When I visited the Specialty Foods Show in Las Vegas back in February, I was able to see so many cool products coming out on the market, as is the case with food shows (and it was so nice to be in person once again). On my last leg when I was exhausted and ready to leave, I noticed a booth out of the corner of my eye displaying dates and a photo of a woman in a hijab on their branding materials. Of course I had to turn around and see what this new company was all about, as I’d never heard of them before. Upon speaking with Chelle’s husband, I learned about their social programs for their local Tunisian employees, many of whom are women.
Chelle and her husband are an American couple living on the edge of the Sahara desert with their small family and they are the only foreigners in the area. Their kids attend Arabic school and as a family they are fully integrated into the community. They have a a fascinating story and Chelle is very modest about their beginnings and what they have done to build a life there and their date business, PurDate.
At the moment, they sell only date sugar, which is what we discuss in most of this video- ways to use it and the benefits of it as a healthy alternative to white sugar. It’s really good stuff. In the future they plan to sell date paste and date syrup. You can find their products at some Whole Foods and also on Amazon (you can also shop Whole Foods items on Amazon).
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I love talking to people who bring great food products to us. I think it’s a fantastic service and a huge sacrifice to build a business that curates and serves high quality Halal products, particularly meats which are very hard to find. If you only really knew what was out there, you would appreciate people and businesses like this so much more. That’s why this interview is so important. Please click below to watch.
To order high quality Halal lamb, beef, veal, goat or chicken from Billy Doe, please go here.
Full disclosure: because I believe in their products so much, I have joined their affiliate program, which means that if you purchase any of their products with the link I provide, I will get a small commission for your referral. It doesn’t affect your purchase price whatsoever.
Seems like it was just yesterday I had this photo shoot and interview withThe Kitchn. I remember that day so clearly- a photo session at Lincoln Park farmers market, then back to my kitchen to prep food for another shoot. I was exhausted from weeks of filming videos for Ramadan and working on multiple recipe projects. I was in the midst of selling my house and trying to figure out what was happening next in my life. There were so many unknowns but I was too busy to think about any of it. I was even too busy to enjoy all the big wins happening in my work life.
Things are slower now and I can look back and appreciate those moments and actually re-read the article leisurely. Time flies when you’re doing something that you love, but it’s still important to step back and think about your WHY. I simply wanted Halal to become recognized in America. I felt it was crucial to be understood and to be a household word, much like kosher or Mexican food had to go through in the past.
Although I had started this journey 10 years earlier, there was no better time- and there IS no better time than NOW for this to be the case. If there’s anywhere that it can happen, it’s in America. I believe that with all my heart and hope that I was part of that opening in my country, part of that awareness and light on something special and sacred and dear to my heart because I did it with everything I had in me.
I can only look to the future with optimism and excitement because that kind of energy is all I want to carry within me into the years ahead. That is the American way, after all…at least the one in which I grew up.
You can read the entire interview on The Kitchnhere.
There are many delicious halalrestaurants popping up all over the U.S., but when I was asked to pick my new favorite, I chose a #Chicago restaurant I thoroughly enjoyed for its uniqueness and because it was my most recent find before coming to Turkey that I can now appreciate as being quite authentic to what I taste regularly here.
Other picks on the list come from friends also in halal food like Mohammad Modarres of Abe’s Eats, Sameer Sarmast of Sameer’s Eats, Amanda Saab of ButterBear Shoppe in Detroit and Shahed Amanullah of the Zabihah food and restaurant app.
Check out the article here and find out what my pick was.
Last September I had the pleasure and absolute honor of being interviewed by Mona Askar for the Chicago History MuseumAmerican Medina: Stories of Muslim Chicago Oral History Project.
The oral histories have just been published and you can listen to all of them here, as I’m just one of many other Chicago Muslims who were interviewed for it.
In this interview I open up about my family background, my upbringing in a small town in Ohio, how much I liked Catholic school, where and how I developed my love of travel and exploration, how my family’s ethnic background shaped my love of food and where I went into the world before embracing Islam and the world of halal.
If you’re interested to listen, you can find the link to the Sound Cloud audio here.
All oral histories in the entire project can be found here.
I’ve been reading Epicurious for years, but never expected to see this!
I am so elated not because it’s a cookbook I’ve written but because it will hopefully bring positive recognition to the abundant world of halal cuisine and cooking.
Please share far and wide and thank Epicurious for choosing this book :)
