia when the Bosnian War started in 1992. She never went back.
“They were saying we have to flee the country, but we were thinking we will be back in a few months. So, at that point, I was still not realizing that we’re not going to be back so soon, or at all,” she said. “At this point, I have never been back.”
Ahmetspahic first fled to Germany as a refugee where she spent about five years. It was in a refugee camp where she met her future husband, Emil.
After they came to the United States, they decided to make the move to St. Louis after hearing about the significant Bosnian population in this area. Now they live in Mehlville in South St. Louis County.
St. Louis has the United States’ largest Bosnian population with an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 in the metropolitan population, according to a 2022 BBC article.
“Honestly, I love the people of St. Louis. They basically are very heartwarming. They are welcoming. Especially to us, to refugees,” she said.
Ahmetspahic’s family embraced their new home.
“We loved going to zoo, to museum, the botanical garden, Arch, all of those places in St. Louis,” she said.
Elvira Ahmetspahic, originally from Bosnia and now living in Mehlville, adds butter to pitas with cheese at her restaurant, Taste of Bosnia, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. Ahmetspahic said the pitas — dough filled with ground beef, cheese, potato or spinach — are the most popular item with customers.
JACOB WIEGAND / NEXTGENRADIO
But she still had her culinary dreams. Before she left Bosnia, she started culinary school, but it was cut short by the war.
“Always, in my mind, I had that at one point, [that] I will have my own restaurant, that I will run the place, that I will be cooking all day long,” she said.
Once her children were grown, Elvira started catering and growing her business.
Eventually she opened up the physical location, Taste of Bosnia, in June 2021 in Mehlville.
It’s at her restaurant that she’s able to share some of her home country with her St. Louis neighbors.
“My joy comes in the cooking, like when I am in the kitchen, I’m happy. I’m in my own world,” she said.
Taste of Bosnia’s most popular item with customers are pitas stuffed with various fillings including ground beef, cheese, spinach or potato.
“I feel like I’m bringing them piece of Bosnian … But this way, I introduce them like our homes, what we grew up on so they can basically taste how we were growing up,” she said.
Ahmetspahic sees people of many backgrounds coming through her door.
“Mostly, I would say it’s Bosnians, just because they know Bosnian food. But there is a lot of Americans, there’s a lot of Asian people, there’s a lot of Indian people,” she said. “It makes me happy to see everybody coming and trying our food.”
After more than a quarter of a century in St. Louis, home for Elvira is not about a physical place.
“Concept of home really means, it doesn’t matter where it is,” she said, “as long as you have family and your immediate family — your kids, your parents, husband, siblings — close … that is home.”
Emil Ahmetspahic (right) originally of Bosnia and now living in Mehlville, assists Alija Dzekic on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, at Taste of Bosnia.
JACOB WIEGAND / NEXTGENRADIO
The American flag sits next to the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, at Taste of Bosnia. Ahmetspahic left Bosnia in 1992 during the Bosnian War.
JACOB WIEGAND / NEXTGENRADIO
Elvira Ahmetspahic, originally from Bosnia and now living in Mehlville, plates a pita with cheese on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, at Taste of Bosnia.
JACOB WIEGAND / NEXTGENRADIO
Elvira Ahmetspahic, originally from Bosnia and now living in Mehlville, works in the kitchen at her restaurant, Taste of Bosnia, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. She opened it in June 2021 after catering for years.
JACOB WIEGAND / NEXTGENRADIO