Specials Available April 16-20

Sweet Melissa vegetarian cafe & Front Street Tavern

Address: 213 S. 1st Street, Laramie, WY 82070

Website: https://www.sweetmelissacafe.com/

Country Represented: Egypt

Special:

Appetizer - Ta’ameya (fava bean falafel)

Entree - Koshary

Dessert - Basbousa (semolina cake)

Drinks - Pomegranate Mimosa and Hibiscus Tea Cocktail

Justin Mistikawy

Geology PhD student

Koshary (cush-err-ee) means the world to me. It’s Egypt's national dish, and as a first-generation American, cooking it is how I most deeply relate to my culture. For starters, it's a complete pain to make and requires just about every pot in the kitchen and endless vigilance.

The word koshary roughly translates to "food of the poor"; which is of course a crude way of saying it's basically a mish-mash of kitchen staples. Layered rice, lentils, elbow pasta, and chickpeas covered in a spicy, vinegary tomato sauce and blackened fried onions define the dish, and it is available just about everywhere in Egypt.

Koshary reminds me of my heritage because of its resourcefulness, but mostly because you always end up with a ton of it, and as such it’s often shared with family and friends. Bringing people together around food is how I would describe my culture best and koshary is a meal that never fails to do so.