WHAT IS THIS??
Our namesake, Amba, is an authentic fermented mango sauce created by Baghdadi Jews involved in the spice trade, who brought back culinary influences from India, to create an amazing condiment that is today enjoyed by people across the Arab world. There is such a rich history of Jewish communities' cultural and culinary contributions to the Middle East area as a whole.
Amba is a pop-up celebration of global Jewish food in a way that honors how flavors are a culmination of everything and everyone our communities interact with. This is a fundamental of food- the unspoken sharing and local evolution of comforting cuisine.
As a Jewish chef, I find these stories embedded in how I understand food. To refer to Palestinian cuisine as Israeli would be an act of appropriation and cultural erasure, an intended consequence of the ongoing Palestinain genocide.
A goal with this pop-up is to uplift Palestinian, Iranian, Iraqi, Turkish and many other foods from the Arab world, to accurately inform food lovers of Jewish cuisine's global history and cultural contribution, and to do my small part in combating the harm and erasure caused by Zionism and ideologies like it.
I love this food, and I want to share it with people in ways that honor the communities and lands that first made these dishes a staple at their supper tables. It is a reflective, humble honor for me to introduce my communities and friends to these foods I love, from a scope that honors its true history and roots.