Algerian cuisine boasts an exquisite fusion of Berber, Arab, European, North African, and Mediterranean flavours.<\/p>\n
Halim Fekraoui is determined to showcase the wide variety of foods and culinary influences within Algerian cuisine. With his cafe and restaurant, Kasbah Caf\u00e9, located in New York, he is on a mission to tantalise the taste buds of food enthusiasts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get people here who don\u2019t even know where Algeria is or even heard of a country called Algeria,\u201d says Fekraoui, who co-runs Kasbah Caf\u00e9 with his wife Amina Fekraoui since 2021.<\/p>\n
Teal pillows, chairs, and arabesque tiles adorn the interior of the\u00a0Kasbah Caf\u00e9<\/a>. The colour is associated with Algeria and the Mediterranean coast \u2014 the Fekraouis hail from the port town of\u00a0Jijel<\/a>. They prepare traditional Algerian dishes from scratch, ranging from chicken\u00a0tajine<\/em>\u00a0to\u00a0berkoukes<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0mhadjeb<\/em>.<\/p>\n “The hardest part is that when people in San Francisco hear we are an Algerian place, they say ‘Oh, Middle Eastern? Oh, Moroccan?’ I have to educate people about my cuisine. We\u2019re getting there but still working on it”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In New York and the Bay Area, home to two concentrations of the Algerian diaspora in the US, Algerian chefs like Fekraoui hope serving their native cuisine will boost Algeria\u2019s profile to the level of other Arab and Mediterranean cuisines like Palestinian, Moroccan, and Egyptian, which are well-represented in the US.<\/p>\n\n
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