Ham El-Waylly Author Talk • Hello, Home Cooking: Do-Able Dishes for Every Day

Ham El-Waylly is a chef, restaurant consultant, recipe developer, and video creator based in New York City. You may know him from his acclaimed Brooklyn restaurant, Strange Delight, or as a longtime contributor to NYT Cooking, where he is also one half of the YouTube sensation, Mystery Menu. He lives in the East Village with his wife (Sohla), toddler, shiba inu, English bulldog, and wild alley cat.

Reem Assil is an award-winning Palestinian-Syrian chef based in Oakland, CA, working at the intersection of food, community, and social justice. She is the founder of nationally-acclaimed Reem’s California, an Arab bakery and restaurant that builds community across cultures and experiences through the warmth of Arab bread and hospitality.  Reem has garnered an array of top accolades in the culinary world, including James Beard finalist for Outstanding Chef (2022) back to back semifinalist for Best Chef: West (2018-19). Before dedicating herself to a culinary career, Reem spent over a decade as a community and labor organizer building the leadership and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities in their jobs and their neighborhoods.  Reem is the author of IACP award-winning cookbook Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora (2022).

Hello, Home Cooking - In Hello, Home Cooking, Chef Ham El-Waylly taps into everyone’s nostalgia—his versions of beloved dishes carry a can’t-quite-put-my-finger-on-it heart-warming quality. These recipes work for cooks of all levels, using core flavors from different cuisines, and frees readers to mix, match, and shake up classic dishes from all around the world. From Macarona Bechamel that parallels mac ’n’ cheese, and an onion-laden pot roast that rivals any version you grew up eating, to cinnamon toast crunch made out of pita. Hello, Home Cooking shows you a whole new world of comforting classics—all while making sure you don’t need to go to a bunch of specialty stores or take out a second mortgage.

Expect recipes like:
Everything Pita
Overnight Oats with Rose, Cherries, and Pistachios
Better Than Boursin
Focaccia Baladi
Lazy Hummus
Zucchini Poached in Yogurt
Eggplant and Tofu Ragu
Giardiniera Rice
Bolivian Cheesy Rice
Brazilian Hot Dog Party
Carrot Sheet Cake

With Ham’s guidance, you can make comfort meals adventurous, and brand new dishes will leave you reminiscing like you’ve had—and loved—them a hundred times.