Food and Finding the Spice of Life with Saba Wahid Duffy
05/12/21 • 36 min
This week we are joined by Saba Wahid Duffy: chef, media personality, culinary educator, and very recent *Chopped* champion. As an American Muslim raised in a suburb of Boston, she grew up eating Pakistani food nearly exclusively, which left her hankering for any cuisine but.
Despite her strong interest in cooking from a young age, Saba’s traditional Desi parents had other thoughts on their daughter wanting to pursue a culinary career. We discover the idea that truly kicked off her career in food much later in life: a television pilot bridging the gap between her Eastern roots and Western upbringing (which coincidentally our host helped film). The shoot—despite the fact that she forbids anyone to watch it now—landed her a position as a tv host with Dubai One. Saba paints a picture of the food scene in Dubai, where she subsequently lived for four years, as well as the current culinary evolution in the States.
Naturally we quizzed her on her Chopped experience. Hear what it’s like to have Martha Stewart hovering over you while breaking down flounder, and how to sugarcoat the situation with a little light conversation. How might one prepare for such a high-stress competition against three male chefs with impressive industry experience? Try timed test runs in a kitchen under construction with a toddler in tow and a proper-meat-and-potatoes husband critiquing your plating.
We learn about her signature style, an amalgamation of healthy Mediterranean cuisine with the pungent spices of her heritage as well as the global influence of living in the UAE. She enlightens our listeners as well as, ahem, our Pakistani-American host on the differences between Pakistani and Indian food. We talk about wrapping your head around Christmas as adults and her multicultural family creating their own unique traditions. Finally, find out the one thing she won’t ever do foodwise.
Read more about Saba and her unique recipes on her website, take advice from her food blog, Culinary Delights, or follow her on Facebook. And catch her appearances on Food Network’s Chopped: Martha Rules in Round 4 and the Grand Finale (originally aired 5/4 and 5/11 at 9pm).
American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC.
Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble
Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt
Music by Simon Hutchinson
Hosted by Asad Butt
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week we are joined by Saba Wahid Duffy: chef, media personality, culinary educator, and very recent *Chopped* champion. As an American Muslim raised in a suburb of Boston, she grew up eating Pakistani food nearly exclusively, which left her hankering for any cuisine but.
Despite her strong interest in cooking from a young age, Saba’s traditional Desi parents had other thoughts on their daughter wanting to pursue a culinary career. We discover the idea that truly kicked off her career in food much later in life: a television pilot bridging the gap between her Eastern roots and Western upbringing (which coincidentally our host helped film). The shoot—despite the fact that she forbids anyone to watch it now—landed her a position as a tv host with Dubai One. Saba paints a picture of the food scene in Dubai, where she subsequently lived for four years, as well as the current culinary evolution in the States.
Naturally we quizzed her on her Chopped experience. Hear what it’s like to have Martha Stewart hovering over you while breaking down flounder, and how to sugarcoat the situation with a little light conversation. How might one prepare for such a high-stress competition against three male chefs with impressive industry experience? Try timed test runs in a kitchen under construction with a toddler in tow and a proper-meat-and-potatoes husband critiquing your plating.
We learn about her signature style, an amalgamation of healthy Mediterranean cuisine with the pungent spices of her heritage as well as the global influence of living in the UAE. She enlightens our listeners as well as, ahem, our Pakistani-American host on the differences between Pakistani and Indian food. We talk about wrapping your head around Christmas as adults and her multicultural family creating their own unique traditions. Finally, find out the one thing she won’t ever do foodwise.
Read more about Saba and her unique recipes on her website, take advice from her food blog, Culinary Delights, or follow her on Facebook. And catch her appearances on Food Network’s Chopped: Martha Rules in Round 4 and the Grand Finale (originally aired 5/4 and 5/11 at 9pm).
American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC.
Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble
Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt
Music by Simon Hutchinson
Hosted by Asad Butt
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Previous Episode
Bringing People Together through Art with Salma Arastu
This week we speak with Salma Arastu, an artist born in Rajasthan, India, to Sindhi Hindu Pakistani refugees. Introduced to Arabic calligraphy in Iran, she found herself mesmerized before able to even read it. By the 1980s, the merging of traditional calligraphy and modern art that she’d embarked upon had a name: the Hurufiyya Movement. It was only after September 11th that she began to share her calligraphy publicly, to spread the beauty of the Quran and bring people closer to Islam.
She walks us through the popularity of calligraphy in Islam, and her passion for the concept of conveying a story through a beautiful, continuous line. She details her very physical process (often involving three pieces at a time), influences, and reception amongst different communities. In addition to her calligraphy, Salma’s found success with mixed media, paintings, laser-cut metal sculptures, and poetry. Regardless of the medium she works from the heart, letting the energy take control and trying to convey joy, peace, and human connection. Not wanting to be labeled a specific kind of artist, or religion for that matter, she believes the message and appeal of her works are universal.
Listening to Salma speak, we’re not surprised that she makes art to uplift others. One gets the feeling when listening to her that she has a lot to teach about life, gratitude, and humility. She speaks of challenges she’s faced—such as being born without fingers on her left hand or her family’s resistance to her conversion to Islam—as if they are blessings. Frankly she makes us miss our grandma.
You can find out more about Salma on her site or follow her here. Check out her new book of paintings inspired by the themes of ecological consciousness and interspecies dependence found in the Quran. Learn more about some of her favorite artists, Shahzia Sikander, Paul Klee, and Wassily Kandinsky. Last but not least, take her advice to draw—even doodle—to open your mind and heart.
American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC.
Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble
Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt
Music by Simon Hutchinson
Hosted by Asad Butt
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Next Episode
Telling Our Own Story with Qasim Rashid
Qasim Rashid has held many roles—human rights lawyer, prolific writer, media consultant, political candidate, volunteer prison chaplain, avid Tweeter—one of which his wife convinced him to pursue. He joins us on American Muslim Project to discuss his newest book, how he got to where he is today, and advocating for a more compassionate tomorrow.
We dive in with Ramadan 2021, a remarkable one given COVID and the current state of Palestinians and Uyghurs. Shared IHOP reminiscences make an appearance. Qasim outlines the theology behind Ahmadi Muslims, the minority faith he is an active member of. We discuss the motivations behind his long-rejected debut children's book, Hannah and the Ramadan Gift, and the moment his four-year-old daughter saw herself on the cover. Are we any closer to normalizing Islam in the United States?
Qasim touches on other varied topics he’s well-informed on, all with eloquence and humility. How the reality of American Muslims building this country and fighting in every war needs to be more deliberately communicated; the potential positives of being trolled, which he calls collateral education; helping our nation become a more perfect union and making the American Dream accessible to all; the number of times he was pulled over by police post-9/11.... We’re moved by his embodiment of humanity, present in his many, many actions, constantly asserted beliefs, and showing compassion just for compassion’s sake.
Follow Qasim on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook @qasimrashid. Pick up his recent children’s book, Hannah and the Ramadan Gift, illustrated by Aaliya Jaleel. Or check out his numerous articles on https://qasimrashid.com and nonfiction books, The Wrong Kind of Muslim: An Untold Story of Persecution & Perseverance, EXTREMIST: A Response to Geert Wilders & Terrorists Everywhere, and Talk To Me: Changing the Narrative on Race, Religion, & Education.
American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC.
Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble
Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt
Music by Simon Hutchinson
Hosted by Asad Butt
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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