Exploring Islamic Dining Traditions Through Art
A new exhibit in Detroit got community input
Welcome to the CulinaryWoman Newsletter. Hello to new subscribers and warm greetings to returning readers. It’s been a tumultuous week, and more change is on the horizon. In the meantime, this newsletter brings you news about the culinary world. Join me to visit a ground-breaking exhibit now on view in Detroit.
A Major Museum Exhibit Devoted To Dining
I’ve been visiting the Detroit Institute of Arts since I was a toddler. I remember my first trip to its children’s museum, and taking delight in a spiral staircase that’s hidden away down a hallway. Through the years, I’ve brought visitors to see the DIA’s famous Diego Rivera murals. I’ve enjoyed viewing paintings by Jacob Lawrence, Van Gogh, Rembrandt and the impressionists, among many others.
In late September, the DIA launched a unique exhibit that focuses on telling a culinary story. The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World includes 230 works from the Middle East, Egypt, Central and South Asia, and beyond. The works of art range from ancient times to today. There are interactive features, a film created especially for the exhibit, vintage cookbooks and much more.
I wrote about the exhibit for the New York Times, but for us, I want to focus specifically on the ways this show relates to the dining traditions of this wide region.
As you may know, the Detroit area is home to one of the largest Arab-American populations in the United States. Cities such as Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Canton, Mich., abound with Middle Eastern restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, groceries, spice stores and more recently, food trucks.
Any day of the week, you can drive down Ford Road and West Warren Avenue, and find something wonderful to consume.
Changing the title
The DIA’s exhibit was originally mounted by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) where it had a different title: “Dining With the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting.” The DIA agreed to take the exhibition when it closed at LACMA.
But as it reached out to local community members for input, including the mayor of Dearborn, the feedback was that this title did not relate to people in the Detroit area. While the Middle Eastern population is increasingly prosperous, it is still building wealth, compared to the museum’s traditional base of support.
So, the museum took steps to shape the presentation, and relate to local tastes. It changed the name, and got input for ways that the exhibit might be more locally relevant.
While there are many historic treasures to be seen, food is solidly at the center of the exhibit — specifically, the sharing of food. If you know people of Lebanese descent, the largest group present in Detroit, you have often felt a sense of hospitality on their part. The museum capitalized on this welcoming trait.
Soon after entering the exhibit, visitors come upon a round, low table with an elaborate embroidered cover, known as a sufra. It is set with paper menus, pieces of pita bread, and what looks like large dinner plates. When you get close to them, however, you see the plates are actually screens onto which different menu items are projected. It immediately makes you want to sit down with others and join the meal.
In another gallery, there is a tall interactive menu board. One side depicts different types of dishes from traditional cookbooks. On the other side, visitors can aim their phones at QR codes and obtain the recipes. You can overhear people saying, “My mother made that dish” or “I have a recipe like this.”
More exhibits talk about the importance of hand washing before a meal, and there is one that explores the tradition of serving coffee, which has become a flourishing business in the Detroit area. Near the end of the exhibit, visitors can sit at their own sufra, and write down their reactions to the exhibit on paper plates.
An Opportunity to Serve
One of the highlights for me was an animated film created specifically for the exhibit, from Iraqi artist Sadik Kwaish Alfraji. Called “A Thread of Light Between My Mother’s Fingers and Heaven,” the movie depicts Alfraji’s boyhood, when his mother prepared dishes for the family. Watching it, I found myself wiping away a tour.
The museum’s director, Salvador Salort-Pons, told me that exhibits like this are just a first step in reaching out to the local Arab-American community.
Under his leadership since 2015, the DIA has transformed from a sometimes staid, lofty spot, into a place that resounds with the chatter and laughter of local schoolchildren, who come to Detroit by the busload to learn from and enjoy the museum.
“In everything that we do in our activities here in the museum, we are here to serve,” he said. “And when you serve someone, you want to make sure they feel respected. Whatever you do, it resonates with them. So, we are very honored to do this.’”
The Art of Dining is well worth a visit if you happen to be in the Detroit area from now through the holidays. Make plans to dine in Dearborn afterwards. I’m glad to recommend some places.
A New Cookbook On Plant-Based Eating
Joe Yonan is well-known in the culinary journalism world as the food and dining editor at the Washington Post. He’s also staked a claim on writing about vegetarian and vegan dining, publishing a newsletter called the Weeknight Vegetarian.
Joe’s newest book is called Mastering The Art of Plant-Based Cooking: Vegan Recipes, Tips and Techniques. It’s a gorgeous and comprehensive cookbook with nearly 500 pages of ideas. Joe treats vegan cooking as a worthy part of dining, not just something for a fraction of the population.
While the vast majority of Americans still consume meat, Joe’s book offers delicious ways to embrace vegan cooking at least a couple of times a week. It teaches you how to stock your pantry, and how to make your own versions of dressings, sauces and other accompaniments for main courses. It might make a great gift.
Just a reminder that links from CulinaryWoman now direct you to Bookshop.org, which distributes sales among independent book stores. Or, order a copy from your favorite bookseller.
Sustainable Ways To Cool Seafood
If you are familiar with the way commercial fishers operate, you know that they rely heavily on refrigeration, as well as big supplies of ice. But that’s not always possible in parts of Africa, due to an unreliable electrical grid, and limited cold storage. That can result in the loss of half a day’s fishing catch.
Keep IT Cool (KIC) addresses the challenge of food spoilage by installing solar-powered cold storage units where fish are brought to shore, ensuring the catch stays fresh, and then manage the transport to markets. This significantly reduces spoilage and food waste.
KIC, based in Kenya, works with eight fishing cooperatives representing 4,500 members. As a result, they’ve saved 25 percent of the catch that would have been wasted, while 3,600 fishers have seen their incomes increase by more than 15 percent.
Last week, KIC was named one of the five winners of the annual EarthShot Prize, founded by Prince William. KIC is expanding its efforts further into helping farmers preserve their crops.
Massachusets Says No To Ending Tipped Wages
In recent times, there’s been a big debate over the fairness of tipped wages. In 2018, Michigan voters approved a ballot proposal that will phase out the practice this decade.
But when a similar proposal came up in Massachusetts last week, it was defeated. Promoted by the One Fair Wage coalition, Proposal 5 would have phased in higher tipped wages until requiring employers, to pay tipped workers the state’s $15 an hour minimum wage by the start of 2029.
The restaurant industry lobbied hard against the measure, saying it would have reduced overall wages for servers, increases costs for restaurants and patrons and could have forced some neighborhood eateries to close.
"This is a testament to the hard working servers and bartenders that volunteered for the campaign to say we don't want this. This is a great night for the hospitality industry," said Steve Clark, president of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.
Keeping Up With Culinary Woman
I participated in the Boston Globe’s election coverage, with my analysis of what happened in Michigan. It was an election night to remember.
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I’ll be back tomorrow for paid subscribers with Red Beans & Advice. Both the British and Canadian cooking shows are getting closer to their finals and we are seeing some strong competitors for those glass cake plates.
See every one else next week.