The Brief

When 44-year-old Montassar Dhaouadi decided to leave his home country of Tunisia to come to Los Angeles with his family three years ago, he started over completely.

“I spent 17 years in the army, then I resigned and came here,” Dhaouadi said. “Now, I drive Uber and I work as a delivery driver with OnTrac.”

But on one bright, scorching hot Tuesday in June, he was working on learning something new: cooking. Dhaouadi spent the day in an East Hollywood kitchen cutting up onions, garlic and shallots with three other people under the guidance of his teacher and chef Jamie Lauren, whom some may know from shows like Top Chef.

“I hope in the future, I will own my own restaurant,” Dhaouadi says.

Chefs in the making

Dhaouadi is one of five aspiring chefs who are a part of a new culinary training program offered by L.A. caterer and restaurant Flavors From Afar.

The eight-week course aims to help refugees and other displaced groups, like asylum seekers, immigrants and even local Indigenous communities develop skills in the kitchen that can help them get work or, one day, own a catering company or restaurant. The program is free with the exception of a food handler certificate, which costs $15.

The aspiring chefs meet twice a week to learn knife skills, pan frying, plating and how to cook cuisines from all over the world. Those dishes are then sold as part of the Flavors From Afar catering menu, with the student chefs making back 5% of what is sold. Every dish they cook is halal because most of the chefs are Muslim.

Montassar Dhaouadi cuts a cucumber while another aspiring chef in class looks at his technique.

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Moving to a new country can be a challenging experience for many refugees, who are often forced to leave their homes due to war, persecution or natural disasters. Some of them have multiple degrees and have left behind successful careers or businesses. Now, in the U.S. they have to start over in entry-level positions because their careers do not transfer.

For example, one of the participants was a bank manager in Ukraine. Now she’s an aspiring chef, says Julie Vautrot, the culinary training program coordinator for the restaurant’s nonprofit funding arm The Tiyya Foundation.

Vautrot serves as a liaison between aspiring chefs and potential employers at times, forging relationships with restaurants looking to hire and handing out her cards at job fairs to let them know about the cooks who have been trained by Flavors From Afar.

The end goal for many of those who go through the program is to eventually run their own businesses. The restaurant industry can seem like an easier segue into a quality life for these newcomers to L.A., Vautrot says, because the skills are universal and many of the participants grew up learning how to cook.

“It’s familiar. It's transferable,” Vautrot says “A knife's a knife. Water boils at the same temperature. It doesn't matter what country you're in.”

Why cooking school?

Flavors From Afar is an example of similar programs across the U.S. — and the world — that help support refugees and other migrants through culinary training. And with L.A. being a top destination for refugee arrivals in recent years, programs like Flavor From Afar’s provide a service.

“Finding employment is definitely a top need, and can sometimes be especially difficult for newcomers to the community — whether they’re facing language barriers or just having difficulty getting back into their careers,” says Carly Boos, the community relations manager for the resettlement agency International Rescue Committee in L.A., adding that programs like this can “remove those barriers to entry that normally face refugees and immigrants.”

From Oct. 1, 2023 through June 30 of this year, California received 4,692 of the 68,291 refugees who came to the U.S. In that same period, L.A.-based resettlement agencies have helped about 1,100 refugees here, according to Martin Zogg, executive director of the IRC in L.A..

Vautrot says when refugees and newly arrived immigrants are first looking for work in L.A. — or, really, in any new city — a kitchen job is usually the first thing that pops into most people’s heads. “It's like, ‘well, what can I do? What kind of job can I have?’ And cooking is something immediate,” adds Vautrot. “They’re sharing their culture, they're doing something that's from home. It's a way to share. It's an opportunity for them to highlight their cuisine.”

The Flavors From Afar program also teaches its students how to get permits and insurance, and find affordable kitchen space. Vautrot says that the last part is often the biggest barrier because you can’t get a permit unless you have a place to cook.

A social enterprise

This story — of the food and the training — begins with Meymuna Hussein-Cattan. She is a former refugee herself from East Africa, and moved to the U.S. in the 1980s with her mother, Owliya Dima. In 2010, she and her mother created the nonprofit organization The Tiyya Foundation (“tiyya” means “my dear” or “my love” in the Oromo language) to help others like her and her mom resettle in L.A. and Orange County. Over the years, she says the group has helped people find entry-level jobs and build up their English-language skills. Tiyaa has also hosted community events like playdates at the park for families that include parenting workshops and donations of diapers, toys and school supplies.

Meymuna Hussein-Cattan founded The Tiyya Foundation with her mother Owliya Dima in 2010. In 2018, she founded the social enterprise Flavors From Afar.

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Meymuna Hussein-Cattan

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Hussein-Cattan started Flavors From Afar as a catering company and social enterprise in 2018. In 2020, it opened as a brick-and-mortar restaurant, receiving a Michelin Bib Gourmand nod two years in a row, until it closed temporarily to move locations. About 40% of the eatery’s profit goes to support The Tiyya Foundation's programs.

The goal for Flavors From Afar’s cooking program was always to help refugees and asylum seekers gain skills, while also sharing global cuisines with L.A. foodies. But only until recently has it been able to bring groups of people through its culinary program (due to the stay-at-home orders early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, she could only work one-on-one with aspiring chefs in the beginning).

“I'm really passionate about the program because growing up in a refugee household, I realized that there are cuisines out there that are at restaurants but don't really represent the food that we eat at home,” Hussein-Cattan says. Through the catering company and opportunities to cook for special dinners hosted by Flavors From Afar, the chefs in training are able to share meals they’ve prepared with the eating public and be compensated for it. “The foodie community out here,” Hussein-Cattan says of L.A. “They love what we're doing, they trust us and they know it's authentic.”

Learning in the kitchen

When class starts, the aspiring chefs stand in their own sections around the kitchen listening to Chef Jamie Lauren explain the plan for the three-hour class.

Today, they are making braised chicken with preserved lemons and olives, Lebanese couscous in the style of tabbouleh, with cucumber, tomato, onion and parsley and braised romano beans.

Before they can get to the cooking part, they have to do “mise en place” which is the chef’s discipline of knowing your recipe, preparing your ingredients, arranging all of your items and preparing your workstation. Lauren first teaches the small group how to hold a chef’s knife and cut ingredients, like onions, that brighten the taste profile. Some of the aspiring chefs need more practice than others.

Then they break down whole halal chickens in 10 pieces — two breasts, two wings, two tenders, two thighs, two drumsticks.

Lauren turns on the large pots to toast spices and sautee the aromatics with the ingredients the group sliced and diced. They start to make the couscous, the beans, the chicken and the stock. The dish is North African inspired, which is where all of the aspiring chefs in this current class are from.

“When I teach you Indian food, it’s going to be similar, but with different spices,” says Lauren.

She has the class try preserved lemons, Moroccan olives and Moomtaz date syrup, before choosing to add them into the pot. Nearly three hours later, the class has prepared a full, savory meal.

Volunteer chef Jamie Lauren and the aspiring chefs made braised chicken with preserved lemons and olives, Lebanese couscous in the style of tabbouleh, with cucumber, tomato, onion and parsley and romano beans.

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Aaricka Washington

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LAist

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In class, Algerian-born immigrant Nawel Hadj-Arab, 36, is scribbling down notes as fast as Lauren is saying them, making sure she gets every single detail.

“While she's talking, she's giving us a waterfall of information,” Hadj-Arab says. “You're learning multiple things about how to cook or even about utensils or anything, so I learned a lot.”

Volunteer professional chef Jamie Lauren teaches Montassar Dhaouadi, Nawel Hadj-Arab and other aspiring chefs how to cook braised chicken, couscous and romano beans.

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LAist

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Soon after prepping the meal, Hadj-Arab went to the main dining area to take some professional pictures for the chefs’ website.

Hadj-Arab moved to L.A. in 2019 with her now ex-husband and her children. She says she was a victim of domestic violence and is now attempting to start over as a single parent.

“I didn't get a choice to move here in L.A.,” Hadj-Arab says. “I came here with my abuser, my ex-husband. He was working with people here in L.A.”

She thought about returning home to Algeria but after she found herself alone with her two kids, she decided to stay.

“I knew I could succeed,” Hadj-Arab says. “So I'm trying again.”

Her dream is to learn how to cook and become a chef so that she can eventually own a “big restaurant” with various global cuisines — from French to Middle Eastern to American — and that being a part of the Flavors From Afar culinary program has helped her get closer to that.

Aspiring immigrant chef Nawel Hadj-Arab poses for a picture for the Flavors From Afar website.

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“Back in Africa, a woman is very limited in her choices in life, especially if you're divorced or if you're a single mom,” Hadj-Arab says. “There’s no way for you to go as far as you want. That’s why I’m here now because I know I can and I will. It’s helped me to gain confidence.”

Flavors From Afar

Flavors From Afar has now worked with more than 23 chefs from 21 countries, including Afghanistan, Algeria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. This fall, Hussein-Cattan says she plans to open a full restaurant again, and says her goal is to hire the chefs-in-training to work there. “I’m looking forward to working with more chefs over time,” Hussein-Cattan says. “They need to put food on the table and this is a skill that they have and it's just a beautiful exchange for our chefs and foodies in Los Angeles.”

This summer, Flavors From Afar is hosting a Friday night Global Dinner Series, featuring different cuisines from different chefs each week, many of whom have gone through the training program. On the menu are dishes from Guatemala, Sudan, Congo, Ukraine, Zimbabwe and Lebanon. The dinners will be held through Aug. 30. Tickets for the Global Dinner Series are available on Eventbrite. Prices range from $25 for a tasting menu to $250.

The next culinary workshop starts Aug. 6. Find out more here.

If you’re up for a drive out to the desert, the annual Death Valley Dark Sky festival is happening Feb. 6 to 8.

Kind of like the Coachella of star gazing, the weekend is packed with opportunities to spot celestial bodies through telescopes and hear scientists talk about everything from black holes to cutting edge radio telescopes.

Cameron Hummels, a research scientist and director of astrophysics outreach at Caltech, said he’s headed out to this convening of star gazers in Death Valley for five years.

He said it’s one thing to go to public science talks or watch them on YouTube, “but to have a visceral experience of looking through a telescope at a dark night sky is like something you have to go to a place to do."

Friday and Saturday will include outdoor star parties, where attendees can get access to the dozens of telescopes they’ll have set up.

The weekend’s programming will include talks from NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists, space-themed pub trivia at the Badwater Saloon and guided walks of the Death Valley spots that helped experts design missions off our planet.

“Because [Death Valley is] such an exposed landscape, it makes a really good planetary analog for a lot of the other locations in our solar system. Whether it’s the moon or Mars or some of the other objects in our solar system,” Hummels told LAist.

On Saturday, Hummels will lead a presentation on the “formation and evolution of galaxies.”

These dark sky events — known as astro-tourism — are becoming more popular, Hummels said. People seem to be increasingly interested in space in the last five years or so. And there are other pluses of laying out under the stars with a friend.

“I think anytime you get into the great outdoors you’re gonna have mental health benefits... I can highly recommend this to people as both an educational opportunity but [also] a place to see our place in the universe and have a fun chill weekend,” Hummels said.

And if you need a more terrestrial reason to make the trip out to Death Valley? All that rain we had is making for good wildflower conditions.

“Death Valley is poised for a better-than-average bloom, and with a little luck, it could even be better than that,” David Blacker, Death Valley National History Association executive director, wrote in his Wildflower Report earlier this month.

Organized by the National Park Service, the festival is a collaboration between NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ames Research Center, Caltech and other institutions.

How to go

Death Valley Dark Sky Festival 2026

Friday, Feb. 6 to Sunday, Feb. 8.

All locations and times for talks, tours and star parties are listed on the National Park Service’s website.

All public events are free with entry to Death Valley National Park.

According to the Recording Academy itself, the Grammy for best new artist is for musicians who are having "a breakthrough into the public consciousness."

What did it look like to have a breakthrough moment in 2025? More often than not, it meant having a hit song on TikTok. At this weekend's Grammys, all eight best new artist nominees are musicians whose popularity skyrocketed thanks to the app.

"If there's anything that speaks to TikTok's power right now, I think it's this category in particular," says Robert Steiner, a media analyst at the music and entertainment insights company Luminate.

Last year, Luminate partnered with TikTok on a Music Impact report. It found what many powerbrokers in the music industry have known for awhile: The app is not only a large source of music discovery, but also a leading driver of chart success. According to the report, 84% of songs that entered Billboard's Global 200 chart went viral on TikTok first.

And music, in turn, is essential to the app as well. Steiner says going all the way back to its roots in Musically — a platform for lip-syncing videos — songs have been the currency for TikTok's biggest memes and dances.

"A lot of the trends that we see on TikTok are audio-based. Obviously video is part of it, but the sound is a huge aspect of it as well," Steiner says. "It was set up to really capitalize on audio becoming a key driver to the app, and I think as a result, it does seem like they created at least a segment of their user base that is very musically inclined."

Looking at this year's Grammy nominations, the best new artist contenders run the gamut from indie darlings who started making music a decade ago to former Hype House TikTok creators who launched recording careers in 2025. All eight nominees used the app in their ascent to pop stardom — but did they rise through the music industry into TikTok virality? Or the other way around?

Olivia Dean

The English singer is not a newcomer; as she told NPR's Morning Edition in September, she's been recording and releasing music for nearly a decade. In 2023, her album Messy was shortlisted for the U.K.'s Mercury Prize. But in 2025, the warm soul-pop melodies of her album The Art of Loving put her on the map in a major way. The single "Man I Need" became a hit on TikTok — it's been used in 1.7 million videos so far, according to the app — and quickly climbed the charts.

Did Olivia Dean come from TikTok or the music industry: The music industry. 

KATSEYE

Born out of a reality television competition show in 2023, KATSEYE is a global girl group seemingly created for TikTok virality — and so far, the sextet has delivered. In 2025, singles like "Gnarly" and "Gabriela" steadily climbed the charts; but perhaps more importantly, they soundtracked millions of videos on TikTok. Choreography from KATSEYE's Gap commercial (set to "Milkshake" by Kelis, not their own song) became a dance trend too, heralded as a clap back to Sydney Sweeney's controversial American Eagle jeans ad. In December, TikTok officially crowned KATSEYE its Global Artist of 2025.

Did KATSEYE come from TikTok or the music industry? Both.

The Marías

The indie pop band started releasing synth-driven, bilingual songs nearly a decade ago and collaborated with Bad Bunny on his 2022 album Un Verano Sin Ti. But it was a demo of their song "No One Noticed," which lead singer María Zardoya released unofficially on her TikTok account, that would become the band's biggest song to date, and was later officially released on their 2024 album Submarine. Zardoya told podcast host Zach Sang that despite being a slower, introspective song — the opposite of what the band's label wanted at the time — fans gravitated towards it on social media.

Did The Marías come from TikTok or the music industry? The industry via the independent route — they built a fanbase and eventually landed a record deal with Atlantic, then hit big on the app. 

Addison Rae

Originally from Lafayette, La. — cue the Britney Spears comparisons — Addison Rae became a TikTok sensation in 2019 by posting videos of herself dancing to viral songs. She moved to Los Angeles, joined the Hype House and amassed millions of followers, all of which then helped build momentum for a music career. After a co-sign from Charli XCX on the "Von Dutch" remix, she released her effervescent debut album Addison in June.

Did Addison Rae come from TikTok or the music industry? TikTok. 

sombr

Hailing from New York City's Lower East Side, the Gen Z rocker sombr has had his share of viral TikTok songs. His 2022 single "Caroline" was the first, helping him get signed to Warner Records when he was still 17 years old. Two more followed in 2025; his singles "Back to Friends" and "Undressed" were used on hundreds of thousands of TikTok videos and both steadily climbed Billboard's Hot 100 chart, months before sombr released his debut album I Barely Know Her.

Did sombr come from TikTok or the music industry? Both. 

Leon Thomas

A child Broadway star and former Nickelodeon actor, it's safe to say Leon Thomas has been grinding for decades. After being mentored by Babyface for years, the 32-year-old has produced for artists ranging from his Victorious co-star Ariana Grande to Rick Ross. In 2024, he won a Grammy for best R&B song for his contributions to SZA's "Snooze." But Thomas' sophomore album, MUTT, landed him directly in the spotlight — its lead single took off on TikTok and climbed Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Of this year's best new artist contenders, Thomas is the most widely recognized by the Recording Academy; he landed five additional nominations, including for album of the year.

Did Leon Thomas come from TikTok or the music industry? The music industry. 

Alex Warren

Another member of the Hype House collective, Alex Warren went from posting massively popular pranking videos online to releasing a romantic ballad — and instant wedding playlist staple — that spent months climbing Billboard's Hot 100 chart. "Ordinary" became one of the biggest hits of the summer, and earned Warren an invitation to perform with country superstar Luke Combs at Lollapalooza.

Did Alex Warren come from TikTok or the music industry? TikTok.

Lola Young 

Often drawing comparisons to previous best new artist winner Amy Winehouse, the 25-year-old had already released several albums before her 2024 single "Messy" went viral on TikTok. Young's songs had already been gaining traction on the app for a while — videos of her performing "Don't Hate Me" on a playground in 2023 racked up millions of views — but "Messy" became a different kind of phenomenon. Before performing at Coachella last spring, Young told NPR's Morning Edition that she does not identify as a TikToker, but recognized the massive impact the app has had on her career.

Did Lola Young come from TikTok or the music industry? The music industry.

More than a century after it first opened its doors, the Vermont Square Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library still is operating out of its original building, nestled among the homes on West 48th Street.

It’s not just a library. For generations, it’s been considered a safe place and gathering spot for people who otherwise may have no place to go. Today, the neighborhood council uses the room in the library’s basement for meetings, the grassy area out back is a place to relax, and for some, the building is a refuge from hot- and cold-weather days.

Of course, people also go there to read books, for free access to the internet and for children’s programming. But they also go there to find peace and quiet amid the hustle and bustle of inner-city Los Angeles.

“It feels safe. It’s pretty big. It’s nice inside and comfortable. There are people to talk to, and I can meet friends,” resident Moses Rogers told The LA Local.

The Vermont Square Branch was built in 1913 on what had been park land donated by the city of Los Angeles. It was funded with a Carnegie Foundation grant, the philanthropy of industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who funded the arts, higher education and public libraries after making his fortune in steel in the late 19th century.

The library is not the oldest branch in the city system, but it’s the first library building owned by the city. All other city libraries and facilities were housed in rented spaces.

It was designed in the architectural style of the Italian Renaissance, and you still can find the original circulation desk, windows that allow in natural light, old furniture and marble fixtures inside the library.

Branch manager Martha Sherod has worked at the library for 13 ½ years and calls the Vermont Square Branch a hidden treasure that some in the neighborhood can overlook. She said some people think it’s a government building, but for the people who grew up using the library, it symbolizes being home.

“People come here for a purpose, they want to be here. We really like serving them,” Sherod told The LA Local. “Now that I’ve been here so long, I’ve seen kids grow up from being little kids to college students. So, it’s really been a joy for me.”

Sherod said the branch holds about 24,000 items and has 4,500 visitors a month on average. The library also offers adult and teen programming, including free legal advice, health screenings, arts and crafts and book club activities.

“The library isn’t just for quietly sitting and reading. There’s usually a lot of good activities happening. There are resources that you can use at home by downloading or just coming in here,” Sherod said.

The Vermont Square Branch was designated by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission in 1983 after the community rallied to keep the building from being replaced. The exterior of the building remains the same, although the library was retrofitted for earthquake safety in 1990, a process that caused the branch to close to the public for six years.

Longtime Vermont Square resident Fletcher Fair told The LA Local she’s been going to the branch since the late 1960s, and the library will always be a cornerstone of the community.

“It’s the neighborhood library, and that’s where everyone went and prospered. We hung out, studied and partied,” she said. “There were a lot of events here.”

The first measles case of the year in Los Angeles County has been confirmed by the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

County public health officials said Friday a county resident who recently traveled abroad has been confirmed to have measles. Authorities have not identified any locations, other than healthcare settings, where the person could have exposed others.

Affected healthcare facilities are contacting patients and employees about potential exposure. County officials also are in the process of identifying those who may have had contact with the person.

Measles spreads easily through the air and can stay on surfaces for many hours. Those infected can spread the virus before showing symptoms, which can take weeks to appear.

Symptoms include a fever above 101 degrees; cough; runny nose; red, watery eye; and a rash that typically starts on the face.

So far, 588 measles cases of measles have been reported in the U.S. this year, the highest number of cases in a January since the U.S. eliminated measles in 2000. Most of these cases are linked to outbreaks in South Carolina, Arizona and Utah.

The L.A. County Department of Public Health is encouraging Angelenos to check their immunization statuses for a measles, mumps, rubella vaccine to determine if they’re protected against the virus.

Residents also should notify their health providers for guidance in the case of a potential exposure.

If symptoms develop, contact a healthcare provider via phone as soon as possible. L.A. Public Health advises people not to go physically into a health care facility before notifying them of measles symptoms.