Add A Little Lemon Box
A taste of Iraq from Sara Leana Ahmad
On 28 January 2017, then President Trump issued an executive order blocking refugees and travelers with passports from seven Muslim-majority countries.
The ban was cruel, inhumane, and violated international law.
With the stroke of a pen, the President banned Syrian refugees from the USA indefinitely and prevented anyone (including refugees) from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the USA for 90 days.
These countries all had one thing in common: most people seeking asylum from these countries were trying to escape serious human rights abuses like torture and mass murder. For most, returning home was not a choice.
The wave of anti-women, anti-Muslim, anti-refugee legislation coming from the Trump administration was an attack on all of us.
I remember well when this happened. I thought long and hard about something I could do in the face of this rollback of human rights — a risk to human rights everywhere. Food is my medium for story-telling, and so my response to this action was to reach out to Sara Leana Ahmad, an LA-based Iraqi changing the narrative about Iraq, through food... One kubba at a time... Her blog Add a Little Lemon is a gorgeous repository of Iraqi recipes and cooking. You can also see her Instagram @addalittlelemon
Sara’s goal is to reframe the Orientalist narrative of Iraq through our common humanity: food. Together our intention with creating this box was to introduce people to Iraqi food in the hopes that they might think about Iraq in a new context and what that might mean.
With Sara’s guidance, we created a box of ingredients to cook a handful of her gorgeous recipes, with her forward to the box:
“IRAQ is: Mesopotamia, the Cradle of Civilization, the Fertile Crescent, the land of the Tigris and Euphrates, the birthplace of Abraham, the site of the Garden of Eden, the supposed burial ground of Noah’s Ark, home to Gilgamesh. It has deep and powerful roots. And those roots are reflected in the cuisine.
The very first cookbook ever written was from Mesopotamia, on stone tablets.
Iraq’s rich history and glorious ethnic and cultural diversity means its food is complex. Iraqi cuisine is influenced by Levantine, Iranian, Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Jewish, and Indian cuisine, among others, creating something wholly original and beautiful.
Alas Americans seem to know very little about Iraq other than war, destruction, and violence. It’s all we get to see. This limited view of such a beautiful country, which up until the sixties was known as “The Jewel of the Middle East,” continues an Orientalist tradition of pigeonholing the entire region as violent and destructive. We learn that the violence is somehow inherent and so we choose to ignore it, without considering the consequences.
More and more Iraqis are using social media to show us a different view of Iraq than the one portrayed in media. They are moving the camera lens an inch, to the parts we don’t usually see, the beauty and life that exists despite the violence, corrupt policies, and foreign meddling, the curses of such rich land and soil.
A few years ago Snapchat featured a Day in the Life of Baghdad, in which Iraqi snaps of daily life were selected, surprising millions. We don’t think about carnivals, delicious food, beautiful landscapes, people laughing and enjoying life when we think about Iraq. And sadly unless we look for it we won’t see it. The popular Instagram account @EveryDayIraq features a collection of photographs that depict daily life among its people, beyond the scope of violence.
Yes, there is corruption and violence in Iraq – as there is here and anywhere. But there is so much more to Iraq. And given our active participation in the region, it is at the very least our responsibility to attempt to understand our shared humanities.
As it always is, food is a powerful cultural bridge. This box is more than just recipes and ingredients: it’s a positive social force! Enjoy!
Bil Afya | Bon Appetit
With love, Sara
Indeed, a few weeks after delivering our Add a Little Lemon box with all the recipes and specialty products like the above flatbread from an Iraqi bakery, I received this incredible letter from one of our customers, which was perhaps one of the most rewarding pieces of feedback I ever received, in over a decade of weekly deliveries.
Apologies that this email took so long. I wanted you to know that our “Add a Little Lemon” Iraqi box was extra special. During each night of cooking and eating we talked about how the food was from a far away country named Iraq. We loved every bite of it, and especially fun was the drama of sizzling turmeric oil and serving on giant platters and the funny instructions like “don’t be lazy, tembal” Anyway, my 3 year old has recently taken a keen interest in maps and finding countries/states/etc. He showed me a doodle of a map he had drawn declaring, “This is Iraq!” So I just love love love that his first associations with Iraq - just as Sara was hoping - will not be violent or terrible, but delicious and wonderful instead.
THANK YOU!!!
Cheers,
Christine
I will say, this feedback brought tears to my eyes.
With no further ado, here are the dishes we included in this box, and each one links to its recipes.
RECIPES
Quozi + Biryani – Garlic Roasted Leg of Lamb Atop Bejeweled Rice
Makhlama – Skillet of Ground Beef, Tomatoes, and Parsley topped with egg and lemon juice