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 at her Mehlville restaurant.
“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 the 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 its new home.
“We loved going to zoo, to museum, the botanical garden, Arch, all of those places in St. Louis,” she said.
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 Bosnia. … 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.”
