Mehreen Karim Transcript
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Hi everyone, you're listening to The Future Of Food Is You, a production ofThe Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. I'm your host, Abena Anim-Somuah, and each week I talk to emerging talents in the food world, and they share what they're up to, as well as their dreams and predictions for what's ahead. As for me, I'm the founder of The Eden Place, a community that's all about gathering people, intentionally around food. I love this new generation of chefs, bakers, and creatives making their way in the world of food, drink, media, and tech.
Today's guest is Mehreen Karim. Mehreen is a freelance writer, recipe developer, and the owner of Reenie's, a pop-up series that she hosts around the city featuring South by South Asian dishes. We talk about her Bangladeshi heritage, how she got her start working at Bon Appétit, and what inspired her to start pop-ups. Stick around to hear more about her time on Gordon Ramsay's “Next Level Chef.”
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Now let's check in with today's guest. Mehreen, so excited to have you on the Future Of Food Is You Podcast.
Mehreen Karim:
Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Can you tell me where you grew up and how did food show up in your life?
Mehreen Karim:
I grew up in Marietta, Georgia, which is just outside of Atlanta. Food showed up in my life when I made friends in elementary school and would go over to their houses and see what they ate and what their parents cooked for them.
My own mother loved cooking everything from scratch, and oftentimes when she learned what I was eating at my friends' houses on play dates or even when she was just sitting in a waiting room and speaking to other women in households that are looking at recipes, they would share recipes and whatnot.
So, I was just always surrounded by my mom learning to make new types of food, whether it was inspired by what I was eating at school, at my friends' houses, like I said, or just random things we watched on TV.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Atlanta is very diverse-
Mehreen Karim:
Absolutely.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
... in terms of the different cultures that come through. What were some of the friends that you were making, or wherever their family's from?
Mehreen Karim:
I would say, my first best friend in elementary school, she had just immigrated to Georgia from Japan, and that bloomed my love for Japanese cooking and food, alongside for my side love for anime and manga. But my mom would always go over with me and talk to my friend's mom and learned how to make sushi rice properly.
My friend's mom actually gave her the tools to make sushi at home. So, we would go home and learn how to make California rolls by ourselves. This is before YouTube tutorials were a thing, or TikTok tutorials were a thing. So, she was just learning from one mom to another.
In middle school, my best friend was Korean, and then I had another best friend that was South Indian. Once again, I would just eat at these friends' houses, and my mom really wanted to understand how they made what they made. Before I knew it, I was learning, too.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Your family is from Bangladesh?
Mehreen Karim:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Which is really cool. What were some examples of Bangladeshi dishes that showed up at the family table?
Mehreen Karim:
Ooh. Lots of vegetables that I, admittedly did not enjoy at the time. Specifically, one thing that I always make now is just a pan-fried eggplant with a little bit of turmeric and a little bit of chili powder, and salt it afterwards, of course. I used to detest that at the table, but now it was one of my best dishes at my pop-ups actually.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Mehreen Karim:
There's lots of stewed proteins that get cooked inside a pot of rice, tons of aromatics. So there's biryani, which is better known across all of South Asia. There's a version of that called Tehari, which is more specific to Bangladesh, which uses a different spice mix that makes the beef much more, I don't know how to say it. Well, they use mustard oil, which is a-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So, it's more fragrant probably.
Mehreen Karim:
It's more fragrant, and mustard oil is, kind of sharp. So, the point of that is to balance the intense use of onions in the dish, too because there's so many caramelized onions that make the dish almost sweet. So, there's just a huge range of depth, and bitterness, and sweetness in this meat and beef dish.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That sounds delicious. Were there big celebrations or events in your family that food really played a center role in?
Mehreen Karim:
Absolutely. So, I am Muslim and the two holidays we celebrate, they're both called Eid. They are for various purposes, but they're both celebrated the same way. There are a few rules, but the ones that I recall are, you must dress up in your best clothing and you must eat and cook the most delicious food you can, and above all, share it.
We had events called open houses, so every family friend would basically, cook a giant feast. We had time slots of when we'd go to each family friend's house. So, I'd show up in my most decked out outfit and then eat so much food that the entire dining table was not used for dining. It was used for just showcasing 10 to 15 dishes.
Then you'd go to another family friend's house and they would do the same thing with their own take on these very elaborate South Asian dishes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, and it sounds like you have such a great relationship with your mom, and cooking, and all that. With that too, you started to develop a passion for documenting food, where if you've seen your Instagram and your TikTok, you're so talented at that. What developed that passion for documenting your food?
Mehreen Karim:
From a very young age, I think it's because I was the youngest in my family. I have an older brother and sister. They're both six to seven years older than me, so I felt like I was in a house of adults at all times, and I was trying to document everything that we were doing.
I feel like I, kind of had my own corner of the house where I could get away with doing whatever. So, I would steal the family video camera or the family Canon PowerShot and just take photos of everything I could.
Now looking back at it, I'm like, "Oh, if the internet was around in the way it is now when I was a child, I should not have access to it because I would be vlogging." Instead, back then I was just documenting everything my family was doing, and more specifically what I was eating because I just thought it was fun. I honestly, was so bored. I had nothing else to do.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Did that also spark this interest to start cooking, or you felt like that came later on?
Mehreen Karim:
I think the interest of cooking actually came with the fact that I was so spoiled with what I ate. I was so used to my mom making very unique dishes all the time. There was never a set menu or routine of what we were eating, and so I became very specific about what I was craving.
Oftentimes, my mom would give me the liberty of helping her decide what to make for dinner. That, as I grew up turned into this desire for me to customize everything my mom made. So, even if she was making dinner, I would take parts of it and make my own dish out of what she had already made, which now that I think ... When I think about wanting to have kids of my own, I'm just like, "I cannot ever allow my child to do what I did because I would be an angry mother," but my mom gave me the liberty to do all that.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
No, I also think especially for immigrant cultures, your parents are coming and they're making something out of what they could have had. So, I think in a way you're doing what your mom, probably did when she came to America. Yeah, maybe to put a positive spin on it to make you feel better.
Mehreen Karim:
I think she was a little curious about it. She was like, "Why would you add smoked paprika to this thing, and whatnot?" I mean, I was only 12 or 13 when I started bastardizing her dishes, honestly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So, you come to New York and you graduate from NYU with a master's in public health.
Mehreen Karim:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
On the side, you were freelancing and landing bylines at some really renowned publications, like Eater and Bon Appétit. When did the idea that you can have a career in food start to materialize for you?
Mehreen Karim:
It materialized with a very important phone call from one of my dear friends. Her name is Aliza, and she is an incredible food writer and creator. She was writing for a Bon Appétit at the time, and we've been friends since high school.
I just remember one day she called me, and it was after I had started blogging my recipes on my personal website. She called me and she told me that I could get a job as an editorial anything for food specifically, if I wanted to.
I remember thinking that she was crazy, and I told her. I was like, "Aliza, you went to journalism school. You've interned at so many places to get where you are right now, writing at Bon Appétit Magazine. You know I don't have any experience in this." So, I was almost protecting her reputation, where I was just like, "How dare you belittle your own success?"
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. "Don't take a chance on me."
Mehreen Karim:
Yeah. I was just like, "How do you even see that in me?" But she planted that seed in my head that, there is a chance that if she sees what my talent was at the time as potential to work for an actual publication or write for another publication, maybe there is something there. I love jumping into chaos even if I think I might fail. So, I did. I jumped.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What better way to learn? For those of you listening, we're referring to Aliza Abarbanel, who is the Co-Founder of Cake Zine and host of TASTE Radio, as well as just a well-loved food writer in the New York food scene.
Mehreen Karim:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's awesome. So, you do start working at Bon Appétit full-time in April 2021. You know, a real talk. It was months after, there was a lot of drama especially after senior management was called out for discriminatory practices.
Especially as women of color, how did it feel walking into that environment, and that place being the start of your full-time professional food career?
Mehreen Karim:
I want to say it was scary, but I think it would've been scary regardless of that pretext, actually. What made it not, especially intimidating was the fact that there was an entire class of us, of new Bon Appétit editorial staff, food team, photo, etc.
We, kind of had a sense of camaraderie as we were all joining together around the same few months, and that really carried my sense of self and sense of community going into it.
So, despite what I knew that had happened and what would inevitably happen even in my own time there, I also understood that there was a group of us taking a chance on this job, and allowing it to move us forward in our careers.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You know, the first way I got to know, it was through your bylines at the magazine. I love the range of dishes that you have, and they span so many cultures. I want to talk to you a little bit about the pitching recipe side to when you were pitching to editorial, because I know it's a whole process to get a byline even online or in print.
What was your personal philosophy when it came to recipe development for the magazine?
Mehreen Karim:
My personal philosophy started with the fact that we're writing for home cooks. People who are reading these recipes and wanting to cook are people who are deciding they have something to learn. We get to make the decision of what's important for them to learn at where they are with home cooking.
I did a lot of, I think, subconscious research when just understanding where my own friends and community were at with cooking at home. What were some of their issues? What did they want out of recipes that they find online? Why are they resorting to TikTok recipes from bloggers rather than actual recipe developers? What is it that they're providing that we could be at publications?
So, along with that, it's also understanding that there are just so many hidden techniques and ingredients within the food that I grew up eating at home, or like I said, even at my friends' homes. I felt like the internet food scene was moving towards a place where it was just trying to create new hacks, like new techniques, like, "Do this instead of this."
Whereas, wait, there's something we've all been doing, or all of our moms have been doing for a very long time that could actually revolutionize the way you cook in your kitchen. So, oftentimes I was looking at simpler techniques, something as ordinary as adding, I don't know ... One of the things I pitched was adding a sweet potato into your soup broth to thicken it because you can blend it and it acts like a starch that thickens it and makes it velvety without actually adding cream to it.
These techniques, it's not some sexy thing that you can make a TikTok about and someone's going to be amazed at the end result, but it's so delicious and so easy. So, a lot of my pitching had to do with, not just trying to uplift a specific cuisine, but the fact that these cuisines and cooks have developed smart techniques historically, and those techniques are what matter.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Speaking of working at BA, you got to work in, probably one of the coolest kitchens in town, the infamous Bon Appétit Test Kitchen. What's it like getting to test out recipes and just get to cook in there?
Mehreen Karim:
Oh, wow. I will never forget the first time I tested my first recipe that was accepted on the magazine. Andy Baraghani actually came into the Test Kitchen that day, and he was actually getting ready to leave Bon Appétit. He was working on his book that came out one year ago.
He came in and he asked to test what I was making, and I was making a soup that day actually. I was just frightened because I could see myself from this third person perspective. I could see myself from above. I was floating above, watching Andy eat what I had just made on my first month or so working there.
He goes, "Oh, so tell me what's going on," as he's taking a bite of it, and I'm just like, "What do you mean?"
Abena Anim-Somuah:
She's like, "I didn't sign up for this." Yeah.
Mehreen Karim:
Andy, I just know he could see the fear. Now we're normal buddies and we used to work together very, very shortly. We're Instagram friends, et cetera. So, I look back on it and I'm like, "Damn, what a loser I must have looked like to Andy."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
He's tough. He's a tough critic.
Mehreen Karim:
I know.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, yeah.
Mehreen Karim:
He's such a minimalist thinker, and so he had brilliant feedback immediately. He enjoyed the soup. That was great, but I just couldn't believe that was happening. I was like, "Who said that you should be eating my soup right now?" Someone should have warned me and I would've made a different soup.
Just kidding. It was a great recipe. I love that recipe, but it was just unbelievable. It's funny talking about it right now. I feel so silly for thinking that it was unbelievable at the time.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. Don't miss the new holiday issue of Cherry Bombe's print magazine, Host with the Most. It features Culinary Superstar, Molly Baz on the cover. Inside the issue, you'll find recipes perfect for gatherings, hosting tips from the chicest food folks around, and a fun gift guide. You can get a copy, or subscribe at cherrybombe.com, or you can find a copy at one of our amazing retailers, like Kitchen Arts & Letters in New York City, Smoke Signals in San Francisco, and Matriarch in Newport, Rhode Island. You can check cherrybombe.com for our complete list of retailers.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to get their feet wet and pitch to more publications, or even work at a food publication full-time?
Mehreen Karim:
My first piece of advice is to get in contact with somebody who has done this, and is clearly open to sharing resources, et cetera. Even if it's an Instagram DM, just don't stop reaching out to the people that, you believe could mentor you and in a respectful, personable way.
That's one privilege I definitely had with Aliza, having worked at Bon Appétit and sharing with me why she sees potential in me. So, she gave me that confidence boost. But even if you don't have access to a friend in that space, you should be reading these magazines' pages. They have, oftentimes helpful references or resources for how to pitch. They're called pitching guidelines.
So, look up Food52 pitching guideline, Bon Appétit pitching guideline or any magazine it is that you're hoping to write for, and follow that quite strictly. Don't take their instructions and think, "Oh, okay. They're saying it should just be a paragraph, but I have more to say about this. I think if I add two, three or more sentences, then they'll take my pitch."
No, actually take their guidelines very seriously and do research on what it is that you're trying to pitch. It can almost feel like you're shooting in the dark if you're not sure that you are capable of writing the piece, or if it's your first time writing it, that imposter syndrome will kick in.
But if you know that you're following their directions and you have done research on your own pitch, then you are much more prepared than most people pitching, and be consistent with it. If it's not accepted, always ask for feedback as to why and what you could do to pitch better next time.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's either yes or not now. Right?
Mehreen Karim:
Right.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So, you left Bon Appétit and have just dabbled in numerous projects. I want to talk about one of your first projects, which is your cookbook that you're working on, and that's on plant-based American Southern food.
Mehreen Karim:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What sparked the desire to write a cookbook? Also, where are you at in the process, because I know we're expecting it in 2025. I know my bookshelf's excited.
Mehreen Karim:
Honestly, I was thinking about leaving Bon Appétit in general, to start freelance writing. I was put in contact with a literary agent, who wanted to put together a series of vegan cookbooks that were, not quite the encyclopedia that we get oftentimes with these amazing experts and chefs writing so much about, not just how to cook vegan food, but the history and the relevance of veganism in a specific cuisine.
Oftentimes, buying that type of book can feel like a commitment to this complete lifestyle change.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, it's a tome. Yeah.
Mehreen Karim:
Right, exactly. So, the literary agent I was talking to, she wanted to put together a series of more so mini cookbooks that even in their design and the types of recipes that they behold, they should feel home cook-friendly and also omnivore-friendly.
You don't have to be dedicated to a vegan or plant-based lifestyle to cook from this book. You might just want to eat less meat on Tuesdays or something like that, and therefore these books will help you.
So, I was really excited to implement some Southern plant-based cooking, and because I had just been focusing on and thinking about my relationship with Southern food because I was raised in the South, in Georgia. There are various techniques from South Asian cooking that often are plant-forward, and I was seeing this intersection of my ability to cook with more produce, and cook with non-animal ingredients, and how that makes Southern food taste really good.
In fact, it's funny, it's only while I was writing this book that I realized one of my favorite restaurants in college, when I went to University of Georgia was a vegan restaurant in Athens, Georgia called The Grit. Anyone who's from UGA or Athens knows this restaurant really well.
It's amazing because that was one of my first points of appreciation for Southern food, was actually at a vegan restaurant. So, all that being said, it's really fun to think about what it is that home cooks might want from Southern food. Also, what is it that they need from learning plant-based cooking?
It's a lot of problem-solving. We are in the final stages right now, and getting closer to photography and whatnot for the book, which is very exciting. But there's three other authors that I'm also working with, and I'm editing their manuscripts, and I'm having a really fun time because they're working on books about plant-based Filipino food, plant-based Indian food, and plant-based Mexican. All together, it's going to be a series of four mini cookbooks.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, wow. Well, I can't wait to get all of these. Can you shout out the names of the other three? Are you allowed to, or ...
Mehreen Karim:
Yeah. Absolutely. So, Andrea Aliseda's writing plant-based Mexican, and Srishti is writing plant-based Indian, Srishti Jain. And Ria Elciario, she's writing plant-based Filipino.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So, will we get to buy them all together?
Mehreen Karim:
You can buy them all together. I think you can buy them separately, but it's going to be this gorgeously designed set of cookbooks that serve as coffee table books as well as just something fun and easy to flip through. Low commitment, look for a recipe that's perfect for a random Wednesday night.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Well, let's switch gears from books to TV.
Mehreen Karim:
Ah. Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So, your other recent food media accomplishment was, you were on Gordon Ramsay's show, “The Next Level Chef.”
Mehreen Karim:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What is “The Next Level Chef” for our listeners who are not tuned into that aspect of reality TV?
Mehreen Karim:
“Next Level Chef” is a cooking competition show where they select competitors that have experience in, either just cooking at home, or cooking at a fine dining restaurant, or they might be a caterer.
We all come together and have to compete with each other to create a dish based on ingredients that we have to grab. Let me add a period, end sentence right there because I could add three more run-ons to that.
There is a platform that moves between three different kitchens, vertically. So, the platform starts at this top kitchen that has beautiful, modern, technological kitchen appliances. It's called the top-level kitchen.
I mean, even if you're a home cook, you feel spoiled by the tools in there that will help you elevate your dish and cook as efficiently as possible.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's like the sports car of kitchens.
Mehreen Karim:
Exactly. Yeah. I would name a fancy car, but I don't know one.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I think Lamborghinis are cool-
Mehreen Karim:
Lamborghinis?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
... last I checked. I don't know.
Mehreen Karim:
Question mark?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, I take the subway.
Mehreen Karim:
There we go. Yes. Okay. Top floor, Lamborghini, and then the platform then moves down to the middle floor, which is, I don't know, the Honda Civic that I grew up driving, and it took care of me really well.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, Honda Civic, Toyota Camry. Solid cars.
Mehreen Karim:
But that's the level where you're comfortable. It, kind of reminds me of the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen actually, where you have everything you need. You have all your deli containers. It's easy to cook there, but you don't have your smoking gun, like you have in the top floor.
Then the bottom level is where, the way I described it on the show was my first New York City apartment kitchen.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So, a bicycle?
Mehreen Karim:
Yeah. Exactly. It's funny because I felt very comfortable cooking in the basement oftentimes, depending on what I was cooking. But the whole point of the show is that you get randomly placed in one of these kitchens to start with, and then as you continue cooking, and either improving or not improving on the show, you will then get placed in a different kitchen based on your performance.
There are three judges that will mentor you along the way, and these judges are other celebrity chefs. So, there's three celebrity judges that are the mentors and judges from start to finish of the show. Yeah, and they continued, now through Season 3, which is currently filming and it's going to come out next year.
My mentor was Richard Blais, who actually, he started off as a chef on, I think he competed on Top Chef at first and then he grew his way to becoming a food media TV star personality, et cetera.
Yeah. The point of the show is just to see how you cook in a short amount of time with a random selection of ingredients against other chefs who have more or less experience than you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
When you were on the show, did you feel a, sort of responsibility or a need to showcase a lot of Bangladeshi recipes and culture in some of your dishes, or were you more just focused on, "I'm going to be the best that I can be, and I'm just going to test out as many cuisines and ranges as I possibly can"?
Mehreen Karim:
You know what's so funny is that I did go onto the show thinking that, "I'm going to show them that I'm not just a hyphenated cuisine. I'm not just a-"
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Ex-American.
Mehreen Karim:
Yeah. "I'm not just a Bangladeshi American chef. I know you see that I'm brown, you see that I'm from the South, etc. I know you expect these things of me, but I'm going to surprise you."
Lo and behold, I actually don't even cook that much Bangladeshi food in my own household. At home, just cook whatever the heck I'm craving when I wake up. That could be inspired by books I'm reading or restaurants I'm going to.
So, when I came onto the show, I'm just like, "I'm going to show them everything I know about ingredients they've never heard of." Yeah. I immediately, my South Asian instincts kicked in, in a way-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Your auntie kicked in.
Mehreen Karim:
My auntie kicked in. I have never cooked that many curries, or flatbreads, or rotis, or parathas in my life until I was on that show. I remember at the end of each challenge I'd be like, "What am I doing? Who am I? Is this who I am?" I mean, it makes sense that I've been raised around this food and it is just so folded into my understanding of how food works.
So, it was so easy for me to grab ingredients and immediately, without a recipe, knowing how to cook something that my mom might have made me, or that I've eaten at these holiday parties, et cetera that I was sharing with you.
I'm so surrounded by this food. I actually understand these dishes inside and out even if I don't cook them at home myself.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
There's that saying of, "Someone has nafas," where it's like they have that heart and they just have this touch when it comes to food. I think, maybe the show was probably a beautiful surprise, what really spoke to you, because again, it's a challenge.
Again, you were talking earlier about bastardizing your mom's recipe, so maybe that brought you somewhere. Yeah.
Mehreen Karim:
That is exactly what I was doing on television, honestly. I will say, not every dish I made, or not every challenge I performed in was South Asian-inspired or even Southern-inspired. It ended up being a theme across the 13 episodes I was on. Oh, spoiler.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The show's already out.
Mehreen Karim:
Yeah, the show's been out, but there were times where I was inspired by random dinners I had in New York City or at various restaurants. Sometimes I'm just inspired by the chaos of clashing ingredients. I'm just like, "What's going to happen when I put Nori and vanilla together? Let's find out."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's really awesome. Well, congratulations, again. You were on 13 to 15 episodes. We won't say anything more, but if you were to go on another cooking reality show, which show would you go on?
Mehreen Karim:
Oh. I want to say, “Great British Baking Show” even though I'm not British. I did, I really had an existential crisis on the one baking episode on “Next Level Chef,” but it's the one show out right now that I believe, cares so much about the actual practice of baking, or of the methodology.
I would love to be able to express my creativity on a show, where it's not even just about the competition. It's so much so about the person and what they're trying to express about themselves through their baking.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Well, let's talk about your most recent product, or the one that I will get to experience, your South by South Asian Pop-Ups. You call it Reenie's, which is your pop-up brand. You started this in August of this year, and you've had stints at some really awesome New York spots, like Winona's, Farm to People, and daughter.
What was the inspiration behind starting a pop-up, and did you have any restaurant working experience before diving in?
Mehreen Karim:
Zero experience. If there's anything you've learned from this podcast is that I've been invited to spaces that I have zero experience in, and I have said yes to all of them. I had done exactly one pop-up earlier that year at a restaurant called Gertie, because I think “Next Level Chef” was out by then, and so I was eating at Gertie.
One of the owners came up to me, Nate, and he goes, "Are you on “Next Level Chef”?" They shouted out to me. They're like, "Let's collaborate if you're down." I worked on my first pop-up with them and I treated that as a test run for myself. What I learned from that is that it makes me wildly happy to watch people eat my food in a curated dining setting.
From there, I knew that I wanted to plan out a larger-form experience, where people could have multiple choices of how they wanted to dine with my menus, and which is why I did the series because I wanted people to taste my food at a coffee shop setting, or at a really fancy-ish prix fixe setting, as well as an an a la carte warehouse in Bushwick, Farm to People setting.
That's what the pop-up series accomplished, is that I got to, one, learn how to work with a variety of businesses and restaurant teams, and I got to learn how to hire my own kitchen staff, and paying labor, and budgeting for myself, et cetera-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Do food costs, which is-
Mehreen Karim:
Oh, my gosh. Food costs-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
... one that people don't talk about enough.
Mehreen Karim:
Exactly. I learned so much about so much, and more than anything I learned that New York City has a host of chefs and food people that are so excited to help at all times. I'm so glad I asked for the people's help that I asked for whether it was the restaurant owners, or the chefs that I was working with, or the kitchen team that I hired for some of these events. Yeah, that's all I'd say, is just asking for help will get you very far.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What are some things that you're looking forward to, or some dishes that you want to share with the world?
Mehreen Karim:
There are comforting, indulgent winter dishes around the corner. That's for sure. I am on a pop-up hiatus, I guess after the South by South Asian one.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's a lot of work.
Mehreen Karim:
Yeah, it was an incredible amount of work. I told myself it was going to be a bootcamp, and it was. I'm so thankful for it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And you passed-
Mehreen Karim:
Yeah, I passed.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
... with flying colors. Yeah.
Mehreen Karim:
I'm still alive. Yeah, there's more, and there's more food memories to be experienced and created, and January.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Okay, well, we will be looking out for that, for sure. Something I also really admire about you is you're such a staunch advocate for representation, both as a woman of color and as a Muslim woman.
I know as we're recording this, there's a lot of stuff happening in the world that has called our attention to more representation. When you think about your role as a person in the food world, how do you hope to see more representation for people that look like you in the years to come?
Mehreen Karim:
I hope that there is a desire to no longer cater towards what's popular, or what people want out of food media, but we have TikTok right now, or Instagram, et cetera. We have this really easily consumable method of watching recipes, and saving them, and watching them go viral.
The way people are achieving that success is by being their whole selves on their platforms. They're individuals that are rising to amazing success because they are just doing what they know how to do on their own.
Compare that to the rigorous process that people go through when they are pitching to publications and food media in general, to prove their qualifications, which I, one, believe ... I think there is incredible merit in being well-researched and preparing yourself before putting yourself out there for any type of position or even a recipe, but I think there's something to be said that food media and these institutions are missing out on. When we're all confused about, like, "Oh, I'm not on TikTok. I would never do that."
Yeah, you might not be, but the rest of the world is, and the reason they are is because they are seeing content and recipes from very authentic individuals, who are not being filtered. If food media wants to catch up to the rest of the internet, that is slowly, for better or for worse, taking over the way we interact with recipes, if we want to either join that, or not even become relevant, again.
If we just want to tell the truth, again, we have to be more careful about how much we're moderating people and their recipes when they're pitching them. I am really sick of hearing that, "Sorry, Mehreen, we can't publish this recipe because home cooks just don't like deep-frying, so we can't publish a deep-frying recipe."
You know that if you shared more recipes with deep-frying, et cetera, or just had people that were so confident in their own recipe and the flavors of it, you could sway your own audience. You could have a relationship with your audience, where you hold authority because you know that your recipe writers or food creators are telling their truth.
While you're, you as in food media, while you are pushing away recipes that are unfamiliar to your "audiences" they are gaining fame and popularity through other mediums that allow them to just say their absolute truth. Then people try their recipes even if they're deep-fried.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. If we were to come back into this booth again in the next five years, what are things that you hope you've accomplished, or are working on?
Mehreen Karim:
I hope that the next time I come in here, I can talk about my own grand forthcoming personal cookbook that just encapsulates what my culinary style is. Because that's such a big deal to me, it is taking time for me to figure out exactly it is what I have to say.
I know that by the time I get to this point where I can identify, and feel confident about the recipes, and my culinary style, and how to share them with other home cooks, I will be so excited to discuss all of the above. I hope that when I come back I can, I'm going to regret saying this-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Don't worry.
Mehreen Karim:
... I hope I have a restaurant. I don't know. I hope I have a restaurant.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You have pop-up.
Mehreen Karim:
I don't know.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Manifest. We manifest.
Mehreen Karim:
Could someone pay for me to have a restaurant?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
No. You should manifest. We're huge manifesters on the podcast. Do you have any dream recipients for the collection/cookbook project that you're working on?
Mehreen Karim:
Dream recipients? I would ... This is scary because my dream recipients scare me because I love them, and I would love for them to cook for my book, but Ford Fry is an incredible chef and restaurateur in Atlanta, and I've learned so much about quality food and restaurant experience from him, and just simple, straightforward recipes from whenever I eat in Atlanta.
I'm so scared to say this, but yeah, I would love for him to have my book on Southern plant-based food because I mean, he doesn't do plant-based cooking necessarily at his restaurants. But with that being said, that's the level of criticism that I would want, or that's the type of person I want cooking from this book, is because I don't want this food to be good just for vegans or just for plant-based people. I want these textures, and flavors, and processes to make sense and be rewarding for any type of cook or eater.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
We hope Ford gets the book soon. Yeah. Mehreen, we're going to do the Future Flash Five.
Mehreen Karim:
Okay.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of food writing ...
Mehreen Karim:
Is print.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of pop-ups ...
Mehreen Karim:
Is better restaurants for better pop-ups.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of food television ...
Mehreen Karim:
Ooh, more wholesome.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of plant-based cuisine ...
Mehreen Karim:
More delicious.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And finally, the future representation in food ...
Mehreen Karim:
More is more.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Mehreen, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. If we want to continue to support you, where are the best places to find you?
Mehreen Karim:
You can, number one, find me on Instagram. It is reeniekarim, which is my nickname, Reenie, R-E-E-N-I-E K-A-R-I-M. If something crazy happens to Instagram, you could find me on mehreenkarim.com, where I will be sharing all the recipes I post, as well as events and pop-ups, et cetera.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Awesome. Thank you so much.
Mehreen Karim:
Thank you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Before we go, our guest is going to leave a voicemail just talking to themselves 10 years from now. You have reached The Future Of Food Is You mailbox. Please leave your message after the beep.
Mehreen Karim:
Hi, future Reenie. Thank God you're still alive. Your past self is actually pretty afraid of randomly dying, but only because life has been especially gorgeous lately. So, I hope you're surrounded by as much sincere love and freedom as you are right now at age 28.
I know that you've had a lot of lofty dreams for yourself, especially by the time you reach your late 30s, but just know that if you're still giggling with your friends, or cooking alongside your adorable nieces, or fingers crossed, maybe your own kid, and if you're still waking up thinking about what you're craving to cook and eat that day, just know that you have everything you've always wanted.
Right now, in 2023, you're most concerned with how to accurately and meaningfully share your food philosophies and creations with the world. I can't wait to see all the directions you end up doing that in, and all the mistakes you're going to make, and you will cry from, and learn from, which brings me to my next point.
I hope you're also constantly crying the way you are now, at both sad and happy moments because crying is actually the best feeling, and you're really good at it right now. So, love you always, past Reenie.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's it for today's show. Do you know someone who you think is The Future Of Food? Tell us about them. Nominate them at the link in our show notes, or leave us a rating and a review and tell me about them in the review. I can't wait to read more about them. Thanks to Kerrygold for supporting our show. The Future Of Food Is You is a production of the Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Thanks to the team at CityVox Studios, executive producers Kerry Diamond and Catherine Baker, associate producer Jenna Sadhu, and editorial assistant Londyn Crenshaw. Catch you on the future flip.