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October 27-28, 2023
Southern Foodways Symposium ⟶
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October 27-28, 2023
Southern Foodways Symposium ⟶

Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to info@southernfoodways.org.

< Back to Oral History project: South Asian Arkansas

ORAL HISTORY

Satish Sharma

India Restaurant

Satish Sharma, born in 1957, moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, from Chicago with his family in 2007. He bought a gas station in Farmington, Arkansas, that same year, and in 2012, he bought a second gas station in nearby Mulberry.

Since the gas station in Mulberry was right next to Interstate 40, Sharma thought it would be a good place for a restaurant. Sudesh Sharma, Satish’s wife, works at the VA Hospital as a nurse and helps in the restaurant on weekends. India Restaurant sells a buffet of Indian dishes alongside lunch specials like hamburgers and cheeseburgers. Heavy interstate traffic draws truckers and travelers who stop for a tank of gas and a taste of their Indian dishes.

Date of interview:
2019-04-11

Interviewer:
Annemarie Anderson

Photographer:
Brian Chilson

Download Transcript

“

“I bought it in 2012, November. So then this is more on the interstate and we see a lot of drivers, you know, run from California to the East Coast, a lot of them, so then I started … thinking about…open the restaurant, India restaurant.”

Other Project Interviews

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Sayed Ali

Sayed Ali owns and operates Aroma Pakistani and Indian Cuisine in Bentonville, Arkansas.

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Ravi Pattepu

Ravi Pattepu manages India Mart in Bentonville, Arkansas.

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Naidu Mortha

Naidu Mortha owns and operates Curry Point in Bentonville, Arkansas.

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Maya Sivakumar

Maya Sivakumar owns Pandiya’s South Indian Cuisine in Bentonville, Arkansas.

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Lisa and Abhijeet Purakayastha

Lisa and Abhijeet Purakayastha own and operate Khana Indian Grill in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

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Himabindu Sreepathy

Himabindu Sreepathy owns and operates Flavors Indian Cuisine, World Food Mart, and Kwality Ice Cream and Grill.

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Arun Sandhu

Arun Sandhu owns and operates R&R’s Curry Express and Punjabi Kitchen in Springdale, Arkansas.

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Ali Momani

Ali Momani owns and operates Community Butcher in Lowell, Arkansas.

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