Food

Why Tahini is the Star of Jewish and Arab Cooking Everywhere

Chandra Ram

How did a simple paste of ground sesame seeds become so important to cooks all over the world?

Sesame paste is used in Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cooking, but owes its global presence to Jewish and Arab cooks, who have been cooking with it for at least eight centuries. Michael Solomonov of Philadelphia’s Zahav calls...