Issue 005 | Culinary Connections

Food has come up often in conversations lately. Just last week, Alserkal Avenue hosted the “What the Food” festival—a two-day event exploring food’s role through talks, exhibitions, screenings, and installations.

This theme has been on my mind for a while, and for our fifth issue, I wanted to explore culinary matters in a similar vein. This week’s newsletter highlights an in-depth Q&A with Salma Serry, the founder of Sufra Archive. She discusses food’s social and political dimensions, sharing how rare ephemera from the SWANA region reveal insights into the ways societies have evolved. It’s a reminder to see food not only as sustenance but as a lens reflecting our lives.

We also feature a shorter, thoughtful Q&A with filmmaker and entrepreneur Amirah Tajdin, who shares her self-care routines and reflections on staying grounded. Alongside her sister, Wafa, she co-founded Lulu’s & The Beanstalk, an independent bar, cafe, and bookstore inspired by their grandmother Mama Lulu’s recipes and way of life.

I hope you find it delectable.

Happy reading, and until next week,

Rand Al Hadethi

*For the best reading experience, read online on desktop.

Amirah Tajdin, the Kenyan filmmaker and co-founder of Lulu & The Beanstalk, launched the cafe-bar in 2022 with her sister, Wafa, as a tribute to their grandmother, Mama Lulu. Inspired by family values, the concept brings together playful interiors and a cosy, welcoming atmosphere, blending their heritage with a contemporary edge.

Amirah’s decade-long career in filmmaking has seen her develop a distinctive visual style that mixes reality with fiction. Her portfolio includes campaigns for Cadillac, Adidas, and Saudi Tourism, as well as SISTERHOOD: ACTION for Girls Who Code, a Tribeca X Award 2019 finalist.

The 37-year-old creative sits with HABAYTAT to share her rituals and the routines that help her creative spirit stay grounded.

• What is your relationship with the concept of self-care?

An on going, difficult but comfortable journey.

• How do you create a work-life balance, especially when deeply involved in a project?

I’ve had to learn how to, being a film director and now in addition an entrepreneur has meant no rest, lots of sleepless nights and being burnt out. So when it’s high stress time, I have to consciously get stricter with what I CAN control, which is usually what I eat as my gut is always the first to suffer.

• Any self-care advice you can offer readers?

Find what works for you, research what people have done before you and don’t dismiss home remedies. Also, feed your spirit.

• What is your ideal/favourite way of starting your day?

When I can, which isn’t often, I like to have a slow start to my morning which usually involves lighting some incense, a cup of black tea and catching up on the news and twitter silliness. And prayer, I can’t start my day without praying.

• Hobbies or interests that help you recharge?

Reading, spending time in the ocean and sleep.

• What are your go-to activities or rituals for unwinding after a long work day?

A home cooked meal and episode of The Simpsons.

• Any fitness-related activities that keep you energised?

Yoga when I can, I’ve fallen off my fitness wagon the past three years.

• What are you reading/watching/listening to these days?

Reading: I find myself reading autobiographies of Queens and Princesses for tips on how to navigate leadership and grace while holding onto your divine feminine.

Watching: Daria re-runs

Listening: I’m going back into my folk and blues bag, there’s something hymnal about it.

• Do you have a skin-care routine? If so, what are your top 3 favourite products and why? 

Yes, navigating stress means hormonal imbalance and my entre 30s have seen my struggle with my skin and acne.

Fav products: Kiehl’s blemish face cream, Dermalogica clearing skin wash, and Pixi toner pads.

• Are there any beauty or self-care products that help you combat fatigue?

Magnesium supplements and a daily dose of Vitamin D 10 000 IUD capsules, ashwagandha. And a baobab powder smoothie when needed.

• Do you ever use candles or incense to relax? If so, what are your favourites?

All the time. Traditionally there was always frankincense and bukhoor burning in the home growing up, and I’ve adopted this tradition into my daily rituals. And I also love burning SHOYEIDO Plum Blossom incense and MONTROI’S Oud Monsoon incense sticks.

Salma Serry, an Egyptian food history researcher and filmmaker, has devoted much of her career to uncovering the rich culinary heritage of the SWANA. Raised in Sharjah, she “grew up beside a bustling port, watching massive boom and cargo dhows arrive from India, Iran, Yemen, and Ethiopia, offloading sacks and crates of spices, grains, and goods that would flood into nearby bazaars and markets,” shares Serry. “As a child of migrants in the Arab Gulf, I was hyper-aware of the movement of people—and their cultures—across the region. I was always captivated by the way these flavors and traditions intertwined- and the connections we had to our food.”

This early exposure to diverse flavours sparked her fascination with the intersections of food, culture, and migration. Now based in Toronto, Serry is the founder of Sufra Archive, a digital repository of over 600 historical Arabic cookbooks and culinary artefacts.

In this conversation, Serry shares her journey, the significance of preserving culinary history, and the stories that food tells about our collective past and present.

• When and how did Sufra Archive start?

I started hunting down cookbooks for my graduate research—scouring flea markets, tracking down collectors, vintage shops, libraries. Over time, I realised I’d have to build my own collection if I wanted real access, as these resources are often rare in libraries. And then there’s the ephemera you’ll never find in archives: menus, food labels, packaging. Fleeting pieces of daily life that reveal so much about how people lived but are nearly impossible to access. As I collected these things and researched them I started writing and posting about them, and Sufra Archive was born.

• Traditional archives can definitely be difficult to access. Your digital platform is free and open to all - did this decision impacted the reach and reception of your work?

Making my digital platform free and accessible to everyone was incredibly important to me—it didn’t even feel like a decision. By keeping it open, I’ve been able to spark conversations that wouldn’t have happened otherwise and build some incredible lasting connections with those who share interest in the subject. Not a cliche but this openness truly turns what could have been just a research project in the dark, into a collaborative space, where knowledge flows both ways, and just by virtue of posting, I end up learning a lot from the research process and sharing the materials with others.

But to be honest though, it requires a lot of work and effort to upkeep, and sometimes- it feels overwhelming and not easily sustainable on the long term as a personal project.

Using social media makes it much easier but also comes at the disadvantage of having it accessible to professional researchers- instagram doesn’t support a good search functionality, for example, if someone is to search for something specific within the page’s posts. So the need to build a website was clear. Now it’s under process- with a lot work, resources, and effort that goes into that I might have underestimated a little when the project first started. Wish us luck :) !

• How has your work with Sufra Archive changed over the years, if it has? Be it in the types of projects you take on under the archive, or the way you engage beyond the digital platform.

Honestly, it hasn’t changed much except, I now have much less time to cook and document my cooking- so I stick on the archival material. My favourite part is designing workshops, cultural programs and inviting others to engage with the materials from the collection. This is exactly what the archive was meant to do, and I always appreciate all the wonderful connections and people I meet through these projects. So grateful!

• How do you continue to source your ephemera? Any interesting stories you can share with us? What are some surprising or unexpected topics or items you’ve come across over the years?

We source our ephemera from a variety of locations, have a team of incredible research assistants working on it currently and always make a point to visit flea markets and book markets in any country we travel to. With time, we established friendships with those collect such materials and now it became much easier when the project first started as a result of maintaining these friendships over the years.

One interesting story involves a set of menus from Egypt in the late 1800s. These menus, which capture both restaurant offerings and special event menus, took a year to acquire. Surprisingly, we sourced them all the way from Argentina! They were part of an estate belonging to the grandchildren of a German army general who had been stationed in Egypt. His family eventually settled in Argentina after WWII, and the menus remained with them for decades.

Another thing I love about collecting ephemera is finding personal notes, letters, or recipes tucked inside cookbooks. These small pieces often tell another story about the book itself, adding layers of context and connecting us to the lives of those who owned them. My favourite is a couple of letters from the 1970s between two women friends- one in Syria and another in diaspora in Australia, where they exchange memories and recipes in these letters, gaining glimpses of people’s lives you wish you knew.

• How has the role of food in today’s political or social movements changed or stayed the same?

Big big big question to attempt to answer here- but the short take is that no matter the movement is, if one digs into their histories in our region, there will always be an element related to food. Whether the movement calls for a social, political or economic change- the right to gain access to sufficient, nutritious, and affordable food has always been at the heart of calls to justice, equality, and change. 

• How can the effects of colonialism be traced through food archives? How has this shaped SWANA’s perception of what is considered “good food,” table etiquette, and culinary sophistication?

Eurocentric colonialism has reshaped so much of our lives—especially around food. Everything from the science and knowledge of food production to how we cook, pair flavors, and appreciate ingredients has been deeply impacted. Colonial powers used technology as a tool to maximise profits, open new markets, and assert their superiority. Machinery, transportation, refrigeration, bottling, packaging—each of these innovations helped build a definition of "modern" food that sidelined indigenous knowledge and foodways. Some of the effects have been tragic- like a complete divide between rural and urban societies- often with the rural suffering extreme marginzaltion on all fronts- this is something I often think about a lot and how it changed our societies today!

Yet alongside this, there’s been creolization—a blending of old and new, foreign and traditional, that muddles boundaries and brings richness to food cultures. In recent decades, there’s been a conscious movement to reconnect with our histories and indigenous knowledge, unraveling some of colonialism’s impacts and fostering a deeper, more intentional understanding of ourselves through food.

• Have you noticed shifts in how women’s roles in the kitchen are depicted over time? How does this reflect broader societal changes? 

Times have certainly changed, but it’s surprising—and honestly inspiring—to see just how connected we are to the calls of women from the early 20th century. Equality, freedom, respect, and the right to self-actualise have always been there, echoing across generations. It’s not that progress hasn’t been made, but rather that our journey connects us to our mothers and grandmothers, each of whom fought their own battles for a liberated, respected womanhood.

What equality and self-actualisation look like may evolve with each era, but these shared roots feel like a powerful heritage that continues to shape what we strive for today.

• I’d love to know more about how food advertisements have changed over the years and what they tell us about the consumer habits of the eras you explore.

Food ads are fascinating—they reveal so much about each era's ideals and aspirations. As global food systems became more industrialised, surplus production fuelled demand, and advertising began shaping desires based on idealised lifestyles. Products offered a taste of something aspirational, often selling the illusion that a better life was just a purchase away.

Through these visual materials, we glimpse the values and dreams people chased. Early 20th-century ads, for instance, often lacked today's health guidelines; you’d find ads promoting chocolate as a nutritious choice for children, even targeting mothers! Imagine that flying today. Then there’s the ’80s and ’90s, with an intense focus on weight loss and convenience—microwave meals promising speed and “healthier” eating.

And of course, one could see how visual aesthetics are different in each era's ads with passing time.

• Food is often tied to nostalgia and identity. How has documenting regional culinary histories impacted your own sense of belonging or identity as an Arab woman?

I’ve learned so much—from my family's history to the sweeping changes that took place in 20th-century Egypt and the wider region. I’ve delved into political shifts, postcolonial struggles, modernization projects, wars, and economic developments. I learnt by reading the accompanying news, political context, social updates that surround the cooking sections of different women magazines. And talking to my grandmother about everything that she went through witnessing two revolutions that toppled entire countries, raising a family, migrating to the Arab Gulf, working and the way she loved and hated cooking at different times. And then my own PhD research on food and colonialism made me dig around more and confront the colonial legacies that still run deep in our systems. Everything from how we produce, waste, manufacture, transport, store, buy, and consume our food- all have continuing legacies of colonial intervention and violence that shape who we are today- regardless of our gender, urbanity, or culture, race or nationality. I like to think we’re all products of the changes that have shaped our history. Each of us carries the marks of those transformations, influencing how we see the world and our place in it.

• Are there modern food trends today that future historians might find as significant as what you’re archiving now?

Not a “trend”, but future historians will find profound significance in the videos coming out of Gaza today. These clips document the daily struggle to secure food: sourcing wheat from aid, walking miles for clean water, lighting fires without gas, building kilns from scratch, and surviving on canned food for months. It's proof of how much one group of people can endure in the face of another's abhorrent treatment. A raw testament to both the inhuman injustices that persist and the resilience, dignity, and fierce love for life that Gazans continue to show the world, despite it all.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Newsletter Design: Desirée Barreto

Editorial Coordinator: Hajir Zaidan