Cherif El Bakkali spent four years wandering the world on his bicycle and was often fed by families with little food but always willing to share.
Food connected people and so, when he ended up living in Nelson, he set up a pizza cart to connect with people in an affordable way.
A year on, he is about to open the doors of his new restaurant at Richmond’s Berryfields Crossing and has plans for fundraising nights so he can give vouchers to those who cannot afford to eat at a restaurant.
Born in Morocco and raised in the small Italian town of Sassuolo, Cherif carried out volunteer work with refugees displaced from Afghanistan, Syria and Turkey, organising clothing for the children living in tents. As much as he helped families, he says he received much more than he gave, in appreciation from those with so little.
By his mid-20s he was looking for freedom from a society that was increasingly materialistic and set off on his bicycle, peddling his way through the Balkan route to Asia, the length of Africa, then India to Southeast Asia.
By the end of that journey he had biked his way through 35 countries and “met a lot of beautiful people and their cultures and eaten a lot of different food”.
For the most part, he was hosted by families along the way who usually approached “this crazy guy” on a bike to offer him food and often a bed for the night.
“People just want to give and show how kind they can be. I really believe in humanity.”
One family that had a profound effect on him was in Tajikistan where he was biking along the second-highest road in the world.
“I was reaching the top by the border and there was this family with a small baby just born, living in the middle of nowhere. And they offered me a small amount of the food they were having. They had nothing, but they gave me what they could.”
Six years ago he picked the bike up and headed to New Zealand where he planned to spend some time earning money. Love kept him in Nelson and today he has a two-year-old son, Milo, and 14-year-old step-daughter, Ava.
A little over a year ago he opened Elba’s Pazza Pizza which has operated from Kirby Lane. Now he is completing the finishing touches to his new venture, Eat Italy Ristorante Pizzeria.
He intends to look at fundraising nights to raise funds for community groups to distribute, possibly in the form of vouchers to people who cannot afford to dine out.
“You can’t always just receive. You need to give as well. Nowadays people are often selfish and thinking about themselves.”
Despite that, he sees the “positive souls” who are the same as people all around the world and simply want human connections and have a willingness to share.
