Former soldiers give help to Afghanistan

Lunching at Angele in Napa, reader Marsha Vandeberg complimented owner Bettina Rouas on one of the dishes. Rouas told her its flavor came from saffron from Afghanistan, the product of a company that oversees its farming, preparation and marketing having been founded by Americans who had been dispatched there by the military.

Kimberly Jung, raised in Los Angeles, and Emily Miller, of Indiana, graduated from West Point in 2008; they served in Afghanistan in 2010. Keith Alaniz ,a Texan, was there from 2011 to 2014, as a government liaison to farmers. The women were at Harvard Business School when Alaniz, having realized that the Afghans produced many fine products but didn’t have access to markets, approached them. “I bought a ticket to Afghanistan,” said Jung, “and took my entrepreneurship professor with me.” She describes meeting with 11 farmers, “feeling a little out of place but very welcome.”

When one of the Afghans brought some saffron into the room, in a cardboard box, wrapped with string, “I could smell it before I could see it.” She knew instantly that it was “amazing saffron,” that chefs like Thomas Keller would recognize that immediately. Three years later, in addition to Angele, Rumi saffron is used at the French Laundry, Bouchon, the Culinary Institute of America, State Bird Provisions, the Progress, Foreign Cinema, Petit Crenn and Atelier Crenn. It’s higher quality than other saffrons, she said, and it’s also more expensive. “At the end of the day,” said Jung, “the saffron speaks for itself.”

The saffron is sold online and in stores, as well as in restaurants. The company has three full-time employees and three contract workers who package the saffron. In 2014, 10 farmers participated; it’s now 100 farmers, and by the end of the year, they’re expecting 150 to 200. Rumi is the “largest private sector employer of Afghanistan women,” said Jung. “It’s a really empowering thing for them to work in our processing centers and receive income that they could take home to support their families.”

All three founders have left the military. “I find this a much more effective way to achieve stability in Afghanistan,” said Alaniz. “We’re making a lot of progress.”

P.S.: Alaniz asked if I would include the company’s website, which I don’t do usually because I don’t want to be a shopping guide. Can’t people Google it? He laughed. “Jay-Z and Beyoncé just named their daughter Rumi,” he said. Googling would take you to the celebrity briar patch. So it’s www.rumispice.com.

“Free Dog Gate” was a Nextdoor headline, which it seemed would have something to do with last week’s scandal about Lena Dunham giving away Lamby, her incorrigible dog. Nope. This kind of gate doesn’t get headlines, but fits in doorways or stairs. On the other hand, tech help might be on the way for Dunham and other stressed-out pet owners. Ask.Vet focuses on pet owners, recognizing that they are “all a little neurotic and could talk about (their) pets for hours on end. For a token monthly fee, pet owners can ask as many questions as they want about their pets, no matter how trivial the query.” (I thought this is what parents of adults are for.)

P.S.: Having seen the online craze about cats riding on Roombas and other such robotic vacuum cleaners, Elizabeth Manning says her cat isn’t ready for that modeling job, “but he’s a natural for Sleep Train.”

PUBLIC EAVESDROPPING “I think you would sleep with me even if I didn’t smell good. We’ll try it when we go camping.” Mother to young child, overheard in San Rafael by Sue Restani

There’s a nighttime event at the San Francisco Botanical Garden’s Flower Piano on Thursday, July 20, but Saturday afternoon was so beautiful I couldn’t resist a preview stroll. There was a big crowd, but the garden covers a large area, and there was plenty of room for picnickers, karaoke volunteers with live music (thank you, Joshua Brody), scheduled musicians and impromptu players.

The crowd was diverse and multigenerational, older people in wheelchairs, toddlers on their parents’ shoulders, inked-up 20-year-old baristas and fanny-packwearing teachers on summer vacation. Amateurs stepped forward from the throng of listeners to take turns at the pianos. No telling what they would play: Bach, New Age music, hymns. Aside from the visceral pleasure of listening, and being surrounded by flowers, there was the intrigue of a backstory you never heard: If you saw that person on a bus, would you ever guess they had the guts to step forth, the talent to play?

We wandered from meadow to grove, sharing the path with hundreds of listeners. There was no one not smiling. Flower Piano continues through Sunday.