Athena Calderone:How did growing up in Cairo, Egypt influence how you cook?
Laila Gohar:My love for food and cooking stems from the meals I had with my family growing up in Cairo. Almost every night, we would commune as a family around the dinner table. No one in my family is a chef, but everybody loved to improvise and come up with different recipes. My dad would always say that in order to be healthy, you have to eat five colors a day (and white doesn't count)! So the food was very colorful.
Our house was also always full of guests. My parents would throw wild dinner parties for hundreds of people in our backyard. Our kitchen took up an entire corner of our house, and had glass walls which overlooked the garden, from which you could see the pyramids in the distance. During the parties, the atmosphere was a little chaotic, and always very festive and free. Guests would march at their own drum beat. There would be kids doing papier-mâché in a corner, adults drinking, dancing and laughing, people singing, and a few others in the kitchen or on the roof. It was a fairy tale childhood. A lot of what I do now is influenced by my upbringing.
AC: Can you share the genesis of your brand—how did it begin?
LG:I threw dinner parties for friends that turned into a design-centric catering company called Sunday Supper NY.Since I moved to New Yorkyears ago (and before that in other cities), I've been throwing what started off as small dinners for a few friends, and evolved into big parties. At times there weren't enough utensils or seats, but that never really gets in the way as long as there is food and wine, everyone is happy.
After a lot of encouragement from friends, I decided to launch Sunday Supper. It was a very natural progression. The idea was to throw the same kind of parties I was hosting for my friends, and cook the same style of food on a professional level.
AC:Can you share how you entered into this very niche market, in the art world?
LG:There are two branches to my business: I do healthy, fresh and organic catering, mostly for designers, media companies, graphic design firms, etc. I cook and serve clean food; so lots of salads, seasonal vegetables, some meat and fish etc., all very colorful and fresh. Now the company has grown to include a small team of people.
Then I also do events with museums, galleries or artists to celebrate collaborations or art openings or other big events. That aspect of the business is a lot more conceptual. Working with the artists to translate their visions to food and making the food delicious at the same time is really exciting, and can be challenging. Often times I dream about the projects I'm working on. This part developed very naturally based on my network. One job lead to another and now this is the bulk of my business.
The collaborative process goes like this: a gallery or museum contact me to prepare a meal for an opening. We go over the work being exhibited. If possible, I go meet with the artist and do studio visits. Sometimes it requires going several visits. If visits are not possible, then the clients provides me with books and catalogs of the work. I also do a lot of research. I come up with a concept for the food based on the work, and we take it from there. It's not necessarily that the food mimics the art, but it is in some way, inspired by the work.
AC:What is the craziest creation you have ever made with food inspired by art?
LG:Well the craziest creation is in the works. It's a giant chocolate sculpture that's modeled after Zaha Hadid's new building on the Highline. The building is amazingly intricate, so its a big crazy, but fun challenge! The sculpture will be part of a dinner for 150 people she is hosting to inaugurate the building.
Another not so crazy but funny thing was recreating a favorite childhood meal of Chuck Closes'. It was a hotdog. But he was very specific about how he wanted it prepared.
AC:Favorite childhood food?
LG:Zucchini farci
AC:Always in your fridge?
LG:Isigny Sainte-Mére butter
AC:Breakfast Routine?
LG:Wake up, straight to the stove, fill the Bialetti with Bustelo coffee and make a long black coffee (Jose is Cuban and swears by Bustelo, I roll with that one. It's all about compromise :)
To eat, I make him eggs over easy and I usually have fruit or maybe chia seed pudding if I remembered to make some the night before. I also love White Mustache yogurt and hoard it like a crazy person. Then shower after breakfast.
AC:You'd be lost in the kitchen without...
LG:A wooden spoon
AC:What is your go-to recipe for a dinner party?
LG:Couscous / tajine
AC:A perfect sunday is.....
LG:Farmers market trip, generally lazy, and spent with people I love
AC:Music currently in rotation?
LG:This brazilian musician, Moreno Veloso
AC:Five ingredients you couldn't live without?
LG:Salt, olive oil, onion, lemon, chili flakes
AC:How does cooking make you feel in 3 words?
LG:Warm, relaxed, jovial.
AC:Guilty Food Pleasure?
LG:Beef jerky!
AC:What is your ideal meal? with whom?
LG:A meal with and prepared by Dali. He wrote an amazing cookbook!
AC:Do you have a favorite season to visit the markets?
LG:There is of course so much more variety in the warmer seasons, but I think there's beauty in every season. Winter is definitely more challenging because of the limitations but there's something incredible about all 4 seasons.
AC:Can you talk a bit about our insta-love and eventually meeting?
LG:Athena and I were following each other on Instagram and I was always curious about the person behind these beautiful pictures. Fast forward a few months to Art Basel this year. Our very dear mutual friend Anastasia of Mandolin Miami introduced us at a lunch. We said hello to each other and I knew each other by our instagram handles, which was hilarious. It's funny when you meet someone that you follow on instagram and you know all this stuff about them, like what there kid looks like for example, but you never really met them! It's funny and a little scary but it's the world we live in today! We definitely had an insta-crush on each other!
Roasted Veggie Dish Recipe
For the veggies we selected mostly root vegetables from the farmers market. I roasted them with lots of extra virgin olive oil and Maldon for 45 minutes at 400F. Then, I made a Moroccan chermoula with kale as a sauce. This is my go-to for all kinds of roasted veggies. That and tahini are both great. Here is the recipe for the kale chermoula:
- 1/2 cup packed kale
- 1/2 cup packed cilantro leaves
- 1/2 cup packed parsley leaves
- 4 medium cloves of garlic, peeled
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 1/4 cup preserved lemon juice
- 1/2 lemon, squeezed
- 2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 teaspoon sumac
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- Sea salt
- Pepper
- Destem the kale and roughly chop.
Add all the ingredients except the olive oil to a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse until finely chopped. While the motor is running, drizzle in the olive oil. Use immediately or transfer to an airtight container and store for 2 days. This sauce is great with grilled meats, seafood or vegetables.
