E24: Stop Asking Me About Kabobs (w/ Persian cookbook author Yasmin Khan)

03/21/17 • 29 min

Yasmin Khan’s Twitter bio reads: “Challenging stereotypes of the Middle East, one pomegranate at a time.” With her new cookbook, “The Saffron Tales,” Khan has not only delivered a beautifully written book about Persian food but has also challenged us to think about Persian food in entirely new ways.

Khan set out in 2013 to write her book because she was fed up with people in making assumptions that Iran equals bombs, nukes, and fanatics. She wanted to show the texture and the beauty she experienced during her own visits to the Iranian countryside. What she could not predict is that the antagonism between the “West” and Iran would only grow greater, especially with the US election of Donald Trump.

In this episode, Khan speaks about meeting artisanal chocolatiers in Iran, why London doesn’t have great regional Persian restaurants, and why she was denied a visa to the US during the Obama administration.

Produced by Juan Ramirez. Music by AF the Naysayer and Blue Dot Sessions.

Produced by Juan Ramirez. Music by AF the Naysayer and Blue Dot Sessions.

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E23: Combating Hunger with Hawaiian Musubi (w/ Darrell Yuen)

One in five people in Portland are food insecure, according to the Oregon Food Bank. It’s a statistic Darrell Yuen knows well. He spent years fighting hunger, including a stint at the Oregon Food Bank. But in 2016, he called it quits and decided he would fight hunger by starting a restaurant instead.

The result is Musubi, a small restaurant in Southeast Portland that serves Hawaii snack food. Darrell contributes a portion of every purchase to combat hunger and he sees his role not as a restaurateur but as a social entrepreneur. In this episode, we talk about how restaurants owners can give back to communities and how Darrell sees his restaurant as a way for him to embrace his Hawaiian identity.

Produced by Juan Ramirez. Music by AF the Naysayer and Blue Dot Sessions.

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E25: Do What You Wanna (w/ Ruby Tandoh)

The theme of this episode is food and all the ways people use it to mess with us. Well, it’s about a bit more than that, but that’s the gist of it. First, Soleil and Zahir chat about the Great Kimchi Incident of 2017 and the high psychological price of getting good chai in Portland. (“How do they drink chai in the Far East, Zahir?”) Then Soleil gets on the phone with food writer and British baking genius Ruby Tandoh to discuss her upcoming mental health zine, the toxicity of wellness culture, and the healing power of food writing.

Produced by Juan Ramirez. Music by AF the Naysayer, Blue Dot Sessions, Alimony Hustle and The Rebirth Brass Band.