Country of Tunisia

Another tradition is the way the culinary knowledge was transferred.  Most often handed down orally from mother to daughter and seldom deviated from its traditional recipes.  In my case, it was passed down from mother to son.  My mother is native to the North African village of Gammarth, a historic seaside resort north of Tunis and a few miles southwest of Sicily, across the Mediterranean.  In my youth, this ancient village was always abuzz with agricultural and social celebrations, especially weddings.  It is in this festive environment that my mother shared her recipes and her talent as a cook with the rest of the village, establishing herself as Gammarth’s “wedding chef.“  In Gammarth weddings were a community affair and each villager contributed whatever help they could afford.  Some villagers brought vegetables from their organic farms, some brought fresh meat, and some brought unbleached sugar for the gallons of green tea, which were served during the several days of celebration.  Some villagers just brought wooden vegetable crates, which supported planks to serve as seats for the evening show of belly dancers and musical entertainment.  My Mom’s contribution was instructing the wedding cooks on which types and what amount of spices went where and when.  She, like most women in those days learned how to cook from her mother, the daughter of a Sicilian immigrant who had done her share of Italian and Tunisian - fusion cooking.  I especially recall our own version of spaghetti and meatballs or our Capponata, prepared with fresh eggplant, celery, tomatoes, and even home cured olives.

  Tunisia in comparison to the surrounding countries 

My mother took as much pleasure in preparing her dishes as in watching people savor them.  One of her best dishes was a seasonal summer salad called “Salade Mechwiya,” a chopped salad of roasted Anaheim peppers, Roma tomatoes, onions, all roasted on olive wood charcoal, spiced with Tabil, mint, lemon, salt, pepper, and topped with capers, tuna, and of course extra virgin olive oil.  Another seasonal dish that she prepared frequently at my request was a very simple soup called Burghol; a tomato based cracked wheat soup with baby Fava beans, northern beans and garbanzo beans; spiced with cumin, garlic, harissa, our own version of a hot chili paste, and olive oil.  Burghol soup helped keep us warm during those winter days when the cold winds of Italy, France and beyond, engulfed the southern Mediterranean region.

My happy and healthy children

      
Some recipes from my mother are in this book

A note from my son

My two children and wife