Conchiglie alla walsallese


 
Conchiglie alla walsallese
Olive oil
Garlic
Hot madras curry
Spinach
Salt
Cashew
Pumpkin seeds
Zereshk
Golpar
Lime juice
Tahina



On this picture we see fusilli and not conchiglie, and I added some lentils and cashew, but the seasoning is the same :) 


It contains my whole life basically. Ingredients and spices from the Italian, Persian, Indian and Arabic cuisines mixed together in an intuitive style. It's how I have become what I am now - a little bit from here, a little bit from there, every ingredient, every impression is important, and without them the whole picture would be different, an important taste of the food would be missing.
That's why I feel like I'm lying if I say I'm from Hungary. By saying that I'm denying every single time I felt like an outsider there - which was more often than not. I don't acknowledge my awkward feeling that accompanied me all through my childhood and youth - even until now - that I could not understand and could not explain. By saying that I spit my own eyes for every time I felt like a fish out of water or a lion out of the jungle. 
That's me. Yes, OK, I was born and grew up there and learned important things like keep your dreams hidden, in case someone discovered them and make fun of you. Never chase them, choose a reasonable (lukewarm) thing instead. I also learned that whatever you imagine, it's not possible. Why? Just because. I learned to please every shop assistant, receptionist, waiter, office clerk as you are there to disturb them and it's your duty to be calm, patient, nice, but not too nice - never be too much of anything - plus you also need to pay for the service (for the what??) I learned never to look too elegant, and also not too casual, don't show too much but also not too less, don't be too loud and also not too quiet. So yes, I learned a lot in Hungary. I learned basically how not to be myself. 
The places I have been to, the people I have met taught me the opposite. They were those who accepted me first as I am, who wanted to know me without judgement and expectations. It happened to me at first when I was 18 in Italy. 
I prefer saying that I'm partly Yemeni. How big part it is of me, we'll see. But also, I'm equally Italian, American, French, Tunisian, Persian, British, Indian, Swedish. Or - as Elke said, a German lady I met in Italy - I have no nationality. Just like this food. No top chef of any country would recognise it. 

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