Mediterranean food is a sweeping designation that embraces a wide variety of cuisines. One specific region — Middle Eastern, North African — is stepping into Seattle’s crowded food scene.
When Omid Rousteai isn’t counseling clients as a psychotherapist, you can find him at The Pantry in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. He teaches cooking classes at the community kitchen, usually focused on Iranian food. Part of his goal, he says, is to expand people’s perception of it.
“I ask people, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Persian food, Iranian food?” Rousteai said. “And most people would say kebabs.”
But he says Iranian cuisine is much more than that. Roustaei was born and raised in Tehran. He says the food of the region is often filled with herbs and vegetables, with flavors that are sour and sweet.
The tartness comes from various ingredients: sumac, barberries, sour grape juice and, reaching into one of the containers, Roustaei pulls out some dried Persian limes.
“These limes are lightly brined and then left out in the sun however long it takes to get completely dehydrated,” Roustaei said.
The dried limes look like brown, shriveled ping pong balls. He cracks one open and inside, the dark segments offer a flavor boost.
“It’s a lime with almost like an umami, a fermented flavor that adds a depth to the dishes that just good old lime juice would never have been able to deliver,” said Roustaei.
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Rousteai writes about the food of his childhood in his cookbook “Bitter & Sweet.” Iranian cuisine falls under a new designation called MENA, short for Middle Eastern North African. MENA food often gets swept under the umbrella term “Mediterranean.” What gets lost is the region’s rich diversity.
Yashar Shayan is part of an effort to help put a spotlight on MENA food and culture.
“Part of the reason I’m engaging more and more with this work is that it’s clear to me that we’re really close to a critical mass,” Shayan said. “We’re kind of breaking through the dam as a culture that previously was not recognized.”
That recognition has reached federal levels. The next census, in 2030, will include Middle Eastern or North African for race and ethnic options. Shayan says this is an important step. In previous census surveys, their choices were either “White” or “Other.”
“It means there can be data that represents us so that people can see what our experiences are like, including the discrimination that we experience, our contributions to the economy, our contribution to the arts,” Shayan said. “These can finally be tracked and shown.”
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The term MENA is slowly making its way into the community. Business owner Murat Akyuz is hearing about it for the first time. Akyuz is co-owner of Toasted Bagels and Coffee. He describes their bagel sandwiches as Mediterranean-inspired, drawing from his culture.
“I’m from Turkey. Jafar, my business partner is from Iraq,” Akyuz said. “So, a lot of the menu items we have, for example, the date and labneh, is a date spread on a bagel with Turkish labneh, which is like a type of yogurt/cream cheese. We also have za’atar which we also use a lot in our dishes back home.”
They went with Mediterranean because it was easier to market, even though Turkey and Iraq are MENA countries.
“On Google and Yelp, people were searching the key word ‘Mediterranean food,’” Akuyz said. “So, we were like, OK, to rank higher in these searches, I’m going to go ahead and use the term ‘Mediterranean’.”
According to a 2024 University of Washington study, there were more than 42,000 residents who self-identify as one of the MENA categories. But organizer Shayan thinks it’s an undercount and hopes the new U.S. Census category will provide more accurate numbers.
Rousteai said representation matters.
“It accounts for our unique cultures. It accounts as a demographic that exists in this culture,” he said. “We’re just bringing more light and more awareness.”
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