This post is also available in: العربية (Arabic)
‘Home cooked’ is a term used to decisively end any discussion on the quality of a dish. Home cooked conjures the scent of the familiar, memories of children coming home from school and adults coming home from work. It is spices that are not measured precisely into a soup or rice dish, as the only measurement is making sure it looks and tastes right. Safaa Habib is a cook who uses, as her tools, the art, scents and sounds of home cooking and works with the enjoyment for probing recipes passed down for generations. In this short video, produced by Sabreen al-Yousefi, we see how Safaa has brought the feeling of a gathering of family and close friends at home to another space, open to anyone craving home cooked food.
Sabreen al-Yousefi is a filmmaker and storyteller residing in Sana’a. She has a bachelor’s degree in information technology and has been involved in community-based work since 2011. Her previous work includes a short feature film called Girl?, a short documentary film called Under the Rubble, and Habah, another short documentary film that she directed and produced during the 2018 Comra Doc Film Camp in Sana’a. In January 2020, in Tunisia, Sabreen participated in Mudawanat, the first podcasting training in the Arab world, provided by Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy.
Sabreen is one of the founding members of the Boncast platform, a Yemeni podcast platform whose objective is to amplify Yemeni cultural voices. She started by launching the first program on this platform, Araikhhn, in December 2020. Araikhhn presents Yemeni legends and folklore. She also works as a project coordinator for Comra Films.
Home Cooked – Safaa Habib
Translated by: Abdullah al-Ruwaishan