Where: University of Leeds, School of English, 8 Cavendish Road, Douglas Jefferson Room
Date: 8th May 2014
Time: 17:00

Speakers:

• Dr Jay Prosser, Reader in Humanities, University of Leeds
• Dr Ismail Mesut Sezgin, Project Coordinator, Dialogue Society
• Henghameh Saroukhani, Research Assistant, University of Leeds

Abstract

Noah’s Pudding is a transcultural and interfaith food. A traditional Eastern Anatolian dessert (made of dried fruits, grains and nuts), ashura forms part of Middle Eastern cooking and can be also found in various diasporic communities. Transcribed as ashura in Arabic, with a Hebrew etymology of asor (atonement), among Armenians it is called Anoushabour (literally translated as sweet soup) and and is eaten symbolically at midnight on New Year’s Day in a ritual to sweeten the forthcoming year. Noah’s Pudding derives from a legend that when Noah finally found land after the Flood, in the Araxes valley on the slopes of Mount Ararat, he celebrated with a pudding created from the few remaining ingredients in the Ark.

Sample this delicious, free, ancient, transcultural dessert, and engage in cross-cultural dialogue around cosmopolitanism. In this panel discussion Jay Prosser will provide an analysis of Jewish, Muslim and Christian coexistence in the Ottoman Empire. Ismail Sezgin will share the practice of intercultural dialogue through Noah’s Pudding based on Dialogue Society experience. Henghameh Saroukhani will introduce discussions on traditions of cosmopolitanism and conviviality.

Photos

Noah’s Pudding: Food, Cultural Exchange and Cosmopolitanism

Noah’s Pudding: Food, Cultural Exchange and Cosmopolitanism

Noah’s Pudding: Food, Cultural Exchange and Cosmopolitanism