Setting a Place for Us: a book review and recipe

Kristina Sepetys reviews Setting a Place for Us: Recipes and Stories of Displacement, Resilience, and Community from Eight Countries Impacted by War by Hawa Hassan

 

 

I grew up in a family of Eastern European immigrants displaced from their homes in Lithuania by the upheaval of World War II who eventually resettled in the upper Midwest. Growing up, I went to a lot of gatherings with other Lithuanian refugees. We sat at picnic tables under poplar trees, at folding tables under fluorescent lights in community centers, and on blankets alongside lakes, socializing and enjoying plates of hefty cepelinai: zeppelin-shaped dumplings made from grated raw potatoes stuffed with seasoned ground beef and slicked with sour cream and bacon fat. The meal didn’t just nourish. It helped to preserve a sense of cultural identity that exile had threatened to erase.

In her new cookbook, Setting a Place for Us: Recipes and Stories of Displacement, Resilience, and Community from Eight Countries Impacted by War (Ten Speed Press, 2025), author Hawa Hassan writes, “Food is both a record of the upheaval of wartime and a comforting talisman of where you’ve come from and who you are. It’s the tie that binds you to your people wherever they are in the world.”

Hassan, who wrote the James Beard Award–winning In Bibi’s Kitchen, here looks at how the chaos of war can disrupt a culture’s foodways, while at the same time becoming an anchor that keeps displaced people joined together.

A refugee from Somalia’s civil war in the early 1990s, Hassan begins by describing her own journey through Europe and the United States before turning outward to spotlight stories and recipes from eight countries: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, El Salvador, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, and Yemen. These are all countries with histories shaped by war, colonialization, and other social conflicts that have profoundly impacted daily life.

Organized by country, each section of Setting a Place for Us includes more than a half dozen recipes that reflect local flavor and history, like Borani Banjan, a garlicky stewed eggplant with yogurt from Afghanistan; a sweet cheese Quesadilla bread from El Salvador; and Ta’Ameya, bright green fava bean fritters from Egypt, rolled in sesame seeds and served with a tahini dip.

One particularly helpful feature is the QR codes that Hassan includes at the start of each country section. They provide readers easy access to pronunciations of the names of the various recipes so you can say, “Kishmish Panir,” rather than “Homemade Soft Cheese with Raisins.”

Setting a Place for Us isn’t a deep academic dive into the geopolitics of food, but alongside a diverse collection of satisfying dishes, it offers a thought-provoking invitation to consider what happens to food traditions when a culture is disrupted by conflict and migration, and how cooking, and eating, can become acts of resilience, resistance, and remembrance.

 

Purchase Setting a Place for Us at this link on Indiebound.org

 

RICE BREAD

Reprinted with permission from Setting a Place for Us by Hawa Hassan, copyright © 2025. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Food photography by Julia Gartland

Quick and easy to make, this rice-based banana bread is a staple in Liberia for breakfast, midday, or a snack. Make sure you purchase cream of rice cereal, not cream of wheat. This recipe offers a bonus, too: it is gluten-free.

Makes 1 (8-inch) square loaf

• ½ cup vegetable oil, plus more for the pan
• 1½ cups cream of rice cereal
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• ¾ cup whole milk
• 2 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Oil the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan or a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cream of rice cereal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, salt, and nutmeg, mixing well. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, bananas, and vanilla until smooth. Pour the egg mixture into the rice cereal mixture and whisk until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake the bread until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes before cutting into squares to serve. Serve warm or at room temperature.