Open Falafel, How I've Missed You

[Iman El-Halaby]

The food at Hogwarts was tasty and even with a large variety readily available for students, Iman dearly missed the food of her people. She missed a hot piping plate of pilaf rice, she missed sautéed and spiced pine nuts, and she especially missed her father's signature lamb meatballs, or what they called "Kafta" back home. New Zealand lamb was yummy, but still tasted different from the lamb she was used to back home.

Iman knew the only way to fix her homesickness was to cook some of her traditional ethnic food. She had to find a way to cook them, because no one else could. She was too afraid to ask any of the house elves in the kitchen if they could help her. That evening after she was done with lessons, Iman headed down to the kitchen equipped with her grandmothers traditional recipe of "Falafel" a deep fried patty made of chickpea flour. She had never made them before but she had watched the village women make them, and it looked easy enough.

Once she was done, Iman stacked several patties on a plate, and brought along with her a tub of homemade hummus she had brought from home, and walked to the Great Hall, ready to feast. She took a seat at the Hufflepuff table, oblivious to the fact that she probably made the whole hall reek of spices.

Iman excitedly reached out for one of the falafels, and took a huge bite.

 

[Manaia Te Rangi]

Manaia felt like he had been in a fog ever since the horrible letter from home last year, the pain of his father leaving weighing heavy on his shoulders, pressing him down in a way he had never felt before. He knew he was far away from his family now, should be able to return to his Hogwarts life like normal, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't bring himself to act like his normal, cheerful self. Meals had become something to just get through, prodding idly at whatever was closest. He was in the middle of slogging through yet another meal, hoping to get up to his dorm quickly and be alone with his guitar for a while, when he smelled something he had never smelled at Hogwarts before. Looking up, he saw a girl setting down a plate of falafel, something he'd only had a couple of times visiting Auntie Tui in Wellington. "Those smell good." Manaia commented, distracted from the funk he had been in for so long. "Can I grab one?"

 

[Celia Vuong]

There were a lot of things Celia did not miss about Hanoi. She did not miss the humidity or the pollution. She did not miss the way her relatives clucked their tongues when she fumbled the most basic Vietnamese words or the curious stares she got from random passersby when she spoke English. She definitely did not miss feeling like a stranger in a place that everyone kept telling her was "home."

But she did miss the food — delicate rice crepes stuffed with pork, glass noodles in tangy soups. It was kind of appalling how boring the food at Hogwarts was. Even her old school in Boston, which also hadn't been very diverse, had at least tried to dabble in other cuisines. The results were usually inedible, but that didn't matter when it was so easy to find authentic food elsewhere in the city. She missed boba runs with her friends and dim sum with her parents. She missed starting off her day in the North End's Little Italy and ending it in bustling Chinatown. She missed having choices.

Out here, there was nothing. Nothing but the same old variation on meat, potatoes and some sad vegetable. The only upside of all this was that she definitely did not have to worry about gaining weight. Celia was passing by the Hufflepuff table on her way to Slytherin when the scent of spices stopped her in her tracks. "Oh my god, is that falafel?" She glanced between Manaia and the girl. "Where did you guys even get that?"

((I love this open thread idea!!))

 

[Iman El-Halaby]

Iman took a big bite of the falafel she had made just minutes earlier. The patty was still steaming hot and she could instantly feel pain at the top of her mouth. Was the falafel yummy? Yes, definitely. Was it also too hot to eat? Yes. Was the falafel worth burning the inside of her mouth for? Also yes. Iman had no regrets, the food was too delicious. And the best time to eat it, well was now. Even with visible steam coming out from the patties. She chewed slowly, enjoying and savoring the flavors in her mouth. It was undoubtedly one of the best falafels she ever had. The Hufflepuff had doubted herself before trying to make the falafels, but now she was confident she could make more of her ethnic food in the future.

Iman was going to take another bite, when she heard someone talk to her. She stopped herself from taking another bite, and looked over at the boy. She had seen him before in the Common Room, but that was all.

"Sure! Help yourself." She replied with a smile, offering the boy some of her falafels. "They're still pretty hot, just a warning yeah." She quickly warned him. @Manaia Te Rangi

Iman was about to offer the boy some hummus to dip the falafels into, when another girl joined them. Iman had never seen the girl before. The girl looked Asian though, just like her.

"Yes! I actually made some earlier, would you like to try some?" Iman asked, offering the other girl some of her falafels. @Celia Vuong

 

[Manaia Te Rangi]

"Cheers!" Manaia said brightly as the girl offered the falafels, taking one happily. He heard her warning a second too late, the hot patty already halfway through its journey to his mouth when she spoke. By the time his brain had processed what the younger girl was saying, it was too late. Manaia yelped as the heat scorched his tongue and the roof of his mouth, huffing and jumping slightly in his seat as he tried to cool it down quickly. "Aah! Aah!" He yelped, only settling down once his mouth had finally cooled down. The falafel itself was delicious, he realised once he was done reaping the punishment for his own foolishness. "Oh, that's really good!" He said brightly, though his mouth still stung slightly from his mistake.

 

[Celia Vuong]

"You made them?" Celia asked, a bit surprised though it only took her a second to realize that this was the most obvious answer. She doubted there was anywhere nearby that did delivery; she wasn't even sure if wizards had food delivery services. Normally Celia did not trust her peers' cooking skills, and this girl looked particularly young. But Manaia was still alive, and the falafel did smell really good.

"Yes, please," she said, carefully taking one. Celia had seen Manaia's reaction, and she was not about to make the same mistake and look similarly foolish. She took a small bite, savoring the flavors. It had been forever since she'd had falafel, and this was much better than the stuff she got from her usual Middle Eastern place in Boston. "He's right. This is really good," she agreed with a smile. Celia decided to take a seat at the table so that she wasn't hovering awkwardly. "Did you also make the hummus?" she asked, nodding toward the container.