A Gathering of One

An introduction.

Author

Neema Syovata
March 20, 2025

Hi, my name is Neema and I am a food researcher and writer of East African food and foodways. I spend a lot of time thinking, reading, and writing about food because - hello, I’m obsessed!

Where the newsletter gets its name: A gathering of one, an oxymoron. It began with baklava and this micro story shown below that I posted on Instagram. After, a friend messaged to say she thought it would make a great name for a food column.

The Middle Eastern grocery store a few towns over, is my favorite. The owner and I constantly joke about my love of baklava. When the store changed owners, (although the previous one was Kurdish, he would often help me practice my Arabic - which needs to be resuscitated at the moment), I remember stopping in for my usual order of Baklava, pistachio is my favorite. Could it be bought by the tray instead of pieces? Yes, he replied, it was not uncommon when people had gatherings. How about a gathering of one I asked? He asked me to repeat what I said. And when he understood what I meant, we both laughed a long while, that would be too much for one person he said. Right, I replied but secretly wondered, was it?

Why a newsletter: I spend a lot of time engaged in food research under the umbrella of Modern African Table. Sometimes my research is presented in the form of workshops, tasting events and talks. Although not everything I’m working on is available to the public yet, I thought a newsletter would be a great place to share those things that don’t fit neatly into my research. The quotidian, the mundane and sometimes the curious way I approach food and dining in my contemporary African kitchen here in New England.

What readers can expect: Weekly posts on Wednesdays.