Boekpresentatie: Soomaaliya

Food, Memory, and Migration: A conversation on Soomaaliya with Ifrah F. Ahmed

Known by many names, the cape of spices, the nation of poets, and the land of cinnamon, Somalia is nestled in the Horn of Africa and is blessed with fertile fields, rich in spices, and endowed with the longest coastline in mainland Africa. This location and natural abundance have made Somalia a corridor between east and west, and a central point in global trade and migration, dating back millennia.

The cookbook: larger than a collection of recipes

In Soomaaliya, New York Times contributor Ifrah Ahmed tells the story of Somalia in the form of a cookbook, through its history, food and people, tracing how spices and flavours carry the marks of centuries of movement and exchange. The cookbook becomes something larger than a collection of recipes. Through food, it tells a story of journeys across the Indian Ocean, of family histories, of traditions preserved and transformed, and of the many ways people remain connected to a place.

Ifrah F. Ahmed is a Somali-born, Brooklyn based writer, chef, and artist whose work centers around food, history, culture, memory, and migration. Her writing and recipes are regularly published in the New York Times, and she has bylines in Vogue, Eater, Taste, and the LA Times, amongst many others.

Her popular Somali culinary pop-up MILK & MYRRH, has routinely sold out in New York, LA, and Seattle, and she has been featured in Vogue, NPR, The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Cut.

Portret made by Celeste Noche