Let Me Cook – Returning To The Middle-East Through Food

What:

For my learning project, I knew that I needed to pick a skill that I would have enough reason to maintain my motivation for. So, I have decided to learn to make middle eastern food. What I considered “middle eastern food” will be pretty broad. I am interested in north african/levant/turkish cuisine. I will learn to make both full meals and deserts. 

Why?:

I have many reasons for starting this endeavor. In no particular order; I have been cooking for myself since I was 16 years old. Though I have much experience, I feel I still have yet to really master a cuisine. At 17 years old, after making many Muslim friends from various countries, I got exposed to the delicious foods of the Arab/Middle-Eastern world. I always enjoyed the food, but found it quite complicated to replicate at home. I am also starting to take greater interest in my health and I tend to lean more toward healthy, fresh foods. This is a quality that I have found in Middle Eastern foods. They are quite balanced meals with a diverse range of vegetables. I have tried making middle eastern dishes before, such as warak enab and molokhia, but alas, it have never turned out quite as well as when my Arab friend’s mother makes it. 

I studied abroad at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates in 2023and as you can probably imagine, I was exposed to so many arab dishes there. The culture is really big on food. Most gatherings center around food, they bring food to you if youre feeling sick, mourning, celebrating a success, etc. I got to try so many interesting things and I want to be able to replicate them here in Regina, to make me feel like I’m back in the UAE. 

How:

Thankfully, there is an abundance of resources on the internet. I could, theoretically, use TikTok for this whole project, as there are many amazing middle eastern cooking TikTok account. However, I would prefer to get a diverse range of resources. I will use:

• Various tiktok accounts
• Youtube channels
• Cooking blogs and websites
• Online cookbooks
• An online middle eastern cooking course, if I can find one. 

Although I have chosen middle eastern cuisine for my learning project, I am not actually well-versed in the various dishes that I could possibly make. I know however, that I want to master warak enab (stuffed grape leaves) and Lebanese-style molokhia. Other options would be kabsa (saudi-style chicken and rice), luqaimat (emirati mini donuts. Do NOT tell them I compared them to mini donuts. They chewed me out for that already). This week, I will make a plan of which dishes to make.