“Boustany:” A Palestinian Chef’s Tribute to Food, Memory and Identity

BIANNA GOLODRYGA: Well, now as we just discussed, starvation still grips Gaza under Israel’s siege, where the U.N. warms a famine is unfolding before our eyes. We take a moment to consider the heritage under threat. Traditional Palestinian food has long been a source of identity and memory for the diaspora. Sami Tamimi is an award-winning chef who was raised in the old City of Jerusalem and uses cooking to tell the story of Palestine. He joins Michel Martin to discuss his new cookbook, “Boustany,” and the cultural resilience of his homeland.

 

MICHEL MARTIN: Thanks Bianna, Sami Tamimi, thank you so much for talking with us once again.

 

SAMI TAMIMI: Thank you very much for having me.

 

MARTIN: Your new book is Boustany. What does it mean?

 

TAMIMI: In Arabic, it means my garden. It’s relate to the whole narrative of the book where, you know, I talk about my grandfather’s garden in Hebron where we used to spend quite a lot of time there, especially in the summer. And I talk about it because it, it connect to a lot of things. I, I, I always kind of reminisce on food and memories, and this is what really kind of connects me to, you know Palestine, my family, the heritage, the food as well is very, very kind of strong element in our kind of culture, but also the family. 

 

And my father just loved his little boustan, or the little garden piece of land that he had, and he grew so many things. Vegetables and fruit and you name it. 

 

MARTIN: So you became famous as part of the team at Ottolenghi in London, which is something that, you know, it’s kind of its own story as, as a cultural touchstone, as a place of amazing food. I wondered if I was thinking about African American food or the food that we call like ‘soul food,’  you know, in America, you know, a lot of us grew up eating it, and we thought of it as home food. We didn’t think of it as restaurant food. We didn’t think of it as cuisine. And I wondered when you were cooking in, you know, these restaurants, you were head chef, you’re in, you know, major cities around the world, you know, doing your thing. I wondered, did you think of Palestinian food in that way? It’s like, this is for home, whereas this is for work as different from work.

 

TAMIMI: Yeah. I mean, there, there are quite a lot of dishes that you only eat at home because they are, they, I mean, although they are made with love, but they are, they take a lot of time and care and sometime they don’t kind of, they’re not suitable for restaurant serving. And I kind of from an early kind of age, I wanted to, I was really loyal to the traditional Palestinian, and I wanted to eat it, and I wanted to cook it at home, but I didn’t want to serve it in a restaurant because I wanted to do a mixture of something else to use all the elements. Being loyal to the, to the dishes, but not ruin them. Maybe just add in kind of different layers and textures and flavoring to present it in a kind of restaurant kind of way. We didn’t do, we didn’t do that so much at Ottolenghi. It’s more the, the cookbooks that kind of started like that. 

 

MARTIN:  It just seemed like for years, some of these dishes are familiar, but we, it’s sort of been served under the rubric of Mediterranean, right? 

 

TAMIMI: Yeah, which, but I hate

 

MARTIN: Like big part of the world, big region. Middle Eastern, <laugh>, <laugh>. And I wonder, do you think that people are starting to see Palestinian food as part of the culture of these people in this place?

 

TAMIMI: Yeah, and thanks to a lot of chefs and authors and people like me who have been writing about it, and also because people no longer want to just kind of when you present them with a cookbook that’s kind of Middle East, and it’s like, where in the Middle East, it’s a huge part of the world, or Mediterranean, Mediterranean run from, from Europe to the Middle East to the Gulf, to, it’s kind of, you know, half of the world, you can kind of put under the umbrella of Mediterranean. And I, I personally don’t like this kind of, these kind of cookbooks because they don’t offer you anything that kind of original in a way. They don’t focus on one place. 

 

But also people really want to kind of focus on where it is from and also the history of it, the background, the tradition. People ask me to the day what kind of tahini I use or what kind of sumac can you give us a brand where it comes from. It’s really, really important for people. And also Palestinian, because of what’s happening now for so many years, never had the credit for – people been borrowing Palestinian dishes, putting them out there and not giving them their credit, but also as a Palestinian, I think people were in such a shock of what happened that food was kind of part of their preservation, but they didn’t think that they needed to protect it and put it out there. And I see that in writing. I mean, I, this is what I write about Palestinian cooking at the moment, because I see it as documenting, first of all, but also showing that these dishes didn’t just kind of happen. They have their own history, their stories, they’re woven with the whole culture, the connection to the land, to the farming, to the surrounding, which, you know really, really important in, in the whole kind of – 

 

MARTIN: But of course, the whole question of his history, story, culture, narrative—

TAMIMI: Yeah.

MARTIN: What is true and what belongs to whom is so very fraught in this part of the world. It’s so very challenging. And so very emotional. And I remember, honestly, I’ll tell you, I remember we talked about your previous cookbook, Falastin, and I remember getting this angry email from somebody who said, because we were writing, we were talking about Falastin and Palestinian cookery, that I was negating the existence of Israel. And I was like, huh. Can you even talk about history and talk about a place without getting wading into the politics of it?

 

TAMIMI: I mean, you can’t, everything that you touch in the region turned into politics, but you can’t also not talk about it because it’s, they are facts. It’s not something that I make up and just write in a notebook, and it’s not my narrative as well. And also, I don’t talk for the Palestinian. I am one, one Palestinian man that see the narrative as it is. I don’t make my own narrative to sell a cookbook. They are facts. It’s history, it’s been written. I just go back and search for it. And I don’t –  I have the authority to, to write a cookbook and write what, what’s the background, the history. And you don’t have to try hard to dig into the facts.

 

MARTIN: Well, I would also say though, that this book is very personal. It’s infused with your memories. 

TAMIMI: Yes. 

MARTIN: Memories of, of experiences, your memories of relationships, your memories of flavors, your memories of how it made you feel. And it reminded me of so many people that I know who live apart from the place of their birth and also the place of their memory, and how the food brings them back to it.

 

TAMIMI: Yeah. I mean, that’s the thing. When you say Palestine or Palestinian, you, you get bombarded by lots of kind of negative. And I want to show how people live in modern time Palestine and talking to all these really inspiring people. They all kind related to food and the way they live their life. And it’s really, really inspiring because, I mean, I remember a couple of them saying, we don’t want to sit and cry about what happened. (19:50): We want to kind of help ourself, the family, our community, our country. 

 

And, and this kind of really, really kind of important to show to people because through cookbooks and through – we are connected really strongly. We all understand that the language of cooking and eating and sharing food and, and celebrating that, and through Falastin and now Boustany, I wanted to show another side of the Palestinian, which is not just people being starved and being killed and bombarded. And it’s kind of, there’s quite a lot of my own memories, but also they’re related to people that I know. They are related to my family, my grow, you know, me growing up in Palestine. And this is something that over generation now that they come is gonna get lost. And it’s important to write them for next generations. 

 

MARTIN: Okay. So now let’s talk about some of the recipes. So well let’s talk about some of your favorites, if I can put you on the spot. And I also wanna know which ones that I can easily make without having to be a trained chef.

 

Speaker 2 (21:31):

TAMIMI: You can do the couscous fritters. I already published a similar recipe, not really similar, but based on the same dish that my mom used to make for us as kids. And it’s total comfort. It’s just warm couscous with tomato and onion. And it brings so much joy and comfort. And I wanted to bring them back because I think people really – once you try them, they really beautifully come, it brings you also comfort, but also wanted to bring them back in a different way. So I decided to add peppers into them and a lot more heat and shape them in, in a kind of patties and serve them with a really punchy lemon preserved lemon dill and capers yogurt. And they’re a hit. And people really love them, but also kids love them. 

 

MARTIN: What about the soups? I mean, I noticed that you said that whenever you’re feeling sad or feeling a little unsettled, that you want a soup. I am, I am the same way. What about a soup?

 

TAMIMI: I prefer not super hot, like a temperature hot soup. But freekeh soup, for example, vegetables, which is a very, very simple soup, always, is very soothing.

 

MARTIN: It’s an unsettled time. I mean, it’s a very difficult, difficult, doesn’t even capture it. I mean, the words I’m using are just not adequate to describe the suffering that many people are experiencing.

 

TAMIMI: I am sad, I am very sad about what’s happening in Gaza and Palestine. But I am a hopeful person. I am positive, and I let my work talk for itself. I am eager, I’m almost like a, on a mission now to promote as much of the Palestinian food and culture and this is, keeps me sane and keeps me thriving and, and going forward.

 

MARTIN: You said you wrote once again, “I wanted to focus on Palestinian food, not just because of where I come from. I believe that Palestinian food tradition and culture have a lot to offer the world. They are a great testimony to resilience in a way of preserving food culture by passing it down through generations.” You write “the responsibility of writing these recipes and stories has weighed heavily on my shoulders. And you say, I hope and wish that many of you try the recipes, read the stories, and want to know more about Palestine, the place its people, its culture, and its food. This wonderful place I call home.” Is there a time when you think you’ll be able to go home and feel at home?

 

TAMIMI: Not as it is now. I, for me, going back, I mean, I get it – I don’t want to kind of turn it into this kind of political thing. But for me, going back home, it means that I’m treated like a second class citizen. I am an old person in my own country and I still get treated badly. I couldn’t be as successful if I stayed back home. Which is really sad to think about it in a way.

 

MARTIN: It is. But the book itself is not sad. You talked about the responsibility weighing heavily on you, 

TAMIMI: Of course.

MARTIN: But like you said, you also don’t want to overshadow the pride and the joy. And so how do you want us to think about it? Now that you’ve gifted us with this, what would you like us as readers and as cooks to draw from this work? 

 

TAMIMI: To cook, to cook the food, to really kind of, this is, this connects you also to the whole narrative, the book, but also to the place and to the people: to cook the food, and also read the stories and wanting to know more. And hopefully, you know, people want to kind of read a lot more about what happened. And it’s not just black and white, like we see it nowadays. It’s more, there’s a lot more to it than it is. But also cooking and writing about food it’s a good tool for people to dive deeper into a culture, into people, and also to try to understand what happened.

I’m hoping, yeah, just for people to cook from it. And, you know, it is deliberately lighter weight than Falastin because I wanted to, because it’s me and because I’m talking about myself and my memories. There’s quite a lot of positive in it and it’s things – it’s something that really important for people to kind of also read it and see it. I cook when I’m happy and I cook better when I’m happy.

 

MARTIN: Sami Tamimi, thank you so much for speaking with us once again.

 

TAMIMI: Thank you very much for having me.