Somali cuisine

Today I spent a lot of time thinking about Somalia, the impetus being this blog project, of course, but beyond the recipes, it's a place, a culture that I interact with quite often. We live in a city with one of the highest Somali populations in the US. We live in a community within this city where the cultural impact of the Somali culture is seen at every corner. My first culinary experience of the day began with a morning stop at the local Somali coffee shop.

I don't normally have coffee out, but as it was my first day of winter vacation, I felt like treating myself. Upon entering the shop on Central Avenue, I realized immediately that I was the only white person there. I was the only one speaking English as my primary language. I'd wager I was the only non-Muslim as well, as I was the only woman without a hijab. This does not happen to me very often, not unless I am traveling really, which is a white privilege that is my norm. So I took a moment and scoped the place out, soaking in the uncomfortableness of being different as I read the menu. I ordered my caramel macchiato, thought about buying some samosas, and was on my way.

 Being uncomfortable wasn't necessary a negative experience for me today. It keeps me thinking about my place in the world and the things I still need to know. What I know about Somalia, I've learned from the news, which is primarily negative. As a country that borders Ethiopia, I've learned some about the conflict between the two nations, again a negative situation, and the reverberations of that conflict between the two communities here in our city. But that doesn't stop me from appreciating the resilience of a people pushed from their worn torn nation to start over in the cold north of Minnesota.
And I continue to learn more through food.

Tonight I made two Somali recipes. One is a repeat for this blog, Ambabur Bed, an egg crepe usually eaten during Eid, made from Extending the Table. My mother has made crepes every Christmas since I can remember in one of our family traditions. This year Ian asked if we could bring these Somali crepes to the party, which was wholly welcomed by my mother, a long time member of the global community:) So I made crepes for tomorrow morning brunch. But the food didn't stop there.

Yesterday was Ian's birthday, and from his Granddad and Grandma in Scotland he received a wonderful cookbook, Kids Cook the World (added to my main page!). I told Ian he could pick any recipe he wanted for dinner tonight, and he chose Somali rice with vegetables, a simple dish loaded with veggies and spiced with cinnamon, clove and cardamom. It was delicious. As we cooked Ian and I talked about the difference between the words Somalia and Somali, and read about halal cuisine on the pages preceding the recipe. One of the highlights of this particular book is not only the cultural information that accompanies each recipe, but the pictures of the children cooking the meals. There are many more brown faces that white in its pages, a rarity for my son, who will deal with uncomfortableness at the very least as he maneuvers through the world with his beautiful brown skin.

I'm not done thinking about Somalia by any means as the day winds down. Or my white skin and my son's brown. This is a life long journey that I hope holds many more uncomfortable moments and delicious meals.