"I cook to transmit": Molokheyha, a short film

If you have 8 minutes to spare, I recommend "Molokheyha," a film in the Grandma's Project that shares stories and recipes from around the world.

The filmmaker Jonas Parienté’s grandmother, who he fondly calls “Nano,” was born in Egypt and lived there until 1956. She left after many Jews were expelled from Egypt after the 1948 war with Israel and the subsequent Suez crisis a few years later. In this short film, she teaches her grandson how to make “molokheya,” a traditional Egyptian dish. “Nano’s cooking is my only tangible link with Egypt,” Parienté says. “Her accent, her anecdotes, [and] the ingredients she uses make me travel to an imaginary Cairo.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/482613/preserving-the-heritage-of-egypts-jews-through-recipes/

Great stuff. Thanks, for sharing the link. I saw this at The Atlantic's site and went right past it.

As much as we acknowledge, appreciate and celebrate the entwining of food and culture these days, there's nothing more emotionally resonant than when the teller of the story is personally connected to it. This film really made me wish I'd documented some of the dishes my grandparents used to make. The secrets of their gefilte fish, chicken soup, horseradish and so many others are, unfortunately, gone forever.

=R=

Thank you for sharing, Ronnie. It's Jew's mallow, yes?

Evil Ronnie wrote:Thank you for sharing, Ronnie. It's Jew's mallow, yes?

Don't give me the credit. Thank EvA, for posting the link. And yes, it's Jew's mallow.

=R=

Lovely film. It's wonderful to see people holding on to family traditions. I always love that. However, this also gives me context now for the man in our tour group, when I was visiting Egypt, who was absolutely determined to have this dish while we were there. We saw molokheyha fresh and saw it drying in the sun. Finally, before the trip ended, our guide found us a place to have it (because we were all intrigued by the urgency of the one man's request). And it was very good.

EvA wrote:If you have 8 minutes to spare, I recommend "Molokheyha," a film in the Grandma's Project that shares stories and recipes from around the world.

The filmmaker Jonas Parienté’s grandmother, who he fondly calls “Nano,” was born in Egypt and lived there until 1956. She left after many Jews were expelled from Egypt after the 1948 war with Israel and the subsequent Suez crisis a few years later. In this short film, she teaches her grandson how to make “molokheya,” a traditional Egyptian dish. “Nano’s cooking is my only tangible link with Egypt,” Parienté says. “Her accent, her anecdotes, [and] the ingredients she uses make me travel to an imaginary Cairo.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/482613/preserving-the-heritage-of-egypts-jews-through-recipes/

Many thanks for posting this EvA.

Evil Ronnie wrote:

EvA wrote:Many thanks for posting this EvA.

You're welcome, Ronnies. I'm glad people are enjoying the film.

I had it as a special once @ Salam on Kedzie. This type of story is the reason I started writing the Home Cookin' series. A large amount of the best food I've eaten has been in homes, not restaurants, and the story behind the food and people fascinates me.