167: Ifrah F. Ahmed on the Making of Soomaaliya

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Live from Cookbook Week 45 min · 09 Sep 2026

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Recorded06 May 2026

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Show notes

Kate and Kristin speak with Ifrah F. Ahmed about how the culmination of her expertise in a culture and a cuisine led to her debut cookbook, Soomaaliya. Ifrah shares how a trip to Somalia inspired her to leave law school, create a magazine dedicated to Somali women and start a wildly successful pop-up before turning her attention towards a book. She takes us through her deeply intentional cookbook process from coming up with the idea, getting an agent, writing the proposal, the drama of a publisher auction to the writing, recipe development, photography and design process. She talks about her goal, her primary audience and their reactions as well as how she decided to weave together history, interviews, personal essays with the recipes. Finally she touches on her decision of how much of herself to include in the book and the very special interactions she's had while writing it. Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly + Andrea Nguyen Editor: Abby Cerquitella Mentions Food Friends Podcast Newsletter Ifrah F. Ahmed Website Instagram Milk & Myrrh pop up This Is TASTE 728: A Delicious Deep Dive Into Somali Food with Ifrah F. Ahmed Somali Cuisine by Barlin Ali Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of the books mentioned in the show Soomaaliya by Ifrah F. Ahmed

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