HoQ: Local Farms, Global Flavor
Local restaurant crafts global cuisine with fresh, local ingredients
he Midwest Creative is a passion project borne out of my love for my home and my sincere belief that the Midwest deserves our love, care, and investment. I will sing the praises of the creative community in this region until my last breath. But I need your help to reach as many people as I can.
If you enjoy my work, I would be honored if you could give it a like and share it with your community. Your praise helps me reach even more artists and to create a deeper, more connected community. Upgrading your subscription to paid will provide me with the resources to lift up creatives and they’re important work across the Midwest. I appreciate your support in any shape or form.
“Food speaks culture. People don’t know how we lived in our home countries, but sharing food shares our lifestyle. Food brings everybody together,” said HoQ owner Suman Hoque.
Suman, who owns HoQ Restaurant in Des Moines’ East Village, uses food as a way to connect with the melting pot of cultures around him. Originally from Bangladesh, he’s built a strong kitchen staff around him who are from Mexico and Central America, a staff to whom he attributes much of his restaurant’s success.
That staff has helped him build a farm to table concept menu with global influences. Working with local and state wide vendors, HoQ’s menu features staples from around the world, from America’s Southern favorite fried green tomatoes to Bangladeshi chicken on a stick.
Suman believes in food’s ability to connect people across differences. He’s seen it firsthand with his own business, and he hopes his restaurant will help others to recognize the shared humanity between different cultures.
Fresh Perspective
Suman’s culinary education began long before he ever discovered his love for cooking.
His passion for sustainable, natural food production started in his childhood in Bangladesh. His family would purchase fresh meat and produce from neighbors and local markets. Knowing exactly where their food came from provided a level of trust in what they were eating.
“Your rice, your fish, your chicken—it was less processed, and there was nothing between you and the food,” he explained.
Suman went on to attend culinary school in Geneva, Switzerland, before moving to the United States to work as a chef in 2005. He quickly realized food production in America differed greatly from his home country. He asked where the food came from at his first restaurant job in Vail, Colorado.
“People just didn’t know,” he said. “A truck brings food in from commercial farming and it’s already done. You don’t know where it’s been.”
Suman eventually moved to the Des Moines area after his wife, Cynthia, enrolled in medical school at Des Moines University. When Suman opened HoQ in 2012, he knew he wanted to source fresh ingredients from local farmers right away.
Eleven years later, you can still taste the difference.
“If you’ve had real, fresh chicken before and then you eat commercial chicken, it’s way different,” he said. “We feature the whole ingredient, rather than a heavy sauce on top to cover all the non-tasty stuff of commercial chicken.”
HoQ’s ingredients come from local farmers and family-owned stores mostly in Central Iowa, with a few from other parts of the state. This not only allows him access to high-quality ingredients, but also keeps his money local. His sound equipment and payroll management even come from businesses in West Des Moines.
HoQ has provided Suman the opportunity to plant roots in his community and foster genuine supportive relationships. He cares about these small businesses, and they’ve proven to care about him as well.
“During the Covid-19 shutdown, Lost Lake Farm [in Jewell] emailed me right away. I typically buy a few hundred dollars worth of cheese from them,” he said. “They told me I didn’t have to pay right away since I was shut down because of Covid. I wouldn’t have gotten that from a big company.”
Local Farms, Global Flavor
“I want to represent where I live.” Suman explained. “I’m from Bangladesh, people from Mexico and El Salvador work here, we meet many people from Minnesota or the South and other cultures. America is multicultural.” This inspired him to create a menu that represents more than just his own history.
HoQ’s menu features cuisine from all over the world. The kitchen makes Bangladeshi naan in-house each day to use in several dishes, one of which is called “Naanza,” his take on pizza made with naan. There are several Latin-inspired dishes, such as the masa empanada or the free-range chicken burrito. Diners can also travel over to Europe with a Mediterranean bowl or salmon tartare.
Suman’s most well-known dish is his organic breakfast wraps. Made out of naan bread and fried organic egg with your choice of sausage or vegetables, you can purchase a wrap at Gateway Market or HyVee. You can even line up outside HoQ to try a burrito Saturday mornings when they set up a tent.
Suman has come to understand how food is an important vehicle for sharing culture throughout his culinary career. He has grown close with his kitchen staff, who are largely from Mexico and Central America, by learning how to cook new dishes and understanding how to use their ingredients. His head chef, Santiago, has brought in his family members to experiment in the kitchen, trying out different Latin-inspired recipes for the HoQ menu.
These cultural lessons in food Suman has received from his staff have become a model for how he connects with farmers and vendors around the state of Iowa. These personal experiences lead to better, more inclusive communities.
“I’m Muslim,” he said. “When I go to small-town Iowa and meet farmers, they’ve most likely never met a Muslim person. When I talk with these farmers and buy their products, they realize that this Muslim guy is just like them. I’m just a person.”
CultureALL is hosting a dinner event in partnership with HoQ to celebrate Mexican culture and build community on August 9th. Experience first-hand the impact of interacting with different cultures: the ability to bridge differences and become a better friend, neighbor, and community member. Proceeds from the event will support CultureALL’s programming and help Iowans value the cultures in their community. Seats are limited—get your ticket today.
This piece was originally published on CultureALL’s blog.
The ultimate goal of CultureALL is to elevate individuals' behaviors and attitudes to a higher level of acceptance and collaboration for the benefit of our region. We do this through authentic, multicultural experiences that lead to a greater appreciation of diversity. We also work with businesses and corporations on their DEI planning to promote inclusivity within the workplace. If you are in need of cultural education or support in your DEI journey, please contact us a Explore@CultureALL.org.
The Midwest Creative is a proud member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Please consider a subscription to my colleagues’ work to support storytelling across the state of Iowa. All of these authors provide content for free, with paid subscription options. Pick one or more, and help sustain this movement.
Thanks for writing about this Macey! It is so wonderful to have restaurants feature the foods of local farms--it is an important part of the puzzle so that the public gets exposed to different products. I hope the event goes well on the 9th!
One of my favorite restaurants!