Ethiopian cuisine is a huge part of the rich and complex dining scene in and around the nation’s capital.“I don’t know who told me about America. I don’t know where I got it, but I always said, ‘I’m going to America,’” Elsabete Yirge, chef and co-owner of Elsa Ethiopian Kitchen, told me as we dug into a spread of classic Ethiopian dishes presented in the traditional way, atop injera bread on a large communal tray.Of the many immigrant populations with deep footprints in this region, Ethiopians have an initial arrival story that sharply demonstrates how America has been a beacon for suffering people around the world. A civil war that lasted almost two decades, coupled with years of famine, led to the forcible displacement and persecution of millions. Beneficiaries of the landmark 1980 Refugee Act, Ethiopians fled to the United States, and the largest number in the diaspora made a home for themselves in the Washington metropolitan area.
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