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Familiar and Exotic: The Long History of Arab Restaurants in the United States
Beginning with the earliest Arab immigrants to the U.S. in the 1880s, restaurants have been a staple of Arab immigrant communities. Originally meant to serve the Arab American population, the restaurants quickly became favorite spots for adventurous eaters. As Arab restaurants began serving more and more non-Arab diners, they transitioned from holes-in-the-wall to elaborately decorated and exotically named dining experiences. Today, there is likely to be at least one Arab restaurant in every small and large city in the U.S., despite the relatively small population of Arab Americans nationally. Matthew Jaber Stiffler, PhD, Research and Content Manager, and Ryah Aqel, Curator of Education & Public Programs, both of the Arab American National Museum, will trace the development of the Arab restaurant over the last 125+ years, with a focus on New York City and metro Detroit.
Ryah Aqel serves as the Curator of Education & Public Programming. She received her B.A. in Political Science & Arab, Armenian, Persian, Turkish and Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. Her M.A. in Near East Studies was received from New York University. Ryah organizes and implements statewide educational activities, as well as developing programs that educate the public on Arab Americans and the Arab world.
Matthew Jaber Stiffler is the Research and Content Manager at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, MI, where he works with museum staff to accurately represent the diverse Arab American community through the museum’s collections, exhibits, and educational programming. Matthew has also helped to develop the museum’s food-based programming, particularly the Yalla Eat! Culinary Walking Tours. Matthew also leads a national research initiative through ACCESS, the largest Arab American non-profit in the country, in an effort to secure better data about the Arab American community. Matthew received his Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan in 2010, where he serves as a lecturer in Arab and Muslim American Studies. Matthew’s research focuses on the confluence between religious and cultural identities of Arab Americans, particularly through community memory, celebrations, and foodways. He is currently a board member and treasurer of the Arab American Studies Association.
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A Conversation With Chef and Writer Tunde Wey
Nigerian-born chef and writer Tunde Wey opened a restaurant in Detroit in 2013. A year later, realizing that the influx of capital to the city was not contributing to an inclusive revival but to the profit of those already "fluent in the language of privilege," Tunde left the restaurant and moved to New Orleans.
He now travels around the country holding dinners, using food as a medium to have conversations about race, equity, and cultural values. Recently, the has received national press for Saarti, his lunch counter in New Orleans where white patrons were asked to pay $30 per plate and people of color were charged $12 per plate as a way to call attention to racial wealth disparity. Participants of color could “opt-in” to receive the profit redistribution.
In this video, artist and Stamps School Professor Rebekah Modrak (whose works, such as Rethink Shinola, critically intervene in consumption) moderates a conversation with Tunde about his work as a chef, his decision to use food as provocation, the possibility of transforming consumptive acts through dinners and pop-up restaurants, discriminatory development, racial wealth disparity, and the importance of self-determination in affecting the outcomes of your life and community. While in Ann Arbor, Wey also hosted two private dinners for local residents and advocates concerned with equity and race and offered food truck conversations for four nights.
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Farm Meals Mentioned in Ypsilanti Farm Diaries
The stories and recollections of Washtenaw County farm women held by the Ypsilanti Historical Society provide a record of daily life in the 19th and 20th centuries. Local author and historian Laura Bien presents research on handwritten diaries that reflect, in their own words, the everyday work farm women performed: gardening, harvesting, butchering, processing, preserving and cooking food for their families, supplementing the family income through the sale of eggs and produce, adapting to technological changes, and organizing work at the homestead.
This event is in partnership with the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor (CHAA), an organization of scholars, cooks, food writers, nutritionists, collectors, students, and others interested in the study of culinary history and gastronomy. Their mission is to promote the study of culinary history through regular programs open to members and guests, through the quarterly newsletter Repast, and through exchanges of information with other such organizations.
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Socially Responsible Businesses – How Tea, Ice Cream, and Vegetables Do Good
Local business owners talk about how socially conscious business practices – from environmental sustainability to hiring practices to community partnerships – are part of their business identity and their bottom line.
The panel includes Rob Hess from Go! Ice Cream, Phillis Engelbert from The Lunch Room and Detroit Street Filling Station, and Aubrey Lopatin from Arbor Teas. This discussion is be moderated by Rishi Moudgil, Executive Director of GreenLight Fund Detroit and Founder of the Center for Social Impact at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
More about the panelists:
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Hot from the Oven: Zingerman’s Bakehouse Cookbook!
Amy Emberling and Frank Carollo, Managing Partners of Zingerman’s Bakehouse, discuss the Zingerman's Bakehouse cookbook, their first-ever cookbook, which features all the recipes of the Bakehouse’s most popular items. Also included are recipes that are unique to Michigan, along with Frank and Amy’s personal favorites. They’ve also added essays and brief stories for context, to give readers a sense of how the Zingerman’s community works together to produce great food.
This event is in partnership with the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor (CHAA), an organization of scholars, cooks, food writers, nutritionists, collectors, students, and others interested in the study of culinary history and gastronomy. Their mission is to promote the study of culinary history through regular programs open to members and guests, through the quarterly newsletter Repast, and through exchanges of information with other such organizations.
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Author Julia Turshen Discusses Her Book “Feed the Resistance”
From cookbook author Julia Turshen comes Feed the Resistance, a practical and inspiring handbook for political activism—with recipes.
As the millions who marched in January 2017 demonstrated, activism is the new normal. When people search for ways to resist injustice and express support for civil rights, environmental protections, and more, they begin by gathering around the table to talk and plan. These dishes foster community and provide sustenance for the mind and soul, including a dozen of the healthy, affordable recipes Turshen is known for, plus over 15 more recipes from a diverse range of celebrated chefs.
With stimulating lists, extensive resources, and essays from activists in the worlds of food, politics, and social causes, "Feed the Resistance" is a must-have handbook for anyone hoping to make a difference.
Julia Turshen is a writer who lives in upstate New York, the author of "Small Victories" and numerous other cookbooks. She hosted the first two seasons of Radio Cherry Bombe and has written for Vogue, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Saveur, SELF, T Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Lucky Peach.
This event was created in partnership with the University of Michigan Library and Literati Bookstore.
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Four-Season Farming With Sunseed Farm
Tomm and Trilby Becker, owners of Sunseed Farm, present this family-friendly presentation on four-season farming.
Sunseed is a family-owned vegetable farm growing over sixty kinds of vegetables for families, restaurants, and wholesale customers. Since 2009, Sunseed Farm has grown on eighteen acres of land in Ann Arbor, five miles northwest of downtown. Close to one of those acres are the farm's passively-heated hoop houses. Thanks to this simple technology, they are able to extend their growing season right through the winter.
Find out why winter-grown vegetables are so much more delicious, peek under the covers of their snowy farm to see thousands of happy green plants, discover the secrets to growing a bounty of vegetables and flowers without chemicals on a small parcel of land, and find out what is happening on their busy little farm in spring!
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Dining with Shakespeare
Travel back into the culinary past and discover how Shakespeare and his contemporaries dined in the 16th century. Author and historian Susan L. Nenadic discusses 16th-century attitudes towards food, how food was obtained, and the many laws regulating food at that time. She considers foods eaten by people at the time that we do not, and foods that are still part of our 21st-century diet. Quotations from Shakespeare and recipes are included.
This event was cosponsored by The Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor (CHAA), which was founded in 1983 by Jan Longone and friends and is an organization of scholars, cooks, food writers, nutritionists, collectors, students, and others interested in the study of culinary history and gastronomy.
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Iconic Restaurants of Ann Arbor
What is an iconic Ann Arbor restaurant? Ask anyone who has ever spent time there as a student, traveler, or townie, and they are likely to name several favorites in an instant. From debating the best places to celebrate or console on football Saturdays to deciding where to eat after the bars close, the choices have always sparked passionate conversation.
Through rare photographs and advertisements, coauthors Jon Milan and Gail Offen revisit favorite area dining spots and discuss their book Iconic Restaurants of Ann Arbor. Milan and Offen, authors of Grand River Avenue: Detroit to Lake Michigan, rekindle some tasty memories, and perhaps even some of the local foody debates.
No matter what, these iconic places will always be an important part of Ann Arbor's shared past and palates.
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Culinary Historian Andrew Coe Discusses His Book: "A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression"
The giddy optimism of post-World War I America came crashing down during the Depression, which radically altered eating habits, as author Andrew Coe describes in his new cultural history A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression. This book, coauthored with Jane Ziegelman, was awarded the 2017 James Beard Foundation Book Award for nonfiction.
Despite President Herbert Hoover’s 1931 claim that “nobody is actually starving,” Americans, in cities and rural areas alike, existed on subsistence diets and the effects of vitamin deficiencies were felt long into the war years.
A Square Meal is an in-depth exploration of the greatest food crisis the nation has ever faced-the Great Depression-and how it transformed America's culinary culture. Join us for a stimulating learning opportunity about this historic upheaval and the shifting role of governmental aid in response.
Andrew Coe is a writer and independent scholar specializing in culinary history. He and his wife, Jane Ziegelman, are co-authors of "A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression." His ground-breaking Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States was a finalist for a James Beard award and named one of the best food books of the year by the Financial Times. He has written books, articles, and blog posts on everything from the ancient history of foie gras to the secret criminal past of chocolate egg creams to where to buy the tastiest bread in New York City. He has appeared in documentaries such as the National Geographic Channel's "Eat: The Story of Food" and "The Search for General Tso." He and his wife live Brooklyn with their two children.