A love supreme

“IT IS APPARENT TO ALL OF US WHO ARE LOVERS OF FOOD THAT THE GREATEST PLEASURES ARE EMBEDDED IN THE ACT OF SHARING”

Words: Marie Mitchell / Images: RED Agency, Sophia Spring

The loom of Valentine’s Day often fills me with dread. Not for the fact that it’s a day to celebrate love – I’m drawn to that like a moth to a flame – but because of the pressure placed on romantic couples to showcase their love in the most fleeting of ways, as if this were the only day to do so. Love bound in respect, appreciation and community is the kind I root for; love that builds memories and lasts a lifetime.

Usman Shah of Date Sultan believes in “love at first bite”, with his first being that of a date – a custom in his household and a wider Islamic one, where a baby’s first taste should be of something sweet. Clearly that bite did last a lifetime, as Usman is now the proud owner of Date Sultan, a social enterprise at Borough Market that imports dates from Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Saudi Arabia.

His parents used to send Usman out to gift dates to passers-by, believing that the more you gifted others, the more that kindness would make its way back to you. This sentiment now provides the framework of his business. Usman works directly with farmers to tackle modern slavery, a practice deeply entrenched in date farming (and many other forms of agriculture around the world). Having grown up in Newham, east London, Usman also uses his business to give those closer to home job opportunities, seeking to employ local people who’ve previously struggled to gain work. The trickle-down effect of trust and appreciation from consumer to producer has helped Usman build a community in which everyone benefits.

Friends, family and community is what motivates me in my work – and it’s also what has helped Salina Khairunnisa’s Malaysian food business, Joli, go from strength to strength. In 2009, after being made redundant during the worst global recession in almost a century, Salina (pictured top) turned to food to support her family. A charity event selling the garlic and chilli oils she made at home, led to her selling them through her children’s music school. Later, after sending her products to the Guild of Fine Food, she had her first taste of market life.

While Salina worked other jobs to provide for her children, it was the generosity of her friends and neighbours, for birthdays and Christmas’, that helped her gather the tools and equipment she needed to slowly build the business. A couple at Dulwich farmers’ market gifted her their tables, weights and canopy, as it was their last day of trading. This allowed her to expand to a second stall, building on the success of the first, leading to an invitation to cook and trade at Borough Market for the 2012 Olympics.

Salina chose to cook Malaysian food – the food of home – for the simple reason that she missed it. When she first moved to London, she relied on her family to send letters with recipes so she could learn how to cook the food herself, and waited for their yearly visits, when they’d bring spices and other ingredients with them. All of this is embedded in the evolution of Joli, with both family and friends being integral to its story. Salina still has those letters sent by her mother and grandmother: these beautiful, tangible pieces of cross-generational learning, love and support.

It is apparent to all of us who are lovers of food that the greatest pleasures are embedded in the act of sharing. How else do those moments of taste become traditions? How else do the seasonal shifts and what we make of them become celebrations? My love for the Island of Grenada is felt deeply within my own work and it’s where the products found on the De La Grenade stand are made. They are imported by Doreen Gittens, who upon tasting the products some 15 or so years ago immediately wanted to support their maker, Sybil La Grenade, by bringing them to England.

Doreen wanted to showcase the products of De La Grenade not only because they were good but because they were steeped in family history – a business being run by a black woman who was doing it on her own, while also bringing up a family and working another job. The spice isle, as Grenada is known, is a treasure trove of spices, and the De La Grenade products are packed with these treasures. On seeing my first ever nutmeg in the flesh and learning from Doreen how the jams, jellies and syrup are in fact made from the fruit, not the seed we’re used to seeing in spice jars, I immediately felt a yearning for Caribbean flavours. Guava jam is one of the comforting, homely flavours that place me in the first kitchen I knew in all its intricacies. There are water crackers, and mum is spreading the guava jam on them for us as a snack. That is love. That moment, all those moments, are forever in mind.

The love of food – and the love of sharing food – extends far beyond any single day. But Valentine’s Day, if we let it, might be an opportunity to think about the people who grow, pick, transport, cook, package and sell our food. To recognise the love and dedication they pour into delivering it to us, and how we might in turn share that love with our favourite people.