Reem Assil’s Cookbook “Arabiyya” Weaves “Recipes for Resilience” With Reflections on the Arab Diaspora

KQED's Forum

KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Reem Assil, owner of San Francisco and Oakland’s Reem’s Kitchen, began her career as a chef with a thirst for activism, often advocating for social justice and sustainability at work. As the opening chef of Dyafa, an Arab fine-dining restaurant in Oakland, Assil began to reimagine power dynamics in the kitchen which she boldly reflected on in her Eater article, “Don’t Call Me Chef.” Assil joins Forum to talk about her new book, “Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora,” in which she weaves personal essays on food, family, identity, hospitality, activism and political struggles amid recipes influenced by Arab flavors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:32.6	...
0:36.6	... From KQD in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:47.8	As a little girl, so the family story goes, chef, baker, and restaurateur, Rima Seale,
0:53.1	liked to go her own way. When her mother admonished Riem to grab a hold of her as they walked across restaurateur, Rima Seal, liked to go her own way.
0:57.9	When her mother admonished Riem to grab a hold of her as they walked across the street,
1:00.2	Reem would declare, I'll hold my own hand.
1:05.8	That independence and courage is a hallmark of Rima Seal's career as a baker and chef.
1:10.6	Her new cookbook, Arabya, is beautiful and startling, challenging even. These are not words we normally
1:12.2	use about cookbooks, but RIM has an organizer's heart and an activist's mind. Food is her
1:17.1	intellectual medium now, but if you open this book, expecting solely to find a hummus recipe,
1:21.9	you are in for something else entirely. We've got RIM of Reams, California for the hour.
	...

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