This week, Kristen sits down with Yasmin Khan, cookbook author, broadcaster and human rights campaigner to chat about her newest book Ripe Figs: Recipes and Stories from Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus. Yasmin shares the inspiration for this week's Genius recipe; a sunshiny, tangy-bright, easy one-bowl citrus cake inspired by her travels in Cyprus.
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Kristen Miglore (voiceover): Hi, I'm Kristen Miglore, a lifelong genius hunter. For a decade, I've been unearthing the recipes that have changed the way we cook. Now on The Genius Recipe Tapes, we go behind the scenes with the geniuses themselves. This week, I got to sit down with Yasmin Khan, cookbook, author broadcaster, and human rights campaign. Her latest book is Ripe Figs: Recipes and Stories from Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus. And what first drew me to Yasmin's book was a cake with a simplicity that I had never seen before. This unfussy, very citrusy layer cake is also this week's Genius Recipe on Food52. That's mixed in one bowl in one step. Or two, if you count the frosting. And I am so glad that this cake drew me in. Not just for the joy of having such a sunshiny dessert in my life. And learning yet another baking rule that we don't necessarily have to follow. But because Yasmin's book is as extraordinary to read as it is to cook from in her books. Yasmin uses everyday stories to explore human connections. This time in the Eastern Mediterranean, challenging stereotypes and sharing regional history. Side-by-side with deeply personal, often tragic, and simultaneously uplifting stories in a way that I have never seen a cookbook do in this episode. We will get to hear more from Yasmin on all of that. Plus some of the common threads of the delicious food across the Eastern Mediterranean. But first, here she is to tell us about one of her earliest food memories and how it shapes the work that she does now.
Yasmin: When I was a little child living in Iran, I would grab onto my mom's legs as she was leaving for work. And my mom would say to me, look, I need to go to work because I need to earn money to buy you pomegranates. And I would practically push her out the door. And I was back her not to go and cry in the way that toddlers do.
Kristen: I need to try that with my daughter. It sounds very compelling.
Yasmin: That is a true story that epitomizes my love, not only for the pomegranate, which is probably the national fruit of Iran and is where my mom's family is from. But more than that, a real passion for fresh ingredients from the Middle East. And it's been an absolute honor to share some of the beauty that I saw as a child growing up. My grandparents were farmers in Iran, so I already had this playground as a kid. It was a rice farm with pomegranate trees and a Kiwi orchard. We grew our own squash and eggplant and herbs and quinces. It was so delicious that it brought me to what I do. I want to show people the beauty in places more commonly associated with conflict. And I think food is such an excellent way to do that.
Kristen: You didn't start out working in food. You worked in human rights activism for 10 years and found yourself burning out and needing to take a step back. Can you share how you decided to channel that work into writing cookbooks?
Yasmin: I grew up in a foodie house. So my mom was a nutritionist and dietician. We were eating brown rice salads in the eighties. And my grandparents were farmers. From a young age, the idea of food was very central to our family. And for the livelihoods of everybody. But more than that, I think anybody who grows food will recognize it. When you surround yourself with fresh produce, you begin to enjoy the process of growing, but you also start enjoying what you can do with that. So cooking was always a big part of our time together as a family and my grandmother. Oh, my God. She would create these epic meals feeding sixteen of us with many courses. That was the background in which I grew up. But, you're right. I worked as a human rights campaigner for many years. I trained in law. I worked for different non-profits. The legacy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to police shootings. Weighty stuff. And like a lot of activists who worked on pretty intense topics.
I wasn't looking after myself and had quite a typical burnout. Or breakthrough, as a therapist would probably say. But burnout at the age of 30 needed to take some time. And during that time, it all went a bit, eat, pray, love. I went to Thailand, and I did lots of yoga and started dating the yoga teacher. But in the midst of all of that, I also started thinking, okay, what next? I had this idea that I love food. I love cooking. I come from a family where food and food growing is so central to who we know. Maybe there's something I can do that combines my passion for food and my love of Iran with what was my activism. Which was mainly around shining a light on places that don't get much media attention supporting human rights, struggles, and challenging stereotypes of the Middle East. And all of this came together in my first book, The Saffron Tales, which was my journey through Iran. Cooking and eating with people from all walks of life. And it's a selection of beautiful recipes and stories. And it went from there. After that, I worked on Zaytun, Recipes, and Stories from the Palestinian Kitchen. Which follows a similar format traveling around Israel, the West Bank. I couldn't get into Gaza because of the blockade. So I did interviews with people in Gaza and diaspora or overseas.
My third book that came out more recently follows a similar thread combining food, travel, and stories. But this time takes us to the Eastern Mediterranean to Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus. Places that bridged East and West, Europe and Asia, for several millennia. And the reason why I was fascinated by that place is not only the incredible food. The compelling dishes like dolmades, crispy calamari, hearty moussaka, or delicious hot yogurt soups. But also because that region has seen the most significant movement of people into Europe since the second world war. Around 5 million people have come through those countries since 2015. To put that in perspective to what is unfolding in Ukraine, where vast numbers of people are displaced. That number is 1.5 million people. And I wanted to go and explore the cuisine of the area. But also take a step back and use the food to look at what borders mean in the 21st century.
Kristen: Is there anything you were hoping for readers to take away from your book about the Eastern Mediterranean, food, people, and history? What is the most important thing you would expect people to take away?
Yasmin: The borders of the Eastern Mediterranean are as fluid as they have been contested over thousands of years. And in many ways, I think the area is a microcosm of issues we see the world over, around how borders are essentially political constructs. And what you see this most clearly at is the dining table. The food of all three countries reflects the constant movement of people that we've seen. So while each country has its own unique language, culture, and history, the style of eating is very similar. Be that meze the beautiful assortment of small plates, maybe 15 or 16 plates over several courses that can go on for hours. Or how recipes unite around delicious extra virgin olive oil and lots of garlic and great use of herbs, such as mint and dill and parsley, or how the herbs are used. Oregano and thyme and Biber, the Turkish name for what is more commonly known as Aleppo pepper. And so, at the table, I started identifying commonalities where I think the political construct of borders would artificially say there are divisions.
Kristen (voiceover): Hey, it's Kristen. If you're enjoying this chat with Yasmin as much as I did, head over to The Genius Recipe Tapes and hit follow. So you don't miss out on other stories like this one and our recent episode with Eric Kim. He talked about his spicy sticky, sweet yangnyeom chickpea recipe. And how his family helped him write his debut cookbook, Korean American Food that Tastes Like Home, in expected and unexpected ways.
In the second half of this episode, Yasmin shares the origins of this week's Genius Recipe, the sweet and tangy fragrance citrus cake inspired by a revolutionary cafe in Cyprus. Meet you back here for that.
Kristen: In Ripe Figs, you have all these in-the-moment interviews, storytelling of individual people in all of these areas, and respective organizations and restaurants and movements within the region. You end with a sorrowful but hopeful essay about Cyprus and the political division and the home for cooperation cafe. Would you mind sharing with our listeners a bit of how that division plays out in the daily life of Cypriots and how the home for cooperation plays a role?
Yasmin: Sure. So Cyprus is part of Europe. It's a beautiful Mediterranean island. But it's been divided since 1974 into the Turkish Republic of Cyprus in the north. And the Republic of Cyprus in the south, which is more Greek. These communities used to live side by side. There are considerable efforts to try and reconcile the island. And home for cooperation is an incredible cafe that is literally in the no man's land in the buffer zone, along the UN partition line dividing the north and the south of the island. And it operates as a social center with a vibrant cafe, which has Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot chefs. It has different menus that reflect the diversity on the island and an incredible library, and brilliant events and cultural events. And I went there a few times, but one of the recipes that struck me the most during my time is this gorgeous citrus-infused cake. So it's a straightforward cake with a soft crumb, which came from using whole full-fat, natural yogurt. One of the essential ingredients of Cypriot cuisine is yogurt. In almost every meal, you'll have a bowl on the table, so it's not a surprise that they also put it in cakes. And then. The cake is sweetened and fragrant using both the zest and the juice of oranges and lemons. And I had it on this sweltering, scorching August afternoon when I came in. I'd been traipsing through Nicosia, which is the island's capital. It's Europe's last divided capital city. And I ordered myself a frappe, which is the drink of Cyprus. I am sure a specific high street coffee chain probably riffed the idea from them. Still, it's essentially a frozen coffee blended. So I ordered one of those and a slice of this cake, and it was so heavenly, sweet, but tangy and fragrant. And just thinking of it now makes me smile.
Kristen: Was it in the same form that you recreating back at home? Or was it a layer cake with the cream cheesy frosting? Or how did you end up riffing on it when you were developing the recipe?
Yasmin: It's funny. I was looking at the picture I took in the cafe, and it was not a layer cake, but it did have that tangy frosting. So I use cream cheese because I adore cream cheese frosting. But I think that wine was probably more of a, I'm going to use a strange. Closer to a lab name that was sweetened. So that's what it was like. And the way I developed all the recipes for my books is because I tend to travel around with a notepad and my phone's Dictaphone. I talk to people, snap photos, taste things, and involve myself in the place when I'm there.
My research trips take months. I fly in and fly out. But then, when I come home, I tweak them. I play around with them. I probably make them with ingredients that maybe are easier for us to access. And also to my own personal taste. I specifically remember the cake was good, so I went up to the counter and said, oh, this is good. What's in it. And the person who baked it was there, and she came, we talked about it. But their measurements, even with baking, are very flexible. I think it's a pinch of this, a couple of that, a dash of that. I often think when I'm cooking with people, I try and get headlines for what's in it and then have that as something to work from.
Kristen: And now we all have this straightforward, incredibly sunny cake that we can make any time and think of Cyprus with your stories.
Yasmin: Yes, I have. Cyprus has been at the crossroads of Europe and the African continent, and the Asian continent. And so many different empires have come through it over so many years. And so it's taken on the influence from Venetians and Romans and Persians and the Ottomans. And you see that so many of my favorite dishes I ate when I was there are in the book. These fantastic, sweet tahini swirls are beautiful miniature baked goods that basically think of a cinnamon roll, but with sweet, crunchy tahini woven throughout it. There was this guy in Nicosia who used to bake them every morning. And you would hear him go through the streets with his cart. He would shout out. And my friend who I was staying with always ran out of the house and bought it. So I remember those things, such as soups made with yogurt. So there's an incredible hot yogurt soup that I had, which is, again. Honestly, I recommend trying it. It's one of my favorite recipes in the book. It's thickened with rice, flavored with mint, and finished with a chili butter drizzle. It sounds like that are so many things that you wouldn't normally expect together, but yoga suits are a big part of food from that region. And it was so wonderful on the trip to discover new things and learn from them. The Cypriots I cooked with were incredibly generous and talented and helped me enjoy the fantastic food.
Kristen (voiceover): Thanks for listening, and my thanks to Yasmin Khan. Her new book is Ripe Figs: Recipes and Stories from Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus. This week's episode was put together by Amy Shuster, Harry Sultan, and Emily Hanhan. If you have a favorite recipe that can instantly bring you back to a place that you've traveled, I would love to hear about it at genius@food52.com. Or you can tag me at @miglorious on Instagram. If you like The Genius Recipe Tapes and the Food52 podcast network, the very best thing that you can do to support us and to help people find the show is to leave us a five-star rating or review. Or send this episode to someone who could use a little sunshine right now. Thanks so much. Talk to you next week.