ALKHOBAR: Celebrated American chef Jerome Grant ventured to Dhahran on Thursday to teach Saudi culinary students about a dish close to his heart. As a culinary diplomat, Grant visited ZADK Culinary Academy to break bread, learn about Saudi cuisine, and provide a bit of his homeland on a plate.
Grant was joined on the visit by James Sindle, US consul-general in Dhahran.
“It’s my first visit to Saudi. The food has been great, super tasty, great flavors, but also, there’s some similarities here and there, so it always felt welcoming and inviting,” Grant told Arab News.
“I think food is a great tool that connects us as people and human beings. We could all be all different walks of life, different cultures, different religions, but the connection at our dinner table in our food, I believe, is what helps with a lot of the communication.”
Before owning his current BBQ joint, Grant led the revolution in museum dining, landing him three James Beard nominations. Grant uses recipes that highlight the richness of his multi-cultural heritage — he is half Filipino, half Jamaican, and resides in the US — and each part of his story is steeped in playful flavor. In 2019, he was named one of the “16 Black chefs changing food in America” by the New York Times and was nominated that same year for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic and Best American Cookbook. In 2017, his restaurant was on the James Beard Foundation’s list of Best New Restaurants.
Sindle was elated to swap his suit jacket and tie for a ZADK apron and was immediately put on tomato-peeling duty.
“It was absolutely lovely. It was nice to see the exchange between a US food diplomat and the students learning the culinary arts and having an opportunity to share a little bit about American culinary tradition. It’s not just about hamburgers and hotdogs,” Sindle said with a laugh.
The students at ZADK were curious, attentive, passionate and overjoyed at cooking with Grant. At the end of the cooking demonstration, each took a spoon and scraped a bite. Some students compared the creamy grits to the popular milky Hijazi dish, saleeg. Grant stood around answering questions and taking selfies with the budding chefs.
“As a graduate ... from ZADK, I had the opportunity to explore the chef life and explore the back of the house and now I’m exploring the opportunity to be in front of the house,” Saudi chef Esmaeel Bukhamseen told Arab News.
“It was honestly an amazing thing. The students had good questions. I’m very proud of them. They’re asking the right questions to the chef. The chef himself was impressed with their knowledge and was learning a lot of things from the students and the students were learning from him. I honestly encourage that we have such visits more often,” he continued.
“(It was) just a great honor for me to sit with such personalities and to showcase what it is being a Saudi chef.”
Bukhamseen is the epitome of the ZADK success story. First enrolled as a student, then hired to work with the team overseeing the new batch of students, he has seen both sides of the culinary experience and empathizes with the mission that Rania Moualla, founder of ZADK, has been amplifying.
Moualla, who was present during the visit, walked the US envoy through her journey. As the founder of the first non-profit culinary academy to offer a Saudi-centric curriculum, ZADK — whose name derives from the Arabic word “zad,” which alludes to Arab generosity and food for travel — combines a revolutionary concept with a humble mission. In just five years, it has established itself as an important part of the culinary sector in the region.
ZADK’s mission was to be situated strategically at their flagship location, further turning the Eastern Province into a culinary and cultural hub. About 50 percent of the academy’s students are from the area and the rest come from other parts of the Kingdom. Everyone at ZADK is actively exploring Saudi cuisine — merging medleys of traditional Saudi flavors from their families and adding their own innovative twists — to help feed the community and the world at large.
“Our best memories always are about the food,” Moualla told Arab News. “When we’re sharing a meal with somebody we love, actually it’s building memories, and we are what we are now because of those memories.”
 

DHAKA: Saudi officers are working round the clock to offer smooth immigration to thousands of Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims under the Kingdom’s Makkah Route initiative, authorities in Dhaka said on Friday.

Most of the pilgrims are departing from Dhaka under the flagship pre-travel program, which was launched by the Kingdom in 2019 to help pilgrims meet all the visa, customs and health requirements at their airport of origin and save them long hours of waiting before and upon arrival in Saudi Arabia.

Makkah Route preparations and facilities at the Dhaka airport were inspected this week by Saudi Deputy Interior Minister Nasser bin Abdulaziz Al-Dawood, as Saudi officers arrived in Bangladesh to facilitate the journey for pilgrims.

“The officials who arrived for the immigration process are facilitating the (journey for) pilgrims rigorously and religiously. A team of around 150 Saudi officials is offering them assistance round the clock,” Mohammed Kamruzzaman, director of Bangladesh’s Hajj Office, told Arab News.

“All our Hajj agencies and relevant stakeholders also appreciate the e-Hajj management. They are getting services beyond their expectations as immigration formalities are being completed very smoothly.”

This year, the Hajj is expected to start on June 14 and end on June 19. While the pilgrimage itself can be performed over five or six days, pilgrims often arrive early, knowing that it may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fulfill their religious duty.

“This year’s Makkah Route operations in Dhaka are running very smoothly. We complete the pilgrims’ Bangladeshi immigration part at the Ashkona Hajj camp near the airport, and the Saudi immigration part is being done at the airport in the shortest possible time. This arrangement amazed the pilgrims and is beyond their expectations,” Kamruzzaman said.

“It’s taking even less time for the completion of the Saudi immigration, which became possible due to introducing upgraded equipment.”

Saudi Arabia granted Bangladesh a quota of 127,000 pilgrims to perform the spiritual journey that is one of the five pillars of Islam. The Hajj flights from Dhaka began last week.

“Till Friday, 25,559 pilgrims have traveled to the Kingdom on 66 flights,” Kamruzzaman said.

“We are maintaining excellent coordination between the e-Hajj management of Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. Due to these smooth operations, our pilgrims expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the Saudi authorities.”