Hosted by Erin Brown
Featuring Ola Salem, Surbhi Gupta and Kareem Shaheen
Produced by Finbar Anderson
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When preparing a traditional Egyptian dessert for her son’s American classmates, New Lines’ Managing Editor Ola Salem realised she would not be able to tell the schoolchildren the unedited history of the bread and butter pudding Umm Ali as it was simply too violent.
However, the gory power struggle that lay behind the dessert sparked a conversation among the magazine’s editors about the mysterious and often bizarre origin stories behind our favorite dishes, and the delicate family politics that accompany them to this day.
“I don’t claim that Egyptian food is superior to anything, but the one thing it is superior at is falafel, and I’m going to die on this hill.”
Salem — flying the flag for her native Egypt — notes that the Levantine zaatar spice mix “dates back to ancient Egypt, and it was found in tombs, and sometimes used in the process of mummification.”
The authentic recipe for biryani, says South Asia Editor Surbhi Gupta, is so disputed that “there are wars that are fought about it. Who does it best? Is it Lucknow, Hyderabad, Kolkata or in the south?”
Kareem Shaheen, the magazine’s Middle East Editor, remembers his Syrian wife almost being disowned by her family for not showing a dish of vine leaves the proper respect. “ My wife wanted to put it in the oven, so it’d be done in like an hour, and her aunt just left the WhatsApp group because she got so mad that anyone would try and cook it that quickly in the oven instead of doing it for eight hours on the stovetop,” Shaheen recalls.
North Africa Editor Erin Brown notes that she has managed to persuade Tunisians of the charms of a cheese fondue. “ Everyone initially is extremely skeptical of a meal that is just cheese and bread. And by the end, they’re the ones who are picking that wonderful little caramelized, crusty bit off the bottom where the candles have turned the cheese all crackly and gooey.”