Hawa Hassan on Food, War, and Why Displacement Has a Flavor

We're bringing this one back. Hawa Hassan was born in Mogadishu, fled the Somali Civil War at four, spent time in a refugee camp in Kenya, and arrived alone in Seattle at age seven. She went on to win a James Beard Award and write two of the most distinctive cookbooks in recent memory. In this conversation, she and Mark and Kate talk about her book Setting a Place for Us, which travels to eight countries affected by conflict and asks what food means when everything else has been taken away. She talks about the visa crisis that nearly stranded her in Paris on the way to Kinshasa, the hug she found in Beirut when she expected hostility, and why she always goes looking for the best of a society, not the worst.

The Bittman Project is featuring three recipes from Hawa Hassan's book, Setting a Place for Us:

Rice Bread: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/rice-bread/

Fresco de Melon (Cantaloupe Juice, with or without rum): https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/fresco-de-melon/

Madesu (Stewed Red Beans): https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/madesu-stewed-red-beans/

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