Creative Response: Taste of Home

Dinner and Conversation with Abdulrahman Naanseh

Presented in Partnership with Mozaic Refugee Kitchen

Saturday, January 31, 6-8pm at Tephra ICA (snow date: February 12)

$85 per ticket | Click here to purchase

$75 for Tephra ICA members | Click here to purchase

Join Tephra ICA’s first artist-in-residence, Abdulrahman Naanseh, for a family-style dinner and conversation around home and the many ways we carry it with us. Naanseh’s contemporary compositions of Arabic calligraphy are rooted in his experience of leaving Damascus during the Syrian Civil War. For this evening, he will welcome guests into his active studio space for dialogue.

Dinner will be prepared by Mozaic Refugee Kitchen, a program of Sterling-based nonprofit Mozaic Center. The menu will celebrate Syrian cuisine with dishes prepared by local Syrian chefs who are rebuilding their lives here in the DMV through hands-on culinary training.

The menu for the evening includes:

Spinach Fatayer (Vegetarian)
Hand‑folded pastry filled with spinach, pomegranate molasses, and sumac.

Green Salad with Lemon–Mint Dressing (Vegan)
Fresh greens tossed in a traditional lemon–olive oil dressing with dried mint.

Kawaj with Rice
Slow‑cooked beef stew with vegetables, served with vermicelli rice or fresh bread.

Meatless Kawaj (Vegetarian)

A vegetarian version of the traditional kawaj.

Hreeseh (Vegetarian)

Golden semolina cake with orange blossom and pistachios.