I remember meeting Arabella at your house in Shoreditch, Anissa--such a lovely person. And you're so right about tabbouleh--my introduction to it came in New York delis where it was mostly burghul and quite soggy burghul at that. Later, I found the recipe in Claudia's first book, which also featured lots and lots of grain. I happily went off to Beirut with my recipe (after many years) and presented it on a buffet table to Lebanese friends. "WHAT," they all asked, "is THAT???" And then they laughed. I think Claudia revised the recipe in later editions of her otherwise wonderful first book.
I loved the newsletter. I did not know Arabella but I'm buying her Mediterranean book right now :)
I come from a lebanese family and the tabouleh at home is mainly parsley and tomato. But we see every type of bizarre recipe in Brazil
What a great article and congrats on the Substack feature!
I remember meeting Arabella at your house in Shoreditch, Anissa--such a lovely person. And you're so right about tabbouleh--my introduction to it came in New York delis where it was mostly burghul and quite soggy burghul at that. Later, I found the recipe in Claudia's first book, which also featured lots and lots of grain. I happily went off to Beirut with my recipe (after many years) and presented it on a buffet table to Lebanese friends. "WHAT," they all asked, "is THAT???" And then they laughed. I think Claudia revised the recipe in later editions of her otherwise wonderful first book.
Another reason her tabbouleh is good is because the recipe calls for peeling the tomatoes. I find that many people skip that step.