Food & Culture
By: Maria de Sena
Is food more than substance to fill our stomachs and nourish our bodies? Many would argue yes. Food is part of culture and meals are often a significant part of sharing and communicating with others. Exploring Middle Eastern cuisine has been quite impactful as we dive into what goes into meal preparations, spices, how meals are served and finally enjoyed. Different countries across the Middle East have different styles of recipes but there are some correlations in spices and certain foods.
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| Turkish Pita Place |
I took a look at Middle Eastern restaurants in New Jersey and New York. My first stop was at The Turkish Pita Place located in Newark, New Jersey. This restaurant is a family run business that began forty years ago by Turkish immigrants. It was started by a man and his brother and is now mainly managed by his son. The restaurant structured a way for Turkish people to eat Turkish food while in the United States and also allowed an integration of culture for Americans. There was a broad array of dishes from gyros, kebabs, and platters to a sweet delight, baklava.
The second destination led me to New York City at a place called Gazala’s, a middle eastern restaurant that had druze cooking. Druze cooking is described by everyculture.com as a starting from Druze which were a religious sect beginning in Egypt and the Ahbrahmic religion and spread through several other Middle Eastern countries, and is defined as having several backgrounds. Druze cooking is when cooking methods and meals are prepared in the form that Druze people did in the past and continue to do. A typical meal is said to include “olives, pita or "mountain bread," eggplant, cauliflower, cheese, and chickpeas flavored with onions, garlic, and sesame oil, rice, burghul (dried cracked wheat) or potatoes, a salad made of cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley and other herbs flavored with lemon and olive oil, yogurt, baklava, and seasonal fruit.” (http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Bu-Dr/Druze.html). 
My last trip took me to Mimi’s Hummus located in New York City. This one was located between 2nd and 3rd avenue and was actually Mimi’s third location. The original restaurant began in Brooklyn. The restaurant serves a mixture of Middle Eastern courses to represent Mimi’s diverse background. I had a Shawarma which represented her various sides of the family and ended my meal a strong Turkish coffee, which was bitter, having it served with coffee grounds inside, made traditionally and much differently than casual cup on the go in city. Mimi’s Hummus was featured in the New York Times in an article entitled “Mimi’s Hummus, Spreading Its Middle Eastern Influence” where it describes how the restaurant was trying to let people experience more than falafels and enjoy several different middle eastern dishes. The article details Mimi’s cooking and what makes Middle Eastern cuisine so special.
Overall, these visits led to a new understanding and open mindedness toward Middle Eastern cuisine as well accepting different cultures because the U.S is known as the melting pot of the world and it is interesting to actually experience the diversity through food. In this case these chefs and restaurants were able to bring a little of the Middle East to United States and it gave path for connecting back to one’s roots and connecting others to different and new cultures.
Gallery
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| Turkish Pita Place: Menu |
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| Baklava: Pistachio Pastry |
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| Turkish Chicken Gyro |
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| Gazala's Menu |
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| Gazala's |
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| Gazala's Druze Cooking: Falafel |
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| Interior of Gazala's |
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| New York Times Article on Mimi's Hummus |
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| Shawarma |
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| Mimi's Turkish coffee |
References
Locations:
Mimi’s Hummus
Gazala’s
Turkish Pita Place
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Turkish+Pita+Place/@40.7372237,-74.1750292,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c2536d3ce03fd9:0xf83c26638bec1656!8m2!3d40.7372237!4d-74.1728405
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