Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaung. Not to get all kumbaya or

we are the world here, but listening to today's interview, I was struck at how across cultures

and across generations, we all share this one thing, that getting cooking recipes from your

relatives is a huge pain, that our ancestors aren't the most reliable narrators when it comes to passing down food traditions.

Which I guess is kind of beautiful in a way, right?

Recipes change slightly as they go from person to person like a game of telephone.

Rose Previtt's new cookbook, Maidan, from Lebanon and beyond, is just an example of how

cultures mix and mingle and shift and change. She's a restaurateur, and she spoke to NPR's

Asma Khalid about drawing inspiration from the homes of women in Tunisia, Georgia, Oman, and more.

That's after the break.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi.

We meet Rose Previtt at her Michelin Star restaurant Maidan in Washington, D.C. Previtt operates four restaurants

around the D.C. area, and she's also working on opening up another in L.A. And we came here to her

restaurant to cook food, eat, and talk about her debut cookbook called Maidan from Lebanon and beyond.

I want you to explain the name of the restaurant and the name of the cookbook to us. I tell everybody it is a word based in Arabic to me, but I learned it in Kiev.

Everyone kept saying when we were there like, meet at Maidan, meet at Maidan.

...