Inaugural Messy Kitchen Supper Club – #NoBan Part 1: Yemen, Iran & Syria

Posted on Apr 18th, 2017

by Johanna

Categories:

World Cuisines

You may remember (okay, who are we kidding, you probably don’t – but indulge me) that one of the items on my 30 at 30 bucket list was to start a supper club, something I’ve wanted to do for years now. While I’m definitely going to fail to complete my full list (shame!), this weekend I knocked two items off of it: taking an Orange Theory class and STARTING A SUPPER CLUB!

The concept behind supper club evolved a bit in recent months, and I came up with a concept I was really excited about – drawing inspiration from a very successful Friendsgiving, organizations like Conflict Kitchen, and my current culinary journey around the world. I love nothing more than having my table surrounded by family and friends, but I also wanted to use the opportunity to do good in some small way with each meal. Additionally, I think we find ourselves at a time that cultural understanding is of the utmost importance – and I believe we can achieve that through food!

For the first two supper clubs, we’re visiting the six countries included in Trump’s travel ban. The goal is to learn about what it’s like to live there – but also to explore beyond the images of crisis and conflict we see on the news by learning about their customs and traditions – especially as it relates to food. On Saturday night, we visited Yemen, Iran and Syria, raising approximately $400 for the International Rescue Committee, who works in Yemen and Syria to provide medical and mental health care, emergency cash assistance, and economic stability to those whose lives have been uprooted by acts of war, including the recent chemical attacks in Idlib.

We enjoyed a traditional bread and dip from Yemen as started, a stew from Iran with a side of Persian saffron rice cooked with a stupendous amount of butter as the main course, green beans with apricots and almonds in a date syrup dressing as a side, and Syrian cookies for dessert, made using molds leant to me by a colleague’s mom. We listened to Middle Eastern music and I got a slew of picture books from the library from the countries we were visiting. It turns out that between planning, shopping, cooking, hosting, cleaning, and blogging, a dinner party consisting of six dishes from three countries for eight people is a great deal of work, but I’m already looking forward to the next one. We had a wonderful evening, laughing and talking until well past 2:00am, and I’m so proud and grateful to have friends so eager to give back!