Maghreb Tastes: Nadia Kaabi-Linke
Hometown: Tunis and Kyiv
Current town: Berlin
Profession: Visual artist
Who is your favorite Tunisian cook and why? My grandmother from El Kef. She passed away unfortunately but she used to prepare everything by herself: like the grains of couscous that she produced and dried on the roof of her home, she also dried tomatoes, and made homemade harissa. She also prepared the most delicious olives, etc. It is a whole culinarily knowledge that I lost with her passing away. One of my greatest regrets is that I never took the time to learn from her cooking.
Favorite Tunisian dish to eat: Salata Meshwiya prepared traditionally on the “Kanun”.
Is there any Tunisian dish you hate? Any dish with lamb. The week of the Aid El Kabir is always tough time for me...
Favorite Tunisian/N. African drink: The Tunisian green tea with fresh mint and pine nuts. But I also adore the way we make the coffee that we call “Arabic coffee”. I mostly like that we add to it few drops of distilled water from the orange flowers called “zhar”. In the summertime there is nothing like a cold and not too sweet “citronnade”. It is the Tunisian drink based on lemons that I never found anywhere else.
Favorite N. African sweet/dessert: Assida de Zgougou- we serve it on the Mouled which is the celebration of the birth of the prophet Mohamed but I wish we could eat it all the time.
What one ingredient defines Tunisian food for you? With no doubt harissa
What do you miss most about Tunisia? The language mostly I guess. Tunisia is the only place in the world where everyone or almost speaks just like me. So it is a very relaxed way of being for me on that level. I don’t have to think about translating, misunderstanding, etc. I love the Tunisian jokes, simply our lightness of being. I miss that a lot.
What do you miss least? The hypocrisy. Not everyone of course but a lot of people tend to easily compliment each other even if they don’t mean it.
Your favorite place in Tunisia and why: Bizerte because I grew up there. I am extremely attached to the Mediterranean Sea. I feel that in Bizerte you have the strongest expression of the sea with its wildness and deep. But I also love Mannouba where I also grew up and El Kef where my family comes from.
Your favorite place in the world (outside of Tunisia) and why: Without any doubt Kyiv. It is the city of wonders and magic. I am lucky that it also happens to be the city of my ancestors from my mother’s side.
What is always in your pantry? Olive oil
What is your favorite food? Vareniki with cabbage and sauerkraut the way my mum and grandma make them. It is a Ukrainian traditional dish.
A funny anecdote: It is that my mum who is Ukrainian who cooks mostly Tunisian at home. My dad is truly a very talented cook. I grew up extremely spoiled on the level of food cause cooking is my dad’s biggest hobby. He cooks mostly European food apart from mloukhiya, couscous, tajin and salata meshwiya.
Website: https://nadiakaabilinke.myportfolio.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nadia_kaabi_linke_/?hl=en
Thank you, Nadia!
Nadia’s Work, Mare Crisum (2020), made entirely out of coffee. For more on the signifcance of this piece, please visit her website here.
All photos provided by Nadia Kaabi-Linke
