Good Sunday evening! I have a treat of epic proportions to share with you today. We asked James Beard Award-nominated chef Reem Assil of Reem's California to create a story and a menu to honor and celebrate Arab American Heritage Month. What she brought forth was a California-blended azoumeh: the Arabic word for a meal that Reem characterizes as a "casual feast you throw for your 50 closest family and friends." For Reem and Mohammad Abutaha, her collaborator on this feast, an azoumeh is, by definition, large. (I love the idea of a dinner guest list that starts at eight and goes up from there!) The concept of azoumeh, the generous and hospitable feast, open to many, is also one at the core of the story Reem wanted to tell about the Arabic diaspora and what it means, when living in a new land, to spread an openhearted and hospitable table.
I'd love to share this story with you today, and all the recipes that go along with it. It's a glorious feast, with sourdough flatbread, smoky whipped avocado and eggplant dip, Reem's twist on pecan pie and so much more. Here's the beginning of the conversation between Reem and Mohammad as they discuss azoumeh, its roots, and its present in their experience of American hospitality.
P.S. Reem's first book, Arabiyya: Recipes From the Life of an Arab in Diaspora, comes out in two weeks and I love it. Highly recommended!
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Reem: I'm so excited to host our first ever joint azoumeh. I've been waiting for you to ask me forever. [laughter]. I remember the first time I met you back when we were working at Reem's together, you were actually hosting a bunch of azoumeh And I love azoumehs. I thought that was such an ingenious idea. Can you talk about why you did them? What is an azoumeh? And what's the significance of it in our culture?
Mo: So azoumeh is more than just a dinner party. It's more like inviting your community and your friends and family and loved ones over to share a meal. And it's always big. Never less than eight, nine people.
Reem: So you got to invite the whole family. [laughter]
Mo: Yeah, exactly. [laughter]
Reem: And the neighbors?
Mo: You can't not invite somebody or else they'll get mad. So you have to invite literally everybody you know.
Reem: … And then hope somebody will drop off so that you can make sure you have enough food.
Mo: Exactly. And, really, it just came from a situation where I didn't have these azoumehs in the United States when we moved here. We didn't have that much family and even our friend circles aren't that big. So whenever we would have dinner parties, they would be smaller dinner parties — not quite like what we used to have in Jordan. And I just wanted to relive those experiences. I was mainly missing things like the first day of Ramadan, or the first Eid at my grandmother's house with the whole family — all the uncles and aunts and all the nephews and nieces. I wanted to revive those experiences — and share them — because I also knew that there were a lot of Arabs here who missed those feelings and wanted some way to relive them.
Reem: So would you say you were trying to build community with other Arabs in diaspora in the beginning?
Mo: Yeah definitely. I mean, it was a way of — yes — rebuilding a community with Arabs in the diaspora, but also sharing with non Arabs what it's like to go to an Arab party. And to share that piece of our culture with them.
Continue reading the conversation: American Azoumeh: Chefs Reem Assil and Mohammad Abutaha Talk Arab Hospitality and Cooking in Diaspora
Yours,
Faith
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