Podcast: Food Resilience Specialist Syma Habib talks the spiritual work of food, systems thinking, and slowing down
In Episode 2 of Season 2 we dive deep into the issues of food security and food dignity with Food Resilience Specialist Syma Habib. Syma works for the Climate Adaptation | Climate & Environment department at The City of Calgary, and has spent her life seeing the connections between food, belonging, and resilience. Check out her thought-provoking Substack newsletter at Whole Systems Healing, and learn more about how she makes connections between the body, the community, and food. Syma and I discuss the book Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice by Rupa Marya and Raj Patel.
My childhood was really marked by that reverence of food, that reverence for the soil, for the animals, for cooking from scratch, and I carried that with me.
Syma Habib
Syma’s Dinner Tasting Menu
Free Spirit | Ibrahim Maalouf
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Manifesto 2 | Nahko and Medicine for the People
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Wada Na Tod | Lata Mangeshkar
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The Well | Dirtwire, Rising Appalachia
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Be Healthy | Dead Prez
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Free Spirit | Ibrahim Maalouf 〰️ Manifesto 2 | Nahko and Medicine for the People 〰️ Wada Na Tod | Lata Mangeshkar 〰️ The Well | Dirtwire, Rising Appalachia 〰️ Be Healthy | Dead Prez 〰️
Chole
Here is Syma's recipe for her family's chole. Check out our Instagram page for images of this delicous recipe!
Ingredients
1 cup dry chickpeas (washed and picked clean)
1 tsp baking soda
4 cups water
For the Masala:
75mL ghee or neutral oil
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp chili powder (I like kashmiri)
2 tsp coriander powder (I like to grind mine fresh)
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp tamarind chutney
Salt to taste
Optional: 1/2 tsp of anardana or amchur - I don't know what they're called in english, but anardana is dried crushed pomegranate and amchur is dry powdered mango
Instructions:
Soak chickpeas overnight with water and baking soda
Dump the soaked chickpeas with the water you soaked them in a pot. Add a half teaspoon of salt and cook until done. Drain the chickpeas, you'll use them later.
Make the masala: brown the onion in the oil until very golden. Add ginger and garlic and soften. Add spices and toast them lightly, then add at least a quarter cup of water, more if needed to create a spice paste. Allow the paste to simmer on the stovetop for 3-4 minutes, then add the chickpeas and more water as needed to create a stew like consistency (not soup like!) Simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes, adding more water if needed.
Serve garnished with raw ginger sticks and cilantro leaves, with a good naan or kulcha.
