Women Who Travel Podcast: Hawa Hassan's Recipes from Somalia, Egypt, Lebanon, and More
You can listen to our podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify each week. Follow this link if you're listening on Apple News.
In Hawa Hassan's second cookbook, the chef and author explores the recipes and stories born out of displacement, and the sense of community and resilience that can be found through food. Lale chats with her about the travels and research behind the book, which took her to The Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Lebanon, among others, as well as how her own path from Somalia to the US informed her personal food journey.
Lale Arikoglu: Hi there, I'm Lale Arikoglu, and today I'm talking to chef and author Hawa Hassan about her groundbreaking book Setting a Place for Us.
Its subtitle explains its radical scope, recipes and stories of displacement, resilience, and community from eight countries impacted by war. Hawa and her family fled the Somalian Civil War. A few years later, she was sent to friends in America and was separated from her mother and siblings who moved to Oslo. The stories of the people she meets in her book often mirror that of her own life.
Hawa Hassan: I migrated to the U.S. in 1993, November of 1993. My mother and family never made it to America. Till today, my family has never been to America. I only have one little brother who's born in Norway that's come to New York, and he came in 2018 just as he was getting out of high school. But my family has lived in Somalia, Kenya, and then Oslo.
LA: Moving in 1993 means that you were very young when you moved.
HH: Yeah. The first two years of living in America, because I assumed my family was still coming and that was the game plan. I went as a part of a team of six people. At the time, it was my five siblings and my mom. So I was like, "Okay, the rest of my teammates are coming. They're just waiting for sponsorship to the U.S.," which never came because Black Hawk Down happened and the Clinton administration had shut it down at the time.
And in hindsight, I don't think there's a better place than Oslo that my family could have ended up in for so many different reasons. So for the first two years, I was still very much a Somali child. I was still trying to cook. I was still trying to clean with the people that I was living with because I wanted to be an active participant of the group that I was living with.
LA: What were you cooking?
HH: Well, there was an older person in the house, a woman. She did all the cooking, but I did all the cleaning and the chopping those first two years.
LA: You were sous chef?
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Skift
32 minutes ago
- Skift
Can Airline Growth and Climate Goals Coexist? Delta Thinks So
Delta wants to grow and decarbonize at the same time. But can airlines fly toward 'net zero' without changing their business models? Delta Air Lines says sustainability is still a top priority, even as the company grows and its greenhouse gas emissions increase. Speaking on Skift's climate podcast GreenShift, Amelia DeLuca, Delta's Chief Sustainability Officer, acknowledged the tension between business expansion and climate goals. But she said the airline remains focused on reducing emissions. 'Delta is not a sustainability company that just happens to have an airline - we're an airline that has a sustainability team and policy,' DeLuca said. 'But we also know that if we don't decarbonize, we lose our license to operate over the next hundred years.' Listen to This Podcast A Balancing Act Between Growth and Green Goals Airlines are under growing pressure to curb emissions, with the sector pledging to reach net zero by 2050. But Delta's emissions rose in 2024 to their highest level since before the pandemic, according to its most recent sustainability report. 'The industry, Delta included, is in growth mode as we come back from the pandemic,' DeLuca said. 'We've just seen continued support for international travel and premium travel. So Delta is obviously trying to serve its customers as best we can. And through that, you're seeing growth in international destinations and premium seats.' The airline has hundreds of planes on order and while new aircraft are more efficient, more flights will mean more emissions. Amelia DeLuca serves as Chief Sustainability Officer at Delta Air Lines, leading the airline's net zero by 2050 goal. Despite rising emissions, DeLuca pointed to signs of progress. She said Delta increased its capacity by 5% last year compared to 2019, but used less jet fuel, a first for the airline. It saved 45 million gallons of jet fuel and roughly $110 million. 'That means we're growing, but doing so more efficiently,' she said. Delta credits that efficiency to flight improvements such as more efficient routes as well as newer aircraft, which the International Air Transport Association says can be up to 20% more fuel efficient than older models. DeLuca also said part of the emissions increase comes down to better data. As Delta improves tracking of indirect emissions, such as those from suppliers, its total footprint appears larger. 'Our scope three emissions look like they're going up, but it's just because we're now working with our supply chain to give us the most accurate emissions that we can get,' she said. The Race for Sustainable Aviation Fuel DeLuca made it clear that operational tweaks and better planes won't be enough. 'Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is the biggest lever,' she said. 'It's the only thing that gets us to net zero. We're in a race against time.' Delta is building a SAF blending hub in Minnesota and working with corporate clients to create demand. The airline hopes this can serve as a model for broader state-level action. There have been concerns that SAF production will never be able to grow to the level required by the entire aviation sector, as it tries to decarbonize, due to issues around feedstocks. The fuel uses things like used cooking oil, of which there is limited supply, and plants, which are feared might result in crop displacement - taking vital land away for things like food for humans, for SAF. 'There's a limit to how much used cooking oil exists. The next generation of SAF is using biomass type products, such as corn waste, potentially woody biomass from fallen trees,' DeLuca said. 'All those have a limit.' DeLuca called on the sector to continue investing in new technologies such as carbon capture, capturing gasses out of the atmosphere using renewable energy and turning it back into fuel. 'These are unlimited feedstocks. And that cost profile of that product, if you have unlimited feedstocks, is actually lower than conventional jet fuel today. But that is a long way off. This is going to take all of us. Airlines alone can't solve climate change.' Skift's in-depth reporting on climate issues is made possible through the financial support of Intrepid Travel. This backing allows Skift to bring you high-quality journalism on one of the most important topics facing our planet today. Intrepid is not involved in any decisions made by Skift's editorial team.
Skift
an hour ago
- Skift
New Report: 10 Insights From Skift's Data + AI Summit 2025
At Skift's Data + AI Summit in New York in June 2025, industry leaders, technologists, and strategists will come together to discuss how data and artificial intelligence are shaping the next chapter of travel. As the industry shifts from reactive to predictive decision-making, the summit will explore how companies are leveraging intelligent tools to personalize customer journeys and discover new revenue streams. The event will be packed with conversations on the challenges and breakthroughs emerging at the intersection of AI and travel, and how intelligent systems are becoming the core engine behind smarter, faster, and more responsive travel brands. In this report, Skift partnered with Phunware to compile key insights, memorable moments, and key takeaways from the day's sessions for a view of where travel is headed and how data and intelligence are powering the journey. Topics to Be Covered in this Report: How are travel brands using AI to personalize the customer journey in real time? How can predictive analytics drive more intelligent pricing and forecasting? What does building an in-house AI capability look like for a global travel brand? How are industry leaders aligning tech strategy with guest expectations in an AI-driven world? What lessons can travel companies learn from data-led organizations outside the industry? How can marketers use AI without compromising creativity or human insight? What are the risks and rewards of applying generative AI across different parts of the travel business? How do hospitality companies maintain a sense of authenticity and trust while deploying automation? How is AI shaping the future of workforce productivity and team dynamics? What does responsible and ethical AI use look like in the travel sector today?
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
North Dakota promises flush toilets at historic sites
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Lawrence Welk didn't have a flush toilet where he grew up, but visitors to his childhood home in rural North Dakota now do. The bandleader's childhood family home marks the latest step in the State Historical Society of North Dakota's nearly completed goal of installing flush toilets at its dozen most popular, staffed sites. The most recent success, with the final three planned to be completed soon, came before the unveiling of a statue of Welk at a site that draws fans who recall 'The Lawrence Welk Show,' which ran on TV for decades starting in the 1950s. The North Dakota group's goal of replacing pit toilets with flush units may seem like a humble aspiration to some, but it's an important milestone, said Chris Dorfschmidt, a historic sites manager. 'A lot of our sites are kind of in the middle of nowhere. As I like to put it, history didn't happen where it's convenient,' he said. 'Because of that, if you've driven all the way out there, and that's the best we can do to kind of accommodate you, it's not the most pleasant experience.' North Dakota has 60 state historic sites — everything from museums and an underground nuclear launch facility to plaques mounted on boulders in fields. 'All of our sites, they really do help share a story of us as a state,' Dorfschmidt said. Two other facilities are slated to be finished by June 30: at Whitestone Hill, the site of a deadly 1863 attack by U.S. troops against Native Americans; and Fort Buford, a military fort near the Missouri-Yellowstone river confluence. The Historical Society also is eyeing the Chateau de Mores for flush toilets. The wealthy Marquis de Mores built the 26-room home in 1883 near Medora, a present-day tourist town in the state's scenic Badlands where a young President Theodore Roosevelt once roamed. Less-visited sites that aren't staffed likely won't receive a restroom upgrade, which costs about $150,000 each. At the Welk Homestead, about 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) southeast of Bismarck, workers matched the color scheme of the restroom to the house and farm buildings, including interior colors. 'We made it to fit into the site and harmonize with the site and just be a pleasant part of the experience,' Historic Sites Manager Rob Hanna said.
