As you stroll through the Food Truck event in downtown Lincoln, happy chatter and mouth-watering smells waft out of each food truck you pass. Sniffing the air, colorful aromas of various spices surround you. Drawn to the origin of the smell, you find yourself in front of a truck. In big letters, it reads, “World Plates.”

World Plates, currently a food truck, is a family-owned business. Owned by Aras, Shaima, and Ahmed Shakir, World Plates has been up and running for about seven months now, since the siblings first opened it up in April.

The menu consists of Indian, Mediterranean, Mexican and even American cuisine. The most popular dish is the Habibi rice bowls.

“The secret is, we get the halal chicken, and we marinate it 24 hours overnight with different Mediterranean spices,” Shakir said.

Atop well-seasoned basmati rice, there’s options of either chicken, gyro or both. Layered on top are; fresh lettuce and diced tomatoes, as well as slices of pita bread. To finish it off, their house-made Greek yogurt sauce is drizzled over it all, completing the bowl.

Prices of each dish do vary but don’t exceed $14. Anyone can follow their Instagram account at worldplates_llc, to keep up with upcoming events and new information.

Aras Shakir, one of the siblings that owns the truck, founded the idea based off of his life before coming to America. As an immigrant, he’s faced countless hardships that have shaped his life, his ideas, and who he is as a person today.

“The idea actually came from our journey as immigrants and refugees and that started all the way back in the 1980s and 1970s, when my family was living in Iraq at the time,” Shakir said.

For context, during the war between Iran and Iraq, there was a large Kurdish diaspora, resulting in the family fleeing the country in hopes for a better life.

“During the time my dad was living in Iraq, all of-aged men were expected to join the Iraqi military to fight against Iran,” Shakir said. “My dad refused because the people that they were killing at the time were the Kurdish population because they were living on the border.”

“My dad refused, which resulted in him being in prison for seven years,” said Shakir.

They moved from Iraq to Iran, then snuck under the border into Pakistan, where there was more support for the Kurdish population. Unfortunately, the living conditions were terrible there as well.

Nine years later, Shakir and the rest of his family were able to come into America, and lived in Baltimore, Maryland, for a period of time. Living conditions weren’t great there either, which played into their decision to move here to Lincoln, Nebraska, where they’ve lived ever since.

“Every part of that journey has inspired the dishes that we make at our food truck, World Plates,” Shakir said. “The Mediterranean cuisine, those are all recipes from our home and different places we’ve been all around the world. Then our Indian cuisine that my sister makes for us, that was inspired during our time in Pakistan.”

Now that they had an idea, they began to put it into place. Shakir does have a full-time job, working with the Buffet Scholars at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) as an academic advisor. Balancing this job with this newfound business idea was not easy, but luckily he had the support of his family.

“I don’t do it alone…If it was all on me, I do not believe that I would be successful and this would have ended a long time ago,” said Shakir. “At the end of the day, this is a family dream.”

Currently, this family dream is beginning to blossom into something bigger.

“There is a particular place in mind that I’m currently working on, a couple of realty offices and individuals about potentially opening up a restaurant, hopefully, fingers crossed, in the very near future,” Shakir said.

Sophomore Chloe Taylor, a huge supporter of the business, definitely approves the idea of starting a restaurant.

“I’d be pleased to be honest,” Taylor said. “I feel like it’d be a lot of fun, and it’s like getting to see not only my friends, but people I know working.”

Starting up a food truck business has opened up many opportunities for this major family dream, and they hope to keep growing their business and eventually open up a restaurant in the coming months.

Next time you go out to eat, consider buying from a small, family owned business! Give World Plates a try, where they bring the world to your plate.