By Chanda Temple
The blood that runs through Sarah Cole’s veins is half Egyptian and half Southern, a blend that shows up in her food story.
That mix is what fueled her dream of bringing Egyptian food to Greensboro, a rural city in west-central Alabama, where fast food chains and meat-and-three restaurants appear across the landscape like dots on a domino. While friends supported her, some people questioned her vision. Their whispers got back to her: “Make sure she knows to include something very Southern on the menu because we are probably not going to like her spices too much.”
The words stung, but Sarah refused to let negativity stop her because they were just opinions, and opinions don’t build dreams. Courage does.
She moved forward with her plan, citing how a lot of Egyptian dishes are similar to Southern food such as stewed okra or squash when added to a spicy tomato sauce. When she rolled out her first dishes, people liked them, giving her immediate support.
Fans began to crave her turmeric coconut cake, sourdough pita pockets packed with seasonal vegetables, stuffed collards looking like the traditional Egyptian grape leaves and more.
And five years later, she’s still cooking up her culture via curated dinners, workshops and classes through her business known as Abadir’s. It’s named after her mother’s family name.
“I don’t think that being intimidated for having a different idea should stop me or anyone else from doing something they really want to do because if they are really passionate about it, they are going to adapt to it” she said. “And if it doesn’t work, that’s also part of the story, as well.”
Sarah was transparent about her journey as an entrepreneur in Greensboro during Saturday’s “Rooted: Women in Food,” which is part of the 10-day Southbound Food Festival happening in Birmingham.
While on stage at the Pepper Place Market, she talked about her cooking and how she ended up in Alabama. (Her mother left Egypt in the early 1980s to escape religious persecution. Her mother landed in Demopolis, AL. And while shopping at the local market, the produce manager was struck by the beauty of Sarah’s mother and helped Sarah’s mother pick out a bag of potatoes. He later invited himself to dinner. Things clicked, they dated, married and started a family. Sarah grew up in Demopolis, but as an adult, she left Alabama for a few years. She returned in 2020 and started Abadir, making wholesome, seasonal baked goods and light fare for pop-up events. Her mother still lives in Demopolis.)
As Sarah talked lovingly about her parents from the Pepper Place Market stage, she also talked lovingly about her recipe for Egyptian roasted eggplant salad. She made the dish, using olive oil and several spices. Once she was done, people in the audience scooped up samples of the robust delicacy, emptying their serving cups and nodding with approval.
“Have you tasted this?” one woman said, her eyes wide in amazement. “It’s so good.”
Several admirers then headed over to a table for Sarah to sign copies of “When Southern Women Cook,” which features 300 recipes and has stories from 70 women writers, a project that was led by America’s Test Kitchen. Sarah is one of the 70 women writers. On page 302 is her recipe for Macarona Bechamel, which is her grandmother’s recipe with influences from Sarah’s mother and Sarah.
In the book, Sarah wrote that the creamy béchamel is an Egyptian comfort dish that is similar to a Southern casserole. Made with onions, garlic cloves, 90 percent lean ground beef, crushed tomatoes, penne pasta and many other ingredients, she said it stayed in rotation for various family occasions.
After signing copies of the cookbook, Sarah thought returned to what she touched on during her talk on stage. She was never interested in cooking what people already knew. She wanted to cook what was new to people.
“I didn’t want to do what everybody else was doing. I didn’t want to make Southern pies. That’s just not what I enjoy making,” she said. “And so to do something that I think would be a little less intimidating to the community wasn’t inspiring to me.”
In following her heart instead of giving in to heartache, she found a future she continues to build in Alabama. (More pop-up events are in the works.)
“Since opening the space and getting immediate support, this shows that we can absolutely do things in that part of the state, in Small Town, AL,” she said. “People want to eat Egyptian food. They want to have a really great time with that. We just have to create our own opportunities.”
Chanda Temple is an award-winning writer living in Birmingham, Ala. She blogs at http://www.chandatemplewrites.com. If you have a food story idea, email her at chandatemple@gmail.com. Follow her on Instagram at @chandatemple.
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