72 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • MAY 2019
SPONSORED
SAVOR SYRIAN FLAVORS FROM TANABEL TABLE
CATERING COMPANY FROM BROOKLYN CHEF KEEPS MIDDLE EASTERN RECIPES ALIVE
BY JOE DISTEFANO
As the Culinary King of Queens, I’m
so very fortunate to live in the most
diverse and delicious destination in
all of New York City. And I’m even
luckier to be a Tastemaker for the
World’s Fare, a celebration of global
cuisine and culture, which will be
held on May 18 and 19 at Citi Field.
In the weeks leading up to the Fare,
I’ll be profiling some of my favorite
vendors from Queens and beyond.
Today, a look at Tanabel Table, a
Middle Eastern catering and event
company from Brooklyn’s very own
Chef Hannah Goldberg.
Chef Hannah Goldberg named her
catering and events company Tanabel
Table after the Souk el Tanabel
in Damascus. Tanabel means “lazy
person” in Arabic, and the company
takes its name from the bustling
market where merchants farm all of
the intricate prep work Syrian food
requires of women in their homes.
Those women chop mountains of
parsley and hollow out hillocks of
squash, and deliver the finished
goods to the merchants to sell in that
“Lazy Person’s Market.”
Goldberg envisioned Tanabel as a
space where women could contribute
their skills and ingenuity to a larger
project, doing what they could to
make a life for themselves while
growing a bigger business.
“We pay a living wage and pride ourselves
on meeting our cooks where
they are, finding ways for them to
contribute as much or as little as
they’re able and to take pride in their
work and in sharing it with their new
neighbors,” she said.
Goldberg, who has been a chef since
2001, started the company — which
celebrates the rich culinary traditions
of the Middle East and employs
refugee women — after the 2016
presidential election.
“I felt compelled, as many people
did, to get involved, to stand up and
affirm what America means to me,”
she recalled of her involvement with
the refugee task force of a local synagogue
in the midst of an influx of
Syrian refugees.
As a chef, Goldberg had been committed
to helping to preserve traditional
foodways at risk of disappearing, so
working with refugee women to preserve
and celebrate their traditional
recipes felt like a very natural fit,
she recalls. Tanabel employs women
from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan,
and Iran, each of whom bring their
mothers’ and grandmothers’ recipes
and traditions with them.
Tanabel’s very first cook, Fadila Maamo,
hails from Aleppo, Syria, and came
to the United States with three of her
four children in the fall of 2016. Maamo
and her family are Yazidi Kurds, with
a lot of their own unique traditions, including
Syrian kibbeh — fried bulgur
torpedoes stuffed with spiced meat and
walnuts, with a red pepper and pomegranate
sauce and a little fresh cabbage
and mint salad on the side — which will
be served at the Fare.
“They’re just the best version we’ve
ever had — juicy and savory and crisp
— we’re so excited to share them with
everyone at the Fare!” Goldberg said.
“I’m really proud to be a part of the
World’s Fare this year; Tanabel is
about celebrating the unique contributions
that each of our cooks brings
from her homeland and sharing them
with New Yorkers who are curious
and eager to understand them, their
food, and their traditions more completely,”
she said.
Joe DiStefano is a Queens-based food
writer.
Try traditional fare from Tanabel
Table at the World’s Fare at Citi Field
(123-01 Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing,
theworldsfare.nyc) on May 18 and 19
from 12 to 8 p.m. Tickets range from
$19 to $199 (children under 10, $5).
MAIN DISH
Tanabel Table’s first cook Fayza Maamo (center), with her daughter Fadila (left), and Tanabel founder chef
Hannah Goldberg. Photo by Rachel Elkind
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
