Appetites®

How a food blog helped young Somalis reclaim their food traditions after war, migration

A hand places round sweets on a plate
A screenshot of a Xawaash YouTube video shows a plate of banana halwa. Chef and writer Ifrah F. Ahmed says this recipe and others from the food blog have helped her think creatively about traditional Somali dishes and perfect measurements for recipes her mother taught her when she was young.
Xawaash FoodBlog

How do you connect with your family's recipes? Did you work alongside your mom or dad in the kitchen and take it in? Do you have a card file or a binder with handwritten recipes from your grandmother's generation?

Well, what if the food traditions of your culture were interrupted by war or migration? For Somalis living here and around the world, there's a blog and YouTube videos called Xawaash that is connecting millennials to their traditional foods.

Chef and writer Ifrah F. Ahmed wrote about it for the food website Taste and joined Appetites to talk about it.

To hear the conversation, click play on the audio player above.