chefzadi

Milagai I've posted about this before. Traditionally Magrhebis eat with our hands, sometimes from communal platters. Of course there is nothing wrong with it. But people who aren't used to don't get nor do they always understand it. And eating with one's hands as you know has it's own etiquette, which someone who is dining at a restaurant probably doesn't want to be taught on the spot. My point is the utensils are available in North African restaurants.

Where did you come across the name? Which location?

Fantastic idea Almass, you should do something like that.

But of course! Why not? ← No reason why not. I should have typed 'could be good' But still why not?

OKay, so a friend of mine's wife told me she likes to eat kimchi with Indian meat curries. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around it. It seemed so odd. Then I tried some Bengali karahi beef. The spicing reminded me of some North African beef stews. The other day we made beef with quince. We rarely make sweet tagines, but the quince looked good and the beef was on sale. And the dish isn't really sweet anyway and we spiced it with turmeric and saffron. We had couscous on hand, but I thought it would be better with rice. Basmatic rice with butter and saffron is one of my favorite foods. As I was sitting down to eat, I had a mad craving to have kimchi with the meal. It was delicious. I think this is the first time in my life I've had a meal that combined elements from different cultures (aside from an Algerian-French meal). Yes, I am that set in my ways when it comes to eating. I don't like to mix stuff up. We don't do fusion at home. But it worked. It was really really good.

Dejah, you really must try it! Lamb is fairly common in Hunan recipes. One large supermarket in NYC's Chinatown (at least as of when I was last there a few years ago) even carries boneless lamb sliced paper-thin "for sukiyaki"! AFAIK, lamb is never used in sukiyaki (Mongolian BBQ, maybe), but I found it very convenient for my Lamb with Leeks and other Hunan dishes. Beats trying to slice it that thinly by hand! ← I had a few lamb dishes at Islamic Beijing years ago. It was a bit too hot for me. I might like it now, since my tastes have changed. Now that I think about it lamb could be could cooked Korean BBQ style.

Thank you Ed for your frankness about the unadventurous crowd. Well, judging by the responses in this thread (many which are sincerely helpful), I get the impression that there are lots of misperceptions about North African foods. 1. I've never been to one that doesn't provide utensils. 2. I've never been to one with belly dancers (not that difficult to avoid). 3. Same, never been to one with a hookah, although that doesn't seem that unappealing. Also, seems that there is a segment of America that's being discussed that won't try anything that's perceived as too different. On the other there is a market for lots of other so called 'ethnic' cuisines. And really there are many Algerian dishes that are just as mild as French dishes. I've said this in numerous other threads, the Algerian cooking I grew up with was very mild and delicate. The odd thing is in my experience Americans ask for spicier. Whenever I teach a class on the subject or cook for American friends, "Oooh spices, exotic flavors!!!" So there's a market for that and a market that resists that. I also think that maybe writers exoticized North Africa and the cuisine too much.

I found this recipe on a Lebanese forum. On that forum it's spelled Masbahet ed Darweesh

Sort of like beauty pageants, I can't watch, the last minute suspense just kills me!

A variation of that dish is found in North Africa as well. Given that the ingredients and techniques are so common, I suspect it's found in alot of areas. askara wa harramiyya sounds like a local slang name for the dish. Thanks for the info Almass.

Do you know how the name got attached to the dish?

I'm speechless. You eat out a lot Michael!

I posted questions about this dish on two International language forums that have members from all over the Arab speaking world. We all know the game and in some regions it's very organized and boys play it to learn how to protect their towns, in others it's just for fun. No one has heard of the dish so far. Someone suggested that it might be a dish that served after the boys play or it's a dish that is made for speedy delivery.

So what's the North African food scene like in Israel? A North African community in the States that is not as identifiable are the pied noirs (some are Jewish). I think it's very difficult to know the number of people with North African origins. In no particular order 1. North Africans from North Africa 2. European born North Africans 3. Israeli born North Africans 4. Pied noirs (refers to former colonizers, including non-indigenous Jews) 5. Mixed. Half European and Half North African. 2, 4 and 5 are pretty 'common' if one is in certain social circles. so on and so on. Thanks for the offer Pam. You know I've been to Vancouver, Canada. I have friends there. How far is Winnipeg?

A report on Green pizza on Pim's blog. There's a Tunisian who works there as well.

The majority of moderate muslims (and the vast majority of muslims are moderate) find this acceptable. A number of articles/papers have been written about it. When halal meat is unavailable, kosher is fine. Also quite a few NA restaurants are owned by Moroccan Jews. It'll be easy for me to find out. A friend of mine who is of Central American descent owns a French cafe in the area. I go occassionally to help him out when he wants to add new dishes. It would be cool to hear her stories, she must be quite the talker.

Moroccan tends to be sweet. Morocco is a small part of North Africa. Maybe the image problem here in America with some is that they've eaten too much mediocre Moroccan food. As for fear of spicy as in hot, most dishes are not spicy and if customers want hot they can add it at the table with harisa or dirsa. Also, the ingredients for alot of dishes are readily available. I can go to any regular supermarket to buy the ingredients for many dishes. Surely in most of America fresh meat and vegetables are available. As for halal meat, at least in LA it's sometimes less expensive. Besides serving halal doesn't seem much of a concern for most NA restaurants. As with any new 'trend' some will try to capitalize on it poorly, others will do it well.

Yes we all have alot to learn, including more about our culinary histories. In LA the San Gabriel Valley is undoubtedly the epicenter of Chinese restaurants. Numerous threads on egullet compare different Chinatowns throughout the world and the SFG is a leading contender for "best" in terms of range, depth and diversity. Outside of certain areas, most of the Chinese food is pretty standard Chinese-American restaurant, some of it is very well prepared and delicious but it's not exactly a glorious culinary/cultural experience. Beginning in Koreatown and moving westward, alot of the Chinese restaurants are owned by Koreans. (Koreans also own alot of those "pan-asian" trendy places on the Westside as well). Koreans also own alot of the restaurants in Little Tokyo and serve up food to smiling tourists (many of them Japanese). There's been some talk on other threads about Korean cuisine as possibly being a break out cuisine. Gyu-Kaku looks like it's already broken out. Yes it's a Japanese chain that serves Korean BBQ. All this is to say that alot of so called 'ethnic' food in America has little to do with experiencing 'culture'. All of this talk of Mexican food in France from the point of view as a French person is a bit perplexing. We have very few Mexican immigrants and there is simply very little interest in France in Mexican cuisine. It's a culinary void for expat Americans, that's about it. Maybe if a famous Mexican chef came to France and promoted the cuisine interest could be generated. What is Chef Bayless doing next week? I started a thread on North African cuisine in America. No doubt there is interest, trend reports for years predicting it as the next big thing. Some members posted that unfortunately "African" and "Middle Eastern" have negative connotations in America. Does not surprise me in the least bit. The average French person will know much more about North African cuisine, culture and history than the average American (even Los Angeleno) does about Mexican, IMNHO. Yes, we all have a lot to learn. And we are free to choose what we want to learn. Pointing out gaps in other cuisines/cultures as some sort of national failure while ignoring gaps in one's own is not exactly a fair comparison.

Well some people are just set in their ways and will never change. I've thinking about John's suggestion for a promo sound bite. Maybe it can be a group project in this thread/ America is such a big and diverse country. I suppose we can start in urban areas where there is already strong interest. The French themed recreational classes I teach sell out too, but the cooking coordinators want more and more North African classes. They know about marketing better than I do, clearly they know there is interest and consumers spend money on it. There is already a customer base to tap into. (which includes the French in America as well)

In LA there are many falafel places owned by various people from the Middle East. A placed called "Amir's Falafel" can easily be owned by an Israeli, an Armenian, a Palestinian, an Egyptian or even a Greek for example. There are 2 Armenian owned chains that serve roast chicken along with the "standard" casual Middle Eastern list of foods, many of the ones you listed. I never really thought about it being from one country or another, untill someone pointed out to that the owners are Armenians from Lebanon and that the menu, the way the food is prepared and presented are totally Lebanese. But there's no big sign that says "LEBANESE FOOD" or "ARMENIAN FOOD" both businesses have been around for a long time. Some of the locations have an almost constant line of customers. There are parts of town with a concentration of Jewish or Israeli businesses. One are that's particularly interesting is near Roberson and Pico, sometimes refered to as the "Kosher Block". There are (the last time I saw) two Iranian Jewish supermarkets, Eastern-European style Jewish delis, Kosher Chinese, etc.. It's an interesting mix and layering of old, new and diverse Jewish communties. (As a note to Pam, didn't a lot of Maghrebi Jews settle in Israel bringing the dishes of North Africa with them? An American friend was asking me about this the other day. I told him about my Israeli friend who's mother was a Moroccan Jew and when she met me she hugged and kissed me all over saying "my son, my son" as if she could smell the bled on my skin. The Americans were really surprised to here this. I told them you can't understand culture and human interaction by just reading the newspaper from a distance.)

← Tunisia. Tunisians, Moroccans and Algerians are Maghrebis (North Africans). We speak the same cuisine/culture/language with regional differences. Yes, certain North African dishes can be served "to go" style. Any number of couscous 'joints' in France will tell you this. This sort of food is an introduction. If you like it maybe you will explore more in depth or maybe not..

If you go to J-town in Los Angeles, you'll see plenty of Japanese (and other Asians) eating mediocre Japanese food. But you are correct in SF and LA it would be pretty hard to find someone who doesn't know how to use chopsticks or at least hasn't tried. There is more awareness of Asian cuisines in general in these cities for the obvious reason that there are a tremendous number of Asian immigrants. Korea town in LA is the biggest 'minority' presence in the middle of the city. Korean BBQ is the new Teriyaki. On the other hand it's not really as if the average urban American has a deep understanding of all these great ethnic cuisines available in the States. These comparisons at a certain point are senseless. One thing I would like to mention is that in the "North African in America" thread I started several posters pointed out that "African" and "Middle Eastern" have negative connonations in America to the point that restaurants that specifically name certain Middle Eastern countries go out of business depending on the Global situation of the day. So the French don't get Japanese. The French don't have a problem getting North African cuisine or Lebanese.

Yes it's Bastille Day! And I'm missing out on some local celebrations because I will be teaching Bastille day recipes this evening. But I love teaching these classes.

I agree and it's very easy to do and cost effective. Training staff to prepare a few authentically prepared 'signature' dishes really well while catering to the way Americans eat is entirely possible. We'll need more than 3 bicycles.

I think people get this impression from restaurant food which of course is usually not representative.