The interplay of community building and immigrant entrepreneurialism lies at the heart of NooshTube’s message of Yummy Diplomacy. It is no surprise, then, that the NooshTube team would so enthusiastically forge a partnership with Saving Cities, an organization based in Cleveland, Ohio. Saving Cities has a very unique mission – realizing the present-day potential of the American Midwest.
Taha Ismail at Kapnos Restaurant and Bar Washington, DC. Photo by Greg Powers.
Ah, yes… mixologists. Would it be so farfetched to call them the alchemists of the culinary world? With pinches and dashes of sundry ingredients, they spice up occasions with ease.
Washington, DC has its fair share of surprises, but an ambassador sporting a chef’s hat? Or is it a chef fully proficient at being an emissary? Emissaries are not just experts in their own histories and cultures, but they are also adept conveyors of tradition to other societies. Cuisines, being windows to equally a grandmother’s kitchen or royal banquet halls, capture traditions best – a warm waft of a dish can dig deep into any national and personal identities.
Not many regions of the world can truly claim the title of “crossroads of history” as soundly as Syria. Along its river valleys and fertile plains, the very origins of human civilization first took root. Ever since, almost every sector of humankind – civilized or otherwise – tried to lay claim to Syria as its own. So much has passed through its many towns and villages – caravans, mystics, whole armies and tribes – that Syria is still to this day grappling to write its history.
It is the most expensive and perhaps the most labor-intensive spice in the world. Chefs fortunate enough to have access treat it like gold and savor it in their most cherished dishes. An average of 60,000 handpicked crocus blossoms are needed to collect one pound of saffron, and that pound could fetch upwards of $5000 depending on its quality and origin. Now, this most precious of spices can be delivered to anyone’s mailbox, beautifully packaged and within a week when ordered from RumiSpice.com.