Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora

In this knockout debut, Assil, owner of San Francisco bakery Reem’s California, wryly and skillfully kneads a call for social awareness with an invitation to the table via “recipes for resilience” that are inspired by her Arab heritage. A primer on bread-baking and its cultural significance offers two master recipes for dough (one using sourdough, and the other, commercial yeast) that is used to fashion disks baked on an overturned wok, flatbreads topped with lamb, and sesame-crusted pouches, called ka’ak, that resemble purses. Sweets include nests of laminated dough with quince preserves, Yemeni honeycomb bread, and three kinds of baklava. Expert instruction and commentary appear throughout: a recipe for hummus, for instance, comes with a sidebar on culinary appropriation (“The word hummus means ‘chickpea’ in Arabic—not ‘dip.’ Calling it black bean tahini hummus is like calling a hamburger ham”) and is accompanied by a range of spreads, including one that incorporates smoked fish and caramelized onions. Assil also showcases variations on familiar standards: falafel encases a spicy onion mixture, while labor-intensive ma’amoul cookies are streamlined as bars. This is packed with delicious food and universal truths—chief among them that, “through our food, we create home wherever we are.” (Apr.)