Walk into Damira Inatullaeva’s Brooklyn apartment, and she greets you with an array of green tea, dried apricots, raisins, pistachios and, most importantly, her mother’s recipe for cinnamon cake.
A native of Uzbekistan’s Samarkand, this retired cardiologist moved to the United States in 2013. She welcomes her guests with traditional Uzbek hospitality before putting them to work in her New York kitchen.
“I like to cook and to socialize,” Inatullaeva said. “I’m telling them stories about culture, about our traditions, about history, but not just about cooking.”
Inatullaeva is one of nine instructors for League of Kitchens, a network of immigrant home cooks who teach culinary immersion workshops in New York (www.leagueofkitchens.com).
In an age when bibimbap, tikka masala and okonomiyaki are becoming increasingly common, foods like bodiring salat (Uzbek cucumber salad), ka’ak bi tamer (Lebanese date cookies) and quabli pilau (an Afghan rice dish) may seem foreign by comparison. The League of Kitchens hopes to change that.
Founded by Lisa Gross in 2014, the company connects latent talent in New York’s vibrant immigrant community with curious foodies looking to explore the world through food. The small-format classes are limited to six students and are taught where instructors are most comfortable: their own homes.
“It’s a very different experience to learn from someone’s home,” Gross said. “There’s a real cultural exchange.”
Created by Gross during her graduate studies, the company is inspired partly by her late Korean grandmother. What started as a project in social engagement had legs as a business.
“I realized two things,” said Gross. “There are all these subtle, crucial techniques that can only be taught by natural experts … that separate good food from great food. And wouldn’t it be great to learn from people from all over the world?”
The League features home cooks representing Trinidad, Japan, Bangladesh and Argentina, to name a few.
Whether in the shorter “tasting” classes ($95) or the more in-depth immersions ($150), students — a mix of locals, professional cooks and tourists — learn not only the how of a cuisine, but the why. Over six hours, they’ll make five to six dishes. But they’ll also learn about specialty ingredients, how to shop and the cultural importance of a dish.
“I learned from my mother, grandmother, mother-in-law: All of these dishes have their own stories,” Inatullaeva said.
She’s quick to note that her home country was part of the ancient Silk Road, a route that trafficked in the international trade of spices, herbs and cuisine. The confluence of East and West greatly influenced the Uzbek diet, an aromatic, heady cuisine rich in cumin, coriander, cayenne, rice and vegetables. Inatullaeva makes use of many of these in dishes like dimlama (a rustic beef stew), a cumin-inflected pumpkin hanum (a type of dumpling) and saffron-infused kompote, a fruit compote that passes as both a beverage and dessert.
Citing the current political climate, Gross said the League’s influence extends beyond the kitchen.
“There’s so much negativity around immigrants,” she said, “but we’re highlighting the incredible contribution and richness immigrants bring to our culture and food.”
For Inatullaeva, the experience is just as sweet.
“I’m learning from the very different people too,” she said. “When people share their food, they’re happier. They create and learn, and I think our classes are the step to friendship and peace.”
jbhernandez@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @joeybear85
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