COMMUNITY MAGAZINE April 2021

NISSAN - IYAR 5781 / APRIL 2021 41 she opened a popup restaurant, inviting people to come eat, rather than sending off parcels. FOOD FEATURING THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS  Elli realized that she could combine Emirati cuisine with Jewish cuisine and she developed a hybrid menu for customers to enjoy the best of both worlds. “Customers don’t necessarily want to eat gefilte fish and latkes every day. They want to try something with a local flavor. I want to make it familiar to them, and blend things, to come up with something new, and to give them access to Emirate food.”  Elli dubbed the fusion cuisine Kosherati. “If you look at Jewish cuisine around the world, it reflects the local environment. You have all these influences. So, you know, Ashkenazi food in the U.S. is going to be different from Sephardic foods coming from Morocco,” she noted.  “Because the UAE doesn’t have any real direct history with the Jewish community or Jewish individuals and Jewish culture, I thought that if we are going to start developing Jewish foods in the UAE, it should take on the flavor of the environment. And that’s how Kosherati came about.” FOOD AS A VEHICLE FOR SHARING CULTURES This culinary fusion had been a work in progress for some time. It grew out of Elli’s desire to experience Emirati culture through food. “I couldn’t just eat the local food because I needed to keep kosher. So, I started making it myself, looking at recipe books,” Elli noted. It was difficult to find recipe books for Emirati food in English, however, but one of two she discovered was written by the German ambassador’s wife, who had interviewed a number of Emirati women, who offered their traditional recipes. “So, this resonated with me, because I was also using my own home-cooked recipes, both Jewish and international.” Prior to the “normalization” with Israel, Elli befriended a local Emirati woman, Mai Al Budy, who ordered fela from Elli. They found common ground and met regularly for coffee, eventually gravitating to discussions of food and to sharing recipes. “We always saw it as food being ‘culinary diplomacy,’ a way of bridging cultures, a way of getting to know each other, because your food is your identity. Basically, it reflects your history, reflects where you come from, it reflects where you are today, it reflects your social status and life,” Elli says. “By presenting one’s food to another culture, you get to know their culture intimately; you get to know the identity of each other. This was a way of building a friendship. And we were hoping that it would be a way that others could also, through our food, come to experience each other positively.”  Today, Elli blends (and sells) her own Emirati spices, including one called bazaar. She also cooks an Emirati pancake called chebab , made with saffron and cardamom. The pancake is folded, and then eaten with date syrup or labneh. Elli has dubbed it her version of “Emirati blintzes.” Another fusion creation is balaleet kugel, cooked with sugar and saffron, made with vermicelli and eggs, with an omelet on top. Her gefilte fish is made with local spices. Much to her surprise, many Emiratis who had studied or traveled to the U.S. had discovered Jewish foods and came to Elli with their wish lists of Jewish cuisine. They enjoy her traditional rugelach, kugel, babka, latkes, matzo ball soup, and Israeli dishes. “People just went crazy here for it, locals and residents, and it was what I described as ‘nostalgia eating.’ Sitting in their homes, wanting something of comfort,” Elli says. “I had an overwhelmingly positive response.” ELLI’S BUSINESS EXPLODES In recent months, Marriott Hotels franchised Elli’s business in Abu Dhabi, invested in the business, and opened a production kitchen, the main distribution center for products in and around the UAE. There, Elli caters for 70 hotels.  This past Passover, Elli partnered with V Hotel Dubai by Curio Collection, where she and her team cooked daily meals for kashrut observant guests staying at Habtoor Palace Dubai, LXR Hotels & Resorts, V Hotel Dubai by Curio Collection, and Hilton Dubai Al Habtoor City. Food products were shipped from the U.S. and Israel, and were prepared by local chefs, as well as chefs from Egypt, Syria, India, and Nepal, overseen by a mashgiah from Iran. The menus featured local cuisine, such as Arabic sausages, molehea (a local vegetable similar to spinach) cooked with chicken, bamriya (okra with tomato sauce), Arabic salads, as well as dishes made with rosewater and pomegranate molasses.  This month, Elli will be providing supermarket-ready pre-packaged foods and will be providing sandwiches to a local coffee chain, three airports, the mall of Emirates, and the touristy Dubai Mall. “It’s an exciting time, and I think it’s going to get more exciting,” Elli says. “I’m so thrilled with the way the business has grown over time, and the acknowledgement I’ve received from people in the UAE and from around the world who have eaten my food.”