SAN FRANCISCO: At San Francisco’s Tawla restaurant, Muna Anaee powdered her hands with flour and gently broke off a piece of golden dough to prepare bread eaten in Iraq, the country she fled with her family.
Anaee was preparing more than 100 loaves for diners Wednesday night as part of a program that lets refugees aspiring to be chefs work in professional kitchens.
The Refugee Food Festival — a joint initiative of the United Nations Refugee Agency and a French nonprofit, Food Sweet Food — started in Paris in 2016 and came to the US for the first time this year, with restaurants in New York participating as well. The establishments’ owners turn over their kitchens to refugee chefs for an evening, allowing them to prepare sampling platters of their country’s cuisine and share a taste of their home.
Restaurants in 12 cities outside the US are taking part in the program this month.
“It’s been a big dream to open a restaurant,” said Anaee, 45, who now has a green card.
Anaee was among five refugees chosen to showcase their food in San Francisco — each at a different restaurant and on a different night, from Tuesday through Saturday. Organizers say the goal is to help the refugees succeed as chefs and raise awareness about the plight of refugees worldwide.
It’s important to “really get to know these refugees and their personal stories,” said Sara Shah, who brought the event to California after seeing it in Belgium.
Anaee and her husband and two children left Baghdad in 2013 over concerns about terrorism and violence. She worked as a kindergarten teacher in Iraq, not a chef, but was urged to pursue cooking as a career by peers in an English class she took in California after they tasted some of her food.
Azhar Hashem, Tawla’s owner, said hosting Anaee was part of the restaurant’s mission to broaden diners’ understanding of the Middle East — a region that inspires some of its dishes.
“Food is the best — and most humanizing — catalyst for having harder conservations,” she said.
The four other aspiring chefs serving food in San Francisco are from Myanmar, Bhutan, Syria and Senegal.
Karen Ferguson, executive director of the Northern California offices of the International Rescue Committee, said San Francisco was a good city for the food festival.
“We have so much diversity, and we see the evidence of that in the culinary expertise in the area,” she said.
The Bay Area has a high concentration of refugees from Afghanistan, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Eritrea and Burma, though exact numbers are unclear, according to the rescue committee. Its Oakland office settled more than 400 refugees in the Bay Area last year, but the number of refugees settling in the region has fallen dramatically since the Trump administration this year placed a cap on arrivals, Ferguson said.
Pa Wah, a 41-year-old refugee from Myanmar, presented dishes at San Francisco’s Hog Island Oyster Co. on Tuesday. She said she didn’t consider a career in cooking until she moved to California in 2011 and got her green card.
Cooking was a means of survival at the Thailand refugee camp where she lived after escaping civil conflict in Myanmar as a child. Participating in the food festival showed her the challenges of running a restaurant, but also helped her realize she was capable of opening her own, she said.
San Francisco restaurants open kitchens to refugee chefs
San Francisco restaurants open kitchens to refugee chefs
- The Refugee Food Festival started in Paris in 2016 and came to the US for the first time this year
- The program lets refugees aspiring to be chefs work in professional kitchens
Fantasia Barrino-Taylor flaunts Monot in New York
DUBAI: Helmed by Lebanese designer Eli Mizrahi, New York-based label Monot dressed US actress Fantasia Barrino-Taylor for a red carpet appearance at the 2024 Time100 Gala.
Barrino-Taylor showed off a custom look by the label, which featured head-to-toe sequins and wrist cuffs that flared dramatically to cover her hands. The backless number was figure hugging and Barrino-Taylor complemented the outfit with a black, sequined head wrap.
Mizrahi is no stranger to star power and made headlines in 2020 when he enlisted the likes of British supermodel Kate Moss, Italian star Mariacarla Boscono, British model Jourdan Dunn, US celebrity Amber Valletta and China’s Xiao Wen to star in a Monot campaign shot in Saudi Arabia.
The label has garnered a legion of celebrity fans, with US Olympian Simone Biles, model Kendall Jenner, Brazilian influencer Camila Coelho and US model Emily Ratajkowski donning Monot looks in the past.
“The Color Purple” star Barrino-Taylor also made headlines when she attended the Astra Film Awards in Los Angeles in January in a mandarin orange gown by Saudi designer Yousef Akbar.
Barrino, who is also a singer, most recently starred as protagonist Celie in “The Color Purple,” a musical period drama film directed by Blitz Bazawule. The film’s screenplay is based on the stage musical of the same name, which in turn is based on the 1982 novel by Alice Walker. It is the second film adaptation of the novel, following the 1985 film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Spielberg and Quincy Jones.
The movie tells the story of Celie, who is torn apart from her sister and her children and faces many hardships in life, including an abusive husband. With support from a sultry singer named Shug Avery, as well as her stand-her-ground stepdaughter, Celie ultimately finds strength.
Barrino showed off Akbar’s gown at an event in Los Angeles and paired it with chunky gold jewelry and slicked back hair.
Jordanian Crown Prince marks Princess Rajwa’s 30th birthday
DUBAI: Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah II took to social media to wish his Saudi-born wife Princess Rajwa Al-Hussein on her 30th birthday as a new official portrait of the princess was unveiled.
"May God continue to bless and nurture the bond between us. Happy Birthday Rajwa," the Crown Prince wrote on Instagram, sharing a brand new photo of the couple.
The Jordanian royal family also shared a new official portrait of Princess Rajwa to celebrate her birthday. Set against a blue background, the portrait shows the princess in a matching blue outfit from French label Rabanne.
Earlier this month, it was announced that the royal couple, who married last year in June, are now expecting their first baby.
The news of the pregnancy was announced by the Jordanian royal family in a statement.
“The Royal Hashemite Court is pleased to announce that their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II and Princess Rajwa Al Hussein are expecting their first baby this summer,” it read.
Muse to perform in Abu Dhabi this year
DUBAI: British rock veterans Muse are headed to Abu Dhabi for the second time as they get ready to perform at the 2024 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after-party concert series.
Running from Dec. 5 - 8, Muse is the first the band to be announced as part of the concert series. Access to all concerts is exclusive for Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix ticket holders.
“Catch the Grammy Award winning rock icons electrifying the stage at @etihadpark this December at the #F1Finale Yasalam After-Race Concerts,” read a social media post on the official Instagram account of Abu Dhabu Grand Prix.
A date has not yet been announced for the concert.
This is the second time the “Starlight” rockers are performing as part of the concert series, having made their debut in the UAE capital in 2013.
Music ‘haven of freedom’ Tangiers hosts global jazz festival
- This year’s Jazz Day will be held over four days starting on Saturday, during which talks and open-air performances will be held in Tangiers
TANGIERS, Morocco: The Moroccan city of Tangiers, which has a long history as a haven of inspiration for American jazz musicians, will host UNESCO’s International Jazz Day for the first time on Tuesday.
Over the last century, jazz greats such as Randy Weston, Idrees Sulieman and Max Roach all crossed the Atlantic to play and record music in the North African port city, perched on the edge of the Strait of Gibraltar.
“The city has had a fascinating power of attraction on a wave of intellectuals and musicians,” Philippe Lorin, the founder of an annual Tangiers jazz festival, told AFP.
“It’s not for nothing that a writer once said there was always a cruise liner in New York preparing to sail for Tangiers.”
This year’s Jazz Day will be held over four days starting on Saturday, during which talks and open-air performances will be held in Tangiers.
The festivities will culminate in an “All-Star Global Concert” on Tuesday led by jazz icon Herbie Hancock, also featuring bassists Marcus Miller and Richard Bona, as well as guitarist Romero Lubambo.
The city’s cosmopolitan artistic reputation stems from its location between Africa and Europe as well as its history, having been administered by several colonial powers from 1923 to 1956, the year Morocco gained independence.
This melting pot of influences prompted visits from international writers and poets, notably from the Beat Generation movement, as well as African American musicians seeking to find “their African roots,” Moroccan historian Farid Bahri told AFP.
Lorin said that Tangiers “was a haven of freedom — just like jazz music.”
A pivotal moment in the city’s musical history came in 1959, when Tangiers jazz promoter Jacques Muyal — then just a teenager — recorded a session with trumpeter Idrees Sulieman, pianist Oscar Dennard, bassist Jamil Nasser and drummer Buster Smith at the Radio Tanger International studio.
The recording gained renown in jazz circles decades before its distribution as “The 4 American Jazzmen In Tangier” album in 2017.
Bahri, the author of “Tangiers, a world history of Morocco,” said “the presence of American musicians in Tangiers was also linked to a very active American diplomacy.”
Famous US pianist Randy Weston settled in Tangiers for five years after visiting 14 African countries in 1967 during a tour organized by the US State Department.
The Brooklynite virtuoso would play a key role in building the musical reputation of the city, to which he dedicated his 1973 album “Tanjah.”
“Randy was an exceptional, kind and respectful man,” said Abdellah El Gourd, a 77-year-old Moroccan legend of gnawa music, a centuries-old style played with a three-stringed lute and steel castanets, rooted in West African rituals and Sufi traditions.
“He gave a lot to the city and its musicians,” added the friend and collaborator of Weston, who died in 2018.
Together, El Gourd and Weston blurred the lines of their respective genres, creating the beginnings of jazz-gnawa fusion, which remains a key part of Tangiers’ musical legacy.
“The language barrier was never a problem because our communication was through (musical) scales,” El Gourd recalled in a rehearsal room lined with old photos and memorabilia from the years he toured with Weston and jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp.
“Our language was music.”
The two men’s collaborative work would years later yield the acclaimed 1992 album “The Splendid Master Gnawa Musicians of Morocco.”
Two years after settling in the city, Weston opened the African Rhythms jazz club, above the iconic Cinema Mauritania in downtown Tangiers.
“We used to rehearse there,” El Gourd recalled. “Randy would invite his musician friends. It was a beautiful time.”
With El Gourd’s help, Weston launched Tangiers’ first-ever jazz festival in 1972, featuring big names such as drummer Max Roach, flautist Hubert Laws, double-bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik, and saxophonist Dexter Gordon.
“It was quite a unique experience, because it was the first time we played in front of such a large audience,” said El Gourd, who was then used to small crowds for gnawa performances.
Weston and El Gourd’s festival was only held once.
But three decades later it inspired Lorin to create the Tanjazz festival, which is held in the port city every September.
Guerlain’s Ann-Caroline Prazan on mixing cultures, Mideast inspiration
DUBAI: Ann-Caroline Prazan, the director of art, culture, and heritage at French luxury beauty brand Guerlain, shared her affection for the Middle East and shed light on why she is so keen to mesh together cultures when creating new products.
“The Guerlain family is totally in love with the region. I am in love with this region because it is like a paradise,” she told Arab News. “People here love fragrances and they are such experts. When Guerlain creates a fragrance for the Middle East, it is always with a French touch.”
For Prazan, who joined the Guerlain team in 2000, understanding the brand’s story has been pivotal, motivating her to craft fragrances over her 24-year tenure, prioritizing longevity over trends.
“It is important to understand the past to create a future,” Prazan said. “You know, a house is like a big tree. You need to know the roots to create the leaves and to create new flowers. Without roots, you cannot do anything if you do not understand the brand.”
“Innovation is our obsession,” she added. “Guerlain created the first lipsticks, the first lip liners, the first modern perfume, the first moisturizing Nivea cream was by Guerlain.”
Her regional knowledge shapes Guerlain’s tailored fragrances for its customers.
“You have the best perfumers here, local perfumers. What was interesting is to mix the roots with the leaves to mix different cultures. And for me, when you mix different cultures, when you mix traditions and modernity, you can create beautiful products,” she explained.
Guerlain has collaborated with regional creatives before. In 2023, the brand worked with Lebanese artist Nadine Kanso to design a fragrance bottle for the label, making her the first Arab designer to collaborate with the LVMH-owned perfume and beauty house.
She designed 30 limited edition bee-inspired bottles, decorated with 1,720 crystals, with Arabic calligraphy that read “Love.”
At an event in Dubai last week, the label chose to work with contemporary Tunisian artist Nja Mahdaoui, who showcased his abstract Arabic calligraphy with engraved Cherry Oud bottles serving as place cards for the invitees.
The brand also created a number of bottles, showcased at the event in Dubai, that celebrate Arab design elements.
The Parfumerie D’Art collection features the Bee Bottle by Baqué Molinié. Unveiled to mark Eid Al-Fitr this year, the bottle features hand-placed mother-of-pearl beads and moonstones, designed by the Parisian atelier as a tribute to the “wonders of Arab architectural art,” according to a released statement.
