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Lisa David, owner of the Nineveh Assyrian food truck on the corner of Plum and Fourth in Olympia is about to go national. Yes, the local bartender, DJ and artist - who serves outstanding Fattoush and fried cauliflower from Nineveh - will star in a web series based out of Chicago. The interactive cooking talk show Assyrian Kitchen launches Wednesday, March 27 as an eight-part series featuring David cooking 10 popular Middle Eastern appetizers.

David has been working with Assyrian Kitchen over the last year, flying out to Chicago for live and taped shows.

"The taped version is for a greater audience that can't make it to the live shows. The Assyrian community is spread out all over the world, so this will reach out to many of them this way. On top of that it crosses over well to a general audience who is genuinely interested in our Assyrian cuisine."

This opportunity puts David in a unique position to share a passion.

"Many of the participants in the live demonstration are non-Assyrians with a love for good food," she says. "I think that has been a major part that is really exciting for me, reaching out to people and introducing them to the food I grew up with and love so dearly. Seeing the enjoyment they get from tasting it and the satisfaction they get from learning to make it. This is an aspect of what makes our Nineveh Assyrian food truck so dear to me, that feedback you get from someone who has never tried something like a shawarma before and who is truly tasting something unique for the first time."

David is also excited to preserve her culture.

"Assyrians are a very small indigenous minority in the Middle East and are spread out wide in a Diaspora due to political persecution and ethnic cleansing in our homelands," she explains. "Any culture that is so spread apart is bound to assimilate into the adopted countries where people have settled. I think an effort like Assyrian Kitchen will help preserve an important aspect of being Assyrian, and that is the food we eat. Creating these videos, doing the live shows, and posting recipes online will go a long way in helping people, especially so many young people who were born or raised outside of our traditional native lands, to maintain this part of our cultural identity. That is something that brings me great satisfaction."