Food, The Great Equalizer

When I arrived at the LIFE kitchen, I noticed a woman carefully tucking orzo, chicken, and dill into a tiny porcelain teacup lined with a blanched Swiss chard leaf. Using the cup as a mold, she then turned it upside down and released it into a rectangular pan, spooning tomato sauce on top before baking. It occurred to me later that this may be the first time this dish, served in villages for generations during times of mourning, will be documented for the future. (the recipe.) Another woman was making a pilav with freekeh, a parched green wheat that has been around for centuries. Everyone discussed this dish because each person’s family made it a different way, using oral recipes passed down through generations in every home and every village throughout the Middle East.